Chimney Swift Tower Entrance Cam

A Rare Interior Perspective

This infrared camera is fixed at the top of a custom-built roosting chimney swift tower at Stormy Oaks Nature Conservancy in western Pennsylvania, looking straight down the wooden shaft toward the nesting platform below. It is one of only a handful of cameras in the country dedicated to monitoring this elusive aerial species.

Built for a Vanishing Habitat

Chimney Swifts once nested in hollow old-growth trees; as those disappeared, the birds adapted to human chimneys, and now even those are scarce. The artificial tower replicates that vertical, dark refuge, giving the swifts a safe surface to grip with their needle-tipped tail feathers and stiff claws.

A Conservation Partnership

The feed is run by Wildbird Recovery, Inc. in partnership with Saint Vincent College's ornithology program, supporting research and public education about a species whose population has fallen sharply since 1970. Every clip of nest-building or feeding offers direct insight into the swifts' hidden domestic life.