Flocks of Birds Invade 3 Homes Via Chimneys

Bird experts said Friday that at least three Los Angeles-area houses and one downtown high-rise were invaded briefly this week by flocks of migrating Vaux’s swifts, a cousin to the East Coast’s chimney swift.

Authorities reported that hundreds of swifts looking for nighttime refuge had flow down the chimneys and into various houses in Glendale, Hacienda Heights and Oxnard. The birds became disoriented inside the houses, frightened the residents and left droppings on the walls and furnishings before they were removed by animal-control officers. A spokesman for the Broadway Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles said a large flock of swifts had roosted on top of his building, damaging the roof with droppings.

Kimball Garrett, an ornithologist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, said the swifts are in the midst of their migration from Central America to the Pacific Northwest.