A quick update on the coming wave of swifts. The latest eBird report has a swift being spotted in Frankin County, Ohio earlier today. Brave bird! Most recent reports do seem to still be concentrated along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, with some early birds also reaching Arkansas and Kentucky.
Monitoring Priorities – the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP)
What is the NRMP?
Since 2013, our core volunteer monitoring participatory program has been via the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP). The NRMP was initiated by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in Quebec. The idea is that volunteers operate across provinces, monitoring roost chimneys on 4 set dates.
According to the methodology, a roost is 4 or more swifts recorded entering a chimney between one hour before sundown, and 30 minutes afterwards. We report these results to ECCC. Although many of our chimneys do not support a roost of 4 swifts, we still encourage volunteers to monitor as their chimneys during this period. The information we are generating from all our chimneys is building up an impressive picture of Chimney Swift distribution and behaviour in Manitoba. This IS critical information, so even if your chimney does not support larger numbers of swifts, your data is still very useful and very, very appreciated by MCSI.
When is it taking place in 2019?
Each monitoring period begins one hour before sundown and end usually 30 minutes afterwards, unless in those rare cases, the swifts remain outside the chimney after this period. In 2019, these dates are set as:
- May 22
- May 26
- May 30
- June 3
As mentioned in our previous blog, MCSI would also like to add a couple of extra monitoring dates if possible, one before the NRMP and one after. Due to the long weekend, our first date would normally be May 18, but we are encouraging flexibility, and for those unable to go out on the weekend, we are saying May 16 or 17. The final MCSI extra night is four days after the NRMP on June 7.
Priority Sites for 2019
We are trying to encourage as much participation in the program as possible. Therefore, we have selected a list of priority sites across towns and cities in Manitoba. Our aim is, to within reason, to encourage monitoring at these sites on all 4 evenings. Obviously in some places, Melita and Souris stand out, we might not be able to do this, but we are ambitious to try! In the list below, those sites underlined and italicised did not receive regular NRMP monitoring in 2018. Our aim is to get someone to fill these gaps. For those who volunteered in 2018, our sincere thanks, and we will be in touch soon about prospects for 2019. In the meantime, if you are looking for a roost site to monitor, then take a look below. If you do not live near one of these sites, contact us, and we will identify a site for you to monitor.
Brandon
Orange Block
Carman
Carman Memorial Hall
Dauphin
213 Main Street
La Broquerie
Paroisse Saint Joachim
Otterburne
Providence College
Melita
Antler Historical Museum
Morden
Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant
Portage la Prairie
Trinity United Church
Selkirk
Mental Health Centre, large stack
Souris
Murphy’s: An Irish Legacy (94 1st Street South)
St Paul’s United Church
St Francois Xavier
St Francois Xavier Catholic Church
St Jean-Baptiste
Paroisse Catholique St-J-B
Steinbach
Bethesda Hospital
Stonewall
Main Street Site
Wasagaming
RMNP Visitor Centre
Winnipeg – Downtown
303 Assiniboine Avenue
Winnipeg – Fort Garry
Pembina Flag Shop
Winnipeg – Fort Rouge
915 Corydon
Winnipeg – River Heights
378 Academy
Winnipeg – St Boniface
690 St Joseph Street
Winnipeg – St James
Assiniboine School
Moorgate Apartments, 2187 Portage Avenue
New Silver Heights, Portage Avenue
St Ann’s Church, Hampton Street
Winnipeg – St Norbert
St Norbert Catholic Church
St Norbert Behavioural Health Centre
What happened in 2018?
In 2019, MCSI will continue to support this program. In 2018, we did so by monitoring 68 sites in 16 communities in Manitoba, a phenomenal effort! You can look at our results at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/NRMP20132018.pdf.
It would be amazing if we can keep the level of monitoring up in 2019. So please let us know if you are willing to take on a new site, and we will find a suitable site for you!
— Tim Poole
