The Search for Black Swifts

A Species of Concern, Inventory Need and Legend

presented by Chris Hammond

Chris Hammond

Join us Monday, April 9, 7-9 PM at the Gateway West Community Room, US Highway 2 West, Kalispell, for an informative and entertaining program on Black Swifts. Chris Hammond will discuss this unusual neotropical migrant bird that initiates nesting in Montana when most other birds are completing their breeding season, with young not fledging until August or September. Black Swifts are reliant upon perennial streams, waterfalls, and insect prey for survival and are considered at high risk of extirpation, due to climate change. In 2015, Canadian biologists listed Black Swifts as endangered due to significant population declines. Since 2012, partnerships have coalesced around the search for this elusive and hard-to-detect bird, striving for standardized surveys that can shed light on the bird’s presence and distribution in Montana.

Chris Hammond works for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as the Regional Nongame/Mitigation Biologist in Kalispell. He is responsible for survey, inventory, management, and conservation of primarily nongame wildlife species. He also works on mitigation projects that involve conservation easements, acquisitions, and habitat restoration. His undergraduate and graduate work focused on the ecology of Common Loons in northwest Montana. In 2010, with collaboration from members of the Common Loon Working Group, he completed the Conservation Plan for Common Loons in Montana. Chris is currently a co-chair of the Montana Common Loon Working Group.