Author: mbchimneyswift

Spit & Sticks: A Chimney Full of Swifts by Marilyn Grohoske Evans with illustrations by Nicole Gsell

Something a bit different for all you swifters out there late on a Friday afternoon in early March – a children’s book about Chimney Swifts!

Spit & Sticks is a story based around a farming household in Texas and their summer visitors. The book is very educational, telling a story of a pair of Chimney Swifts as they arrive in spring, nest and produce three offspring. The human family are illustrated alongside getting ready for their own new arrival, almost as if in a parallel universe. For example, opposite a painting of the adult swifts building their nest is the human family building a crib. The language is designed to educate the young reader about the life cycle of Chimney Swifts:

‘Fun ends. Work begins. The birds’ long claws snatch twigs from the treetops. They carry them to the chimney in their beaks. Inside the chimney, the pair pastes the small sticks together with a special glue made from their own sticky spit. The pair won’t quit until their half-saucer nest is perfect.’

This is in my view a terrific resource for sharing the remarkable story of the Chimney Swifts with younger children. The language is simple and the parallel story with the human family would help illustrate the story for younger readers.

The book is available on Amazon and you can take a sneak peek inside (http://www.amazon.ca/Spit-Sticks-Chimney-Full-Swifts/dp/1580895883).

The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative is keen to promote the Chimney Swift message to communities across the swift range in Manitoba. We have small funds available to purchase a few copies as an outreach opportunity for any local school, community centre or library who might be interested. If you think this might suit your local school or community please let me know by Friday March 11th and I will out in an order.

Tim Poole, Habitat Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator, MCSI, mcsi.outreach(at)gmail.com

The Parish Church in Saint-Jean-Baptiste on Sunday February 24, 2016 became the first recipient of the Swift Champions plaque. Swift Champion plaques are awarded to building owners, whether private individuals, businesses, organisations, schools or religious groups, who to do that extra bit to contribute towards Chimney Swift conservation here in Manitoba. 

Our relationship with the congregation in Saint-Jean-Baptiste was facilitated through our local volunteer, Luc Blanchette. Having been monitoring the town during the Breeding Bird Atlas, Luc recorded and surveyed swifts using the church chimney. During late winter 2015, Luc helped the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative by translating our factsheets into French (see number 1, number 2 and number 3 for English versions). While reading the text, Luc decided to ask the church for access to the cleanout trap on the chimney to confirm breeding. The church agreed and Luc was able to look into the dark recesses of the chimney. The contents were as hoped but with a bit of a surprise for laying among the assortment of Chimney Swift feathers, twigs and old nests were pieces of mortar.

It became obvious that there some damage to the chimney and on closer inspection the damage was actually fairly dangerous looking, with a large vertical crack between the bricks at the top.

MCSI and the church began to discuss the future of the chimney. Rather than demolish it, the church agreed that we would work together to secure it long-term for Chimney Swifts. The chimney in this case stood a number of metres above the treeline. Repairing the crack would be time-consuming and more costly, so we decided that removing the top layers of bricks would be the way forward. Denis Foidart, a member of the church took on the work with financial support from Environment Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund and input from the church. The results below are, I am sure you would agree, a vast improvement on the original state. 

The church have now agreed to become Swift Champions. Luc Blanchette accepted the plaque on behalf of the church at their Annual General Meeting on Sunday. The plaque was awarded by steering committee member Ron Bazin on behalf of MCSI. 

 Thank you to everyone involved in making this a success, especially the church finance committee led by Jeanette Gilmore, Denis Foidart and Luc himself. Funding was provided by Environment Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund. This is a fantastic example of an MCSI volunteer working with the community to champion the cause of Chimney Swift conservation and also the building owners being willing to work with MCSI and our volunteers to help the swifts. To see the Swift Champion agreements for owners click here and for volunteers click here . Please also contact Tim Poole at mcsi.outreach@gmail.com for more information. 

Wishing you the best for spring migration birding, 

Tim Poole for the MCSI Team: Frank Machovec, webmaster; Barb Stewart, monitoring program; Christian Artuso, Ron Bazin, Neil Butchard, Lewis Cocks, Ken De Smet, Nicole Firlotte, and Rob Stewart, Steering Committee Members.

MCSI are keen to promote the protection of Chimney Swift breeding and roosting habitats here in Manitoba. In fact we are people obsessed with retaining old brick chimneys, unashamedly so, because without these structures we have no idea what the future would hold for swifts here in Manitoba.

Birds of prey will often nest in the same tree year on year and over generations. One spring, the breeding pair will return to find their old nest site has gone, having been blown over during a heavy storm. In this case, the breeding habitat is no longer suitable for the birds purpose and they move on to construct a new nest in a different tree. There are plenty of alternatives available in this case, but not necessarily when we consider the case of the Chimney Swift.

I have no idea whether Chimney Swifts would return to the same tree in Manitoba to nest or roost year on year, but given how they seem to find the same chimneys here in Manitoba, I suspect this would have been the case. Now Chimney Swifts in Manitoba, as far as we know, nest solely in old chimneys. Many of the chimneys that provide homes for Chimney Swifts are either more than 100 years old or swiftly approaching that milestone. This leads to a bit of a problem: chimneys are the most exposed part of any building, jutting out above the roofline and being more exposed to the slightly chilly effects of a Manitoban winter. Currently we are discovering that a number of these chimneys are deteriorating to the extent that they will need urgent repairs in the coming years if they are to continue to provide homes for swifts. Fortunately, thanks to funding from Environment Canada, we have been able to begin the process of repairing a few of these chimneys this fall and below I give a brief account of one of these chimneys.

