Every evening during the month of September hundreds of Portlanders gather on the slopes and fields of Chapman Elementary School to watch the Vaux Swifts fly in circles around the sky before funneling into the school’s chimney to roost for the night. They spend only a brief amount of time in Portland before continuing their migration south towards Central America, but we all gather to watch the show!

the sideshow – before the swifts start to do their stuff the kids take an opportunity to do some summer sledding. and yes, that is a man dressed as a banana. don’t ask – i don’t know.