“Discovering the Mysterious Vaux’s Swift”
Marin Chapter Meeting
Vaux’s swifts swirling in front of the moon
Photo by Jennie Pakradooni
“Discovering the Mysterious Vaux’s Swift”
Speakers: Star Justus and Jennie Pakradooni
Monday, October 12, 2026, 7:30 pm
Every September in the Bay Area, something remarkable happens above old chimneys along the Pacific Coast. Thousands of small, dark birds materialize at dusk, circling in tightening vortices, before funneling en masse into a chimney to rest for the night. These birds are Vaux’s Swifts (Chaetura vauxi, Vaux’s rhymes with foxes), the smallest species of chimney swift in North America, and native only to the Pacific Coast of Northern and Central America and Mexico.
Vaux’s swifts swirling above chimney with the moon
photo by Jennie Pakradooni
Old, unlined chimneys are the last stand-ins for their dwindling old-growth forest habitat, and we are fortunate to have two significant chimney roosting sites right here in the North Bay. Community members collecting data on swifts entering roosting sites during their migration from British Columbia to Central America are the primary reason why we know and are still learning about the birds’ behavior and what’s happening to them as a result of habitat loss and climate change.
Star Justus and Jennie Pakradooni, site monitors, will join us to discuss these fascinating old growth endemic birds and the nuances around each of these roosting sites.
Star J. Justus is a Healdsburg-based citizen scientist with 20 years of field experience monitoring Vaux’s Swift migrations along the Pacific Flyway. She is an educator at the Rio Lindo Academy and a long-time contributor to the Vaux’s Happening data collection project. Star is passionate about migratory bird conservation, roost site protection, and community science engagement.
Jennie Pakradooni is an ecologist, educator, and habitat restoration landscape designer based in West Marin. She is co-lead monitor and surveyor for Vaux’s Swifts and is currently collaborating with area biologists on several external research projects about the birds. Jennie works at the intersections of community ecological education, environmental and social justice, natural resource management and protection, wildlands conservation and indigenous rematriation.
