STOP PRESS : MCSI are requesting additional volunteer help to watch 2 roost chimneys in Winnipeg regularly over the coming fortnight. These chimneys are:
1. The Moorgate – 2187 Portage, St James, Winnipeg
2. The Newcastle Apartments – 303 Assiniboine Avenue, Smith/Donald Bridge, Winnipeg
If you are able to help, please contact Tim Poole at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com
Another week of Chimney Swift action, and we are nearing the home strait, and the times of skies devoid of the familiar chittering and chimneys merely full of smoke and fumes as winter closes in. Fortunately for us, our swifts are now beginning to fledge, and in the coming days we will see more flocks of pre-migrant swifts readying for their long journey to the south.
So what of this week?
I promised a St Adolphe update, and here it is from Barb. Let’s start with her July 26th report:
‘Today it took over 4 hours, 3 car parking spots, 2 sessions at Brodeurs, and 1 momentous trip to the RM facilities to decode the week down south.
Tuesday, I had 1 entry/exit per hour at Main St but watched in amazement at 4 cycles per hour at Brodeurs (it had been unoccupied for since June 30th during the daytime). No entry/exit events were seen at the SE Club.
Wednesday, I saw the similar 1 cycle per hour at Main St and saw nothing at Brodeurs. Two swifts dropped into the SE Club and stayed over ½ hour and were inside when I left in the rain at noon.
Thursday = today, I still had 1 cycle per hour at Main St and 3 cycles at Brodeurs. Over to the Club and as Tuesday, no entry/exits at the SE Club. So back to the Church lot to focus on the Brodeur rim…lots of action from 12:45 through to 2 PM. I was watching moulting adults and trying to get under the birds leaving Brodeurs. On a couple of occasions, I was sure there was a juvenile – black and sleek and no obvious feather gaps but they weren’t perfectly aligned over my head to be 100% sure. On the final walk back to the car after being in the RM, a swift popped out of Brodeurs really low, got masked by the tree to the north, but I sprinted to get under it and I am sure it was a juvenile.
So the “something” happened on Tuesday and I am calling fledging at SE Club Amical on Tuesday July 24.
This is a record for earliest recorded fledging date in St Adolphe (2007-2018).
- This is also the first record of a successful breeding attempt at the SE Club chimney.
- There was a helper involved in this breeding attempt and I had no idea fledging was imminent as I can’t
interpret the activity pattern with a helper yet. - A group of 5 low flying birds that continually absorbed swifts leaving the Brodeur chimney was flying about today – but no flock that did flyovers or peer ‘n’ veer’s or fast group flying; the group of 5 is possibly 2 adults, 1 helper, and 2 fledglings?’
On Tuesday, August 1st, Barb was back reporting:
‘Tortuous Tuesday it was. On July 31st, the St Adolphe swifts went off script…
It was cool in the morning and few swifts were seen in town – a group of 4 was seen once (down from 10 the previous day). A juvenile and an adult had a turn in the Main St chimney. The SE Club was not used at all and one 13 second visit was made to the NE Club chimney.
For the extended roosting hour, Rob and I headed to the parking lot at the Church to watch the Brodeur Bros. chimney in hopes of getting a fledgling head count for the relocated SE Club birds. I was going to sit strategically to head-snap-watch the Church chimney also. After the Church birds nest failure, no daytime activity took place. We wondered if the resident pair was still in town or if perhaps the local birds were setting up a pre-migratory group which has been seen in previous years.
It was a long and chilly watch until sunset. Two swifts dove into the Church. Ok, the resident pair is around. Minutes later an absolutely warp speed flying display was put on by 4 swifts. Low careening passes low over the Church roof, circling the rim before flying over to the rectory, swooping around the Brodeur chimney before speeding back to the Church. Those swifts reminded me of migratory birds seen in late August – ones not familiar with the territory and looking for a place to hang their feathers for the night.
One swift took the plunge into Brodeurs. Then another body was ½ way in before Rob recognized the entry. I was watching another of the speedsters when it flew low over the front of our parked truck & carried on over my shoulder to the tops of the Japanese Maple row east of us. Then there was a flaring ‘n’ flapping descent right over the artificial tower. That’s when I lost sight of the swift! Intriguing to say the least. I said more. We have never had a confirmed entry into any of the artificial Manitoba towers.
So Wandering Wednesday (August 1) started early. It was a lovely morning to sit the vigil at the tower… ½ hour before to ½ hour after sunrise it was. Two mugs of coffee in hand and one hour, and a few bonus minutes, of monitoring later, there was no exit from the tower. The crazed swift had not entered. But you have to ground truth these things…’
Moving ahead, here is her report from this morning (the 3rd August)
‘Fortunately, Lewis & Frank & Jacquie & Rob responded to Barb’s distress call of “need help monitoring”, so we did a multi-site session last night.
- Main St. – no activity in 90 minutes other than 4 late roosting entries (the last caught nicely by Lewis as I dropped my head to record the previous 2 entries). If this is the intact family group, a behavioural estimate = 2 fledglings.
- Church – Frank had 4 entries then shortly afterward an exit (see the NE Club) for a total of 3 roosting.
- Brodeurs – no activity; on Tuesday, there were 2 entries made by frantic fliers (“from away” birds likely).
- Club Amical – Rob started watching shortly after 8 PM. At the NE chimney, an exit was made ~45 minutes after the start of observations followed by an entry 10 minutes later. Then there was a cluster of activity in both chimneys – 2 roosting entries were made together in the SE chimney (cue the “who are you?” music from CSI); 2 entries and 1 exit and 1 entry in the NE chimney. Then the air space went quiet before 2 frantic fliers approached (shortly after Frank’s exit at the Church) – there was a feigned entry and lots of under the eave fast flying. These 2 roosted in the NE site also and are likely “from aways”.
