FIRST-TIME FLIERS ARE ON THE WING!
This is a brief news flash: reports of probable and confirmed fledglings have just landed! Other positive updates from our monitors indicate that more first-time fliers should be welcomed soon…
The Yellow Brick Chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) was being used actively Thursday night (July 28th). It is likely that 3 fledglings were tallied in the final roost count of 5 Chimney Swifts. Nia tracked all the fast feathered action. Linda kept her eyes glued to the nearby T4 tower and recorded a valuable datapoint = 1 roosting entry. We’ll talk about what the swifts in those other SMHC towers are doing – later, when we figure it out ourselves!
This morning (July 29th) at Club Amical in St Adolphe, 3 consecutive exits indicated that at least 1 fledgling from the NE chimney was airborne on Day 29 (right on time!). All the exit paths took the swifts away from me and no wing margins could be seen. However, behaviour observations two lots north, at the Church, indicated that 2 fledglings were flying around together. They were just over the Japanese Maple hedges and roof of the Rectory – flap, flap, flap-glide, flap, flap, flap-glide – moving slowly around without any aerial stunts.
Maybe other fledglings have been sighted during your recent monitoring sessions. Send your datasheets and notes along and we’ll be happy to share the good news!
This week, there have been other reports of very active feeding elsewhere. This includes three of the Dauphin sites which Ken, Jan, Pat & Marilyn monitor. Winona also saw feeding exchanges, before the final roosting entries, at the Merchant’s Hotel in Selkirk on Wed. night (July 27th). We hope all these sites remain active and the youngsters launch soon.
The next round of fledging in St Adolphe is due Aug. 11-15, with 3 sites staggered at one day intervals. The young are still in the nest, so I check the sites often and particularly after intense rain storms which may cause nest slippage (yes, another 1¾” poured in again this week). So far so good!
The breeding pair at the Men’s House, west chimney, were both accounted for on Tuesday morning when Rob and I flew in for a monitoring session. The activity pattern suggested incubation was still underway though…here’s hoping that those eggs hatch sooner than later.
The record for the latest known successful fledging in Manitoba belongs to the pair of Chimney Swifts using the T4 tower at SMHC last year. First-time fliers launched from that newly constructed tower ~Sept. 5-9th ( https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/chimney-swift-towers/ ).
It will be interesting to see how our Chimney Swifts fare in August…
Thanks for all your monitoring efforts!
-Barb.
