Amanda saw her first Chimney Swift entries, as our new MCSI Coordinator, last night (May 19)! Amanda describes her wonderful winged experience –
“I went to check out Enderton Park this evening after Tim seeing the Chimney Swifts nearby. Heard them almost immediately and tracked them to the northwest side of the park. Sat and watched them circling around for about 40 minutes. Maximum of 5 swifts, but mostly 2. Saw two go down the chimney at XX Avonhurst at 9:09pm. My first swifts down a chimney as MCSI coordinator! And I think its a new site, as well!”
Indeed, the bonus round was the identification of the first new site of 2020! What a great start to backyard, + slightly beyond, birding.
Tonight is the night our new stay-at-home program launches, so be sure to be on the lookout for Chimney Swifts and other aerial insectivores. Links to the new protocol and datasheets can be found at: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/?page_id=2216 Reports of swifts have been received from St Adolphe, Winnipeg – River Heights, Osborne Village, South Osborne, Royalwood etc., Selkirk, and Dauphin.
To cap off a great start to her work with MCSI, Amanda presented St Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Church with a Swift Champion plaque. The parishioners were acknowledged for their significant efforts in protecting the Church chimney as important swift habitat (see below).
“Keeping a home for the birds
St. Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Church (1049 Hwy. 26) is a place of worship, but also home to a threatened bird species.
On May 8, St. Francois Xavier Parish was honoured to accept a Swift Champion award from the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative to recognize its work to conserve a chimney swift roosting and nesting location.
This spring, the church chimney was repaired with assistance from a federal government grant approved in 2019. Church members wanted the chimney work to be completed quickly to allow the swifts to continue to use the chimney as a nesting site. A site is usually selected in early June after the birds return in late May from overwintering in the upper Amazon basin in South America.
Listed as a threatened species in Canada, chimney swifts select the interior of brick chimneys for nests.
The SFX Parish signed a 10-year agreement in 2019 to protect its church’s chimney for swift habitat. Chimney swifts were first spotted at the church in 2017 by MCSI monitors, and between two and five birds have been sighted in the subsequent summers. — Staff (courtesy Winnipeg Free Press website)”
Keep your eyes to the skies! We hope to hear of your sightings tonight.
— Barb Stewart