Going from the Club chimneys, over Brodeurs, north to the Church then to Main St., the total in town was 2 + 4 + 0 + 3 + 4 = 13.
Local swifts have departed and “from away” swifts were seen (as Tuesday night indicated too).’
Linda and Nia counted swifts into two chimneys at Lower Fort Garry on July 26th.
On the 28th, John,, watched an entry and exit cycle on a new site on Bannatyne, but saw nothing enter another new site on William. Both sites were in and around the Exchange District in Winnipeg.
On July 29th, Ken and Jan in Dauphin reported that:
‘Chimney #2 had 3 swifts go down but the chimney is nestled between the building and several large spruce which makes it almost impossible to see an exit. The entries were 8:03, 8:35 & 8:38 so there could have been an exit between, the main thing is however that the this was not the roosting hour and, there were lots of “veer and peer” flights overhead so I would say YES to a nest.
The roost chimney #1 was during roosting hour but had an exit just as we got there and a ½ hour later there was an in & out 3 minutes apart which would indicate YES another nest even thought a ½ hour later there were another 26 swifts go down for the night!!
The #3 chimney Jan got to watch also had 2 in& outs with less than a minute between and only 4 minutes between the two cycles so 2 birds at least feeding here also, YES another nest.’
On the 29th, Margaret and Millie, still had a very active nesting pair in Brandon. Margaret sent an update from the 1st of:
‘We are monitoring more frequently so as not too miss the fledging, and hoping that they will be successful.’
The pair were still active that evening.
Garry had a strange event on the 30th at his regular monitoring site in East Kildonan. Watching the birds to fledging, he reported that:
‘I found it kind of strange that the 2 swifts that exited at 21:03 were in the chimney for at least 40 minutes after I arrived, since I saw no entries during that first 40 minutes. I would have thought they would be foraging continuously at that time of the evening.’
Never fear, Barb is here with some answers, suggesting:
‘I am wondering if you have had fledging from this site and the youngsters could be hunkered in the chimney and the parents were resting with them. The adults may have been the exits and roosting entries.’
So we think we have a successful nest here. Huzzah!
Nia and Linda were back out on the 30th, and back to the Selkirk Hospital sites. 12 roosting swifts entered the large stack, and 1 the Yellow Brick chimney (I am sure there’s a song about this chimney in the Wizard of Oz).
On the 31st July, Christian got, what one now calls, ‘a swifting’, that is he got completely baffled and buffeted trying to watch too many swifts at once. 21 swifts in the air, 7 into the Moorgate, activity at Silver Heights, and birds into a new adjacent site. Phew!
On Wednesday, Frank, Jacquie, Lewis, and a rumoured few others, returned to Assiniboine School to have a look. Here is Frank’s report:
‘ASSINIBOINE SCHOOL NO ENTRIES OR EXITS (only one CHSW seen close to the chimney and only a handful seen in the area)
KINGS THEATRE NO ENTRIES OR EXITS
178 PORTAGE AVENUE APARTMENTS THREE ENTRIES (and I think you will have a report from another observer)– we had an obscured view
CARILLON TOWERS THREE ENTRIES (20:55, 21:02, 1nd 21:23 NO EXITS’
We await the other reports, but it looks like Assiniboine School, amazing in the spring, empty in the fall.
A site that is not empty in the fall is 303 Assiniboine. Tim, reported 12 entries, 2 loitering Peregrines, and even a friendly passerby.
Barb and Rob’s Excellent Adventures to La Salle continued:
‘Got to La Salle a bit late as we attended the discovery of a freshly rolled, totally mangled car, upside down but straddling the ditch on 247 W. Nobody was there other than the good Samaritans; another fellow called it in and it had not been reported. The car was being towed away as we came home. Stolen
and abandoned after a joy ride?
The chimney story unfolded nicely tonight. 2 roosting entries in the EAST chimney; multiple entry/exit cycles in the WEST chimney with 2 distinct exit patterns – one of which was N, overhead of us, and that was a juvenile
(multiple sightings); 3 swifts roosted for the night with the last entry a loop back and drop style seen only once.
All this = estimate of 2 fledglings as a helper has been on site.’
Another happy swift family!
David continues to find a whole lot of swifts in La Broquerie:
‘Last night, Wednesday there were 12 entries in the large chimney and 3 in the small, making a total of 15. Lots of exits but the final tally is 15.’
Michele and Mike continue to report and do I hear the sounds of baby swifts in eh air here as well (Barb will confirm):
‘Last night’s activity in SFX was quite different than last week. Entries and exits were at a “not quite so frantic” pace, with individual birds spending more time in the chimney before exiting again. Also, to our great delight, we spotted 4 to 5 swifts appearing suddenly over the roof-line of the church then disappearing again just as suddenly. I am 90% certain there were 5 in total but we counted only 4 entering the chimney for the night.’
Cal reported a similar story in Portage, and this has again winged itself to the MCSI brains trust. Another successful nesting attempt appears to have happened here as well. Woohoo!
Gerald observed some nice daytime activity at the nesting site in Lockport on the 2nd.
Christian checked the zoo tower on the 2nd to no avail, but there are certainly lots of swifts in this area. Fingers crossed!
New volunteer Leah checked the site on Corydon and reported that she:
‘Saw two entries and one departure in about 10 minutes of viewing. Saw at least 4 in the air at one time.
Finally, Tim made it a lucky 13 new sites for the year, catching an entry/exit at a Ukrainian National Federation building on Main. He is currently seeking funding to have our factsheets translated to Ukrainian!
And there we go, this week has seen some very happy swift families, and leaves us with only a week or two of swifting to go. Keep going, we are almost there, and we have had some incredible success (again)!
— Tim Poole
