Best Colony of Flying Creatures, Non-Bat

Swift Fest and the Jonestown Cistern

Behind a Jonestown realty office stands a structure altogether unremarkable in its utility. The 16-feet tall and 10-feet in diameter concrete cylinder looks like what it was built to be – a cistern. Arrive at dusk in the late summer months, however, and you'll see it transform, as hundreds of chimney swifts nosedive into the free-standing structure after a long day hunting insects. They're not here to stay, only on their migratory way to the Amazon Basin. But Jonestown residents are so smitten with their swift friends that in 2012 the city began Swift Fest (say that 10 times fast) in their honor. A cautionary note for swift friends heading up from Austin: Beware of that speed trap.

Swift Fest
18649 FM1431, Jonestown, 512/339-9432
www.swiftfest-jonestown.com