I had dinner in Cleveland Park in DC last night, and when I walked out to
the metro station afterward, I noticed some Swifts flying above the shopping
center there. I glanced off to the north  and saw by far the most massive
swarm of Swifts of my life. There were so many I can only guess at the
number, but a sizeable portion of the sky was grayed-out by them. I can't
imagine that there were much less than a thousand. The time was just after
8pm. As I stood there and the light continued to fade, they started to
organize into the typical huge swirling vortex around a very large chimney.
The group was massive and smaller groups broke off and began to swirl around
smaller chimneys in the vicinity. I tried to take a movie on my blackberry
but it was just too dark, and I was late to meet friends so I couldn't stay
and watch them all descend to roost. It was an amazing experience. I left
and walked down to meet friends on U Street. It was a pretty silly decision
to walk and not take a cab because it was SO far, but it was a nice night,
and on the way I stayed attentive for Nighthawks, but never saw or heard a
single one.

-Jake Hall
 College Park, MD