Although it may not feel like it, spring is (SLOWLY) on its way, and so are the Chimney Swifts. The Chimney Swifts are currently stalled just a bit south of us with the northern-most edge of their migration just reaching into Minnesota. The northern states have been facing similar weather challenges to Manitoba, so the weather likely has not helped! That being said, the majority of “our” Chimney Swifts in Manitoba typically don’t arrive until mid to late May, regardless of our spring weather. When you start seeing Chimney Swifts please report to MCSI, we’d love to know!
Chimney Swift sightings in April 2022 from eBird.org. Each purple rectangle is at least one Chimney Swift.
With the 2022 Chimney Swift season approaching, we’ve been working to finalize our monitoring season plans. For most sites monitoring will start on Wednesday, May 25th and continue on Wednesday each week until June 22nd(rain dates are Thursdays each week). By the end of June, we should be able to determine if the Chimney Swifts have made a nesting attempt in a monitored chimney, or if they were using the chimney as a roost site only.
With the federal Chimney Swift Recovery Strategy (currently in draft form) coming out in 2022, there is an opportunity to protect the chimneys used by Chimney Swifts (called “residences”). For a chimney to be a residence it has to have hosted Chimney Swifts at least once in the last three years. As a result, we have combed our database and made a list of sites that either have not been monitored for the past three years, or have not had a swift spotted in three years. These sites are a high priority for monitoring this year. If you are interested in being able to make a big difference in habitat protection for Chimney Swifts, please consider monitoring one of the priority sites! Priority sites are in the towns, and Winnipeg neighbourhoods listed below. Contact the MCSI coordinator (Amanda) at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com for specific locations.
- Lac du Bonnet
- Manitou
- Morden
- Portage la Prairie
- Souris
- Stonewall
- The Pas
- Winnipeg – City Centre
- Winnipeg – East and West Kildonan
- Winnipeg – Fort Garry
- Winnipeg – Fort Rouge
- Winnipeg- South Point Douglas
- Winnipeg – St James
- Winnipeg – West End
For the larger roost chimneys, we will also be conducting the National Roost Monitoring Protocol (NRMP). This protocol is followed throughout Canada, where the Canadian Wildlife Service collects data on roosting chimneys that host four or more Chimney Swifts. This monitoring happens every four days for a two-week period (rather than once a week). NRMP nights are on May 25th, May 29th, June 2nd and June 6th. For NRMP nights we are particularly looking for volunteers to watch the sites below:
- Carman Memorial Hall, Carman
- St Paul’s United Church, Souris
- 5000 Crescent Road West (Rufus Prince Building), Portage la Prairie
- Ecole Assiniboine School in St James, Winnipeg
- 2187 Portage Avenue (Moorgate Apartments) in St James, Winnipeg
- 424 River Avenue (River Manor Apartment) in Fort Rouge, Winnipeg
NRMP nights and the MCSI nights follow the same monitoring protocol (other than the dates the monitoring takes place) as well as the same data sheet. We ask that volunteers watch their site starting from 60 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunset (90 minutes total). In that time volunteers record numbers of swifts seen in the air, as well as the time and number of swifts that enter and exit the chimney. For more details on how we monitor swifts, and the datasheet we use, you can find our 2022 protocol and data sheet at the following links:
2022 Monitoring Protocol (pdf)
If you are looking for a chimney to monitor in your neighbourhood or are willing to travel to a site, send an email to myself (Amanda) at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com and I would be happy match you with a monitoring site. We have more chimneys than monitors each year, and we’d love to have you join our effort to help the Chimney Swift.
- Amanda
