As I mentioned last week the Assiniboine Park Zoo staff had a quick peak up their chimney (the nest has fledged) to retrieve their camera and sound-recording devices. They were kind enough to send us some pictures. The first is from a camera mounted within the artificial tower, which captured a photo of a Chimney Swift roosting in the Chimney May 23rd, earlier than the staff previously thought swifts were using the chimney. The next photo was taken during the quick peak and shows a Chimney Swift nest on the wall of the artificial tower. Thank you to Assiniboine Park Zoo staff for sharing these neat photos with us!
On August 10th Gerald watched 367 Main St in Selkirk for five minutes – and it was an action packed five minutes! He saw three entries at 9:16pm, followed by 2 exits at 9:17 and 9:18, with two swifts then entering at 9:19. A lot to take in very fast. Winona monitored the same site on August 11th for an hour during the roosting period. While she didn’t see the crazy action that Gerald did, she did record 6 entries and 5 exits by one swift.
On August 10th Winona watched the St Merchant’s Hotel in Selkirk for just under an hour at roosting time, but saw no activity at the chimney.
On August 11th Gerald watched the St Andrews Lock and Dam Complex chimney site 2018-16.1 for just under 30 minutes during the day. He saw one quick entry and exit at 1:59 and 2:00pm respectively. The next evening during the roosting period he watched the same chimney. Following the same pattern, he saw a quick entry and exit at 8:44pm. This would have him end his monitoring period with zero swifts in the chimney, so there may have been another unseen entry. Tricky swifts!
The other chimney at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Complex (2018-16.2) during the day on August 11th also had a quick entry and exit but at 1:46pm. While in the next evening Gerald saw a bit more action at this chimney with two sets of fast entries and exits (8:46-8:47pm and 8:59-9:00pm) before one swift entered for the night at 9:08pm.
On August 17th Gerald was back at the Lock and Dam Complex during the roosting period. Site 2018-16.1 had a total of four entries and three exits by one Chimney Swift. On the same day and time site 2018-16.2 had one exit and three entries, for at least three birds in this chimney.
On August 13th at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre Infirmary Winona did a 60-minute roosting period monitoring session. She observed two Chimney Swifts using the chimney throughout the monitoring session with four entries and two exits by the swifts.
Also in Selkirk, Nia and Linda watched the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. They had an action-packed evening with almost constant action for the first 45 minutes of their monitoring session. There was a mix of swifts doing quick entries and exits, as well as more typical roosting entries. They observed a total of 22 entries and seven exits for 16 Chimney Swifts. Due to the somewhat large number of entries and exits at what is normally a roosting site, I passed the data on to Tim and Barb to determine if any funny business by the swifts was going on! Barb’s suggestions were
“1. fledglings from another site moved over to the big roost;
2. an influx of from-aways (not necessarily juveniles) arrived and attempted to “settle”;
3. the full moon in early August makes swifts as weird as my dog who gets very wound up and perky;
4. swifts thrive on defying following a playbook that makes it possible to understand their behaviour.”
Tim’s vote was for #3 – were-swifts! As well all know, swift only play by the rules on occasion!
At Lower Fort Garry, after myself and Gerald had a bit of a mystery watch on August 11th, on August 16th the swifts use of the chimney – or lack thereof, showed a new piece of the puzzle. During both the daytime and evening monitoring sessions Gerald saw nary a swift. So it is possible that when Gerald and I were watching on August 11th, the swifts may have already started fledging. On August 15th staff at Lower Fort Garry could hear chirping inside the chimney and noted that the chirping seemed “older” (from older birds) this year, compared to past years when nesting in this chimney has failed. Time will tell, once we are able to take a look in the chimney (after the swifts have left) to determine if the Chimney Swifts had a successful outcome here this year!
In Dauphin, the chimneys are still active. Ken writes “The roost chimney and Old Scott’s Hardware chimney have a busy feeding schedule with 5 in/out cycles in 30 minutes while the Watson Arts chimney has a slower paced feeding (2-3 per 30 minutes). The roost chimney is still getting double digit numbers for the over night while the two nest chimneys only have the resident couples. The two nest chimneys retire for the night shortly after sunset while the roost still has birds coming in almost till dark. It might be a while yet for ‘the rest of the story’!”
Yesterday, the Dauphin group of monitors convened to watch the chimneys once again. Ken and Jan went to watch the Old Scott’s Hardware chimney and saw what they thought was only one bird feeding. Pat and Marilyn watched the Watson Arts Centre chimney with two birds feeding. There was rain in the evening, which disrupted the swifts, and likely disrupted their insect prey as well.
In Brandon Margaret and Amelia are still watching the Orange Block chimney and patiently waiting to see if they see some fledglings! On August 16th during the roosting monitoring period a constant stream of entries and exits by two swifts were observed. There were a total of 8 entries and 6 exits before the two swifts entered the chimney for the night.
On August 17th Frank and Jacquie watched the Transcona Collegiate chimney during the roosting period. Unfortunately, no Chimney Swifts were sighted, instead a large group of crows nearby provided the evening’s entertainment. (The highlight may have been the spilling of my Timmies coffee and falling off the chair thanks to our energetic rescue dog! FJM)
On August 17th Barb in St Adolphe saw no swifts during her noon hour watch for 60 minutes. For other aerial insectivores she did spy a few purple martins during her daytime watch (but considerably fewer in numbers than during peak season), and a steady stream of low-flying nighthawks the same evening around 7:30. As Barb says “It doesn’t seem like 3 months ago we started the “at home” bird watch. Tonight seems like a season closer bookend.” Luckily, we still have swifts in other areas of Manitoba!
–Amanda Shave
