I hope you are all staying warm on this chilly Winter Solstice Eve! With the holiday season in full swing and the New Year just around the corner, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on the 2024 Chimney Swift season and share the monitoring summary results.
Thank you very much to the 90+ volunteers (wow!!!) who helped with our monitoring program this year. We are so grateful for this growing community of people who are passionate about Chimney Swift conservation. This program truly could not function without volunteer support, so we really can’t say it enough – thank you for your time, patience, and energy!
We would love to hear any feedback on our monitoring program and your experience as a volunteer – what you like, what you don’t like, suggestions, etc. I’d also love to know your thoughts on the season kick-off event, and if you’d be interested in an event like this next year. Here is a link to a feedback form which can be submitted anonymously or with your name depending on what you are most comfortable with: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHVjFHpsw44dbWaqMl4zbLnafbG6bUeeh1MbCLuvGR_emAxg/viewform?usp=header
You can also always submit any feedback directly via email to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com.
Monitoring Summary 2024
You can now find the updated MCSI Roost and Nest Site database on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website or by clicking here. This document summarizes the peak Chimney Swift count (and the date on which it occurred) at each monitored site as well as the date on which the peak count occurred. This document also indicates if each monitored site was used as a roost site or a nest site (based on the monitoring data available). This document also indicates if a nesting attempt was successful or if it was a failure (if known).
Here are a few highlights:
- We monitored ~155 sites in 30 communities across Manitoba.
- We confirmed 6 new swift sites: a private residence on Kerby Ave in Miami, the Hemp Oil building in Ste Agathe, a private residence on Ruby St in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood, Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, the apartment building at 481 Corydon Ave, and the west chimney on the Infirmary building at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (swifts regularly use the east chimney).
- We confirmed the presence of swifts at 14 sites on our priority list.
- 90+ volunteers participated in our monitoring program.
This year, we tried something new and started the year off with a volunteer appreciation & season kick-off event at Assiniboine Park on May 14. It was lovely to see so many friendly faces, meet other swift enthusiasts, and get excited for the upcoming monitoring season.
As usual, we participated in the National Chimney Swift Roost Survey (frequently referred to as NRMP). This year, the NRMP nights took place on May 22, May 26, May 30, and June 3. By monitoring on these nights (with a focus on sites that host high counts of roosting swifts), we are able to contribute Manitoba data to this national effort. If you’re curious to learn more about this national program, you can visit the following webpage: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/bird-surveys/volunteers/national-chimney-swift-roost-survey-protocol.html On that webpage (in Appendix 3), you can find the annual dates for the 4 spring monitoring nights until 2031.
This year, we also organized monthly monitoring blitzes. Our blitzes took place on June 19, July 17, and August 7. While the spring NRMP nights are useful to know if a site is being used as a spring roost by swifts, we can’t necessarily tell that early on if a site will be used for a nesting attempt throughout the summer. These additional monitoring nights provided us with more information on when, where and how swifts use different sites.
Volunteers were free to monitor whenever worked for them throughout the season, whether that was on scheduled NRMP nights and/or monthly blitzes, or on different days if they were Some volunteers regularly monitored the same site, while others visited a variety of different sites to check for swift presence.
Thank you once again to our incredible network of volunteers.
I’d also like to extend a big thank you to the MCSI Steering Committee for their ongoing support:
Tim Poole, Barb Stewart, Rob Stewart, Frank Machovec, Christian Artuso, Lewis Cocks, Nicole Firlotte, Joanne Tuckwell, Ron Bazin, Ken De Smet, Laura Burns, Meredith Stoesz, Kristin Mozel
We’ll be back in the new year with more swift stories to tell and updates to share.
Until then, have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Marissa