Our first repair came about as the result of a chance encounter between a volunteer (and MCSI committee member) and a priest from a church he was monitoring. One evening in June, Christian Artuso was monitoring the chimney at St Anne’s Church on Hampton Street, Winnipeg, as part of the 4 day national roost monitoring scheme. Happy, after a successful evening with 2 entrances, Christian was suddenly faced with the awful prospect that this important habitat would be imminently destroyed. The priest explained that the chimney would be demolished due to safety concerns over degrading (and crumbling) mortar above the roofline. The church no longer used the chimney, they were unaware of the critical habitat it provided for swifts and therefore the obvious solution would be to remove the chimney before it collapsed in a residential area.

Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship and MCSI were able to intervene at this point, met with the church and came up with a plan of action to save the chimney and the nesting swifts. We employed a local mason to repair the chimney and made an agreement that the church would continue to retain this chimney for the swifts. From the following photos you can see that the chimney was rebuilt above the roofline and a crown added to the peak to add stability.

Above: Inside of chimney. No sign of the nest, so maybe it is either too low or already fallen?

Above: There is a second chimney on site. Previously it was assumed that this chimney was capped but this summer Chimney Swifts were observed entering it. If you look carefully you can see a entrance behind the flue, indicating that there are 2 flues on this chimney

Above: Completed chimney, well done Ed!

We would like to thank not only our funders at Environment Canada, but also Nicole Firlotte from Manitoba Conservation for establishing contact with the church and finally St Anne’s Church for their support in this endeavour, especially Richard Ludwick, the Deacon, who has been extremely helpful during this process.

Tim Poole

SEPTEMBER SEASON ENDER – MCSI ROOST AND NEST SITE DATABASE 2014-2015; ST ADOLPHE NEST SITE SUMMARY 2015
All of your sore neck muscles, throbbing backs, and blurry vision endured at the chimney sites helps deliver monitoring data. Numbers. The currency of databases…
 

Here is a link to the results of our 2015 monitoring season – the MCSI Roost and Nest Site Database 2014-2015 has been posted on the MCSI website, in the Results section. This database lists all known roost and nest sites in Manitoba and the maximum number of chimney swifts seen entering or exiting the site. For 2015, chimneys were designated as roost or nest sites if sufficient information was available. This year we asked for extra “daytime” monitoring prior to the roosting hour for the last National Roost Monitoring Program night (June 1) and the MCSI Blitz Night (June 6); many monitors continued with observations during the breeding season. Daytime entries/exits distinguish a nest site. At roost sites, chimney swifts enter the site within 1/2 hour of sunset to rest for the night; departure is made within 1/2 hour of sunup the following morning.

If you want to look at monitoring results for previous years, the 2007-2014 database is still posted on the MCSI website, Results section, at: http://www.mbchimneyswift.ca/Documents/2014_sites.pdf

It is easy to correct omissions/errors in the database. So, if you find that numbers have been lost in transcription, please submit corrections and all will be remedied. If you have data that has not winged it’s way in yet, it is never too late to submit the results of your efforts.

A summary of the 2015 nest site outcomes in St. Adolphe is available too. It is also on the MCSI website, in the Results section.

Citizen science forms the basis of the chimney swift stewardship and outreach programs that MCSI develops. Thank you all for your significant contributions to our program this year – the swifts have been well served! Your gift of time and interest has helped us learn about the distribution, abundance, and biology (timing of arrivals, fledging etc.) of this threatened species in Manitoba. With your continued assistance, we will work to support chimney swift populations in Manitoba.

Barb Stewart for the MCSI team: Webmaster, Frank Machovec; Habitat Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator, Tim Poole (mcsi.outreach@gmail.com); and fellow Steering Committee members – Christian Artuso, Ron Bazin, Neil Butchard, Lewis Cocks, Ken De Smet, Nicole Firlotte, and Rob Stewart.

The end is fast approaching! Ok, not quite that end but we are almost at a point where the chattering will cease, the skies above will empty of our ‘flying cigars’, temperatures will drop and there will be an 8 month hiatus in cases of severe neck strain across Manitoba. Yes, that’s right, the swifts will be gone and an empty void will fill our lives.

For most of us the fall migration of Chimney Swifts is the time to take a well-earned rest. For some of us the real work will begin as the last swift makes its first steps across forest, lake, sea and prairie to the sun-filled uplands of South America. Why might this be? Firstly, to protect the Chimney Swift nests we are unable to access chimneys for cleaning and repair until the 1st September. By having a range of dates where activities are restricted around the chimney of a building, we can protect the nests and broods as well as prevent any disturbance to roosting birds. We are thus hoping to have a few repair projects this fall, with more to follow at a later date.

Secondly, we are hoping to launch a new scheme in the back of this year called ‘Swift Champions’. A Swift Champion might refer to a building owner or even individual or groups of volunteers. The criteria we laid out for this in the 3rd of our factsheets but is summarized below:

•    Limit chimney closures e.g. capping and lining
•    Clean your chimney regularly
•    Repair rather than demolish your chimney
•    Prevent access to a lined chimney by capping it
•    Refrain from using your heating system from mid-May to late August
•    Keep cleanout trap closed
•    Avoid renovating roof from mid-May to the end of August
•    Manage noise by closing the damper tightly and packing insulation inside
•    Seal off access within the building during the breeding season
•    Avoid over-pruning trees or large shrubs on your property
•    Advocate wetland protection
•    Monitor chimneys on your property
•    Volunteer to monitor individual chimneys on other properties
•    Volunteer to monitor groups of chimneys in your area
•    Assess chimneys in your area both for Chimney Swift potential and for any damage
•    Take part in the National Roost Monitoring Scheme
•    Allow MCSI volunteers access to monitor Chimney Swifts on your property
•    Allow MCSI volunteers access to the cleanout trap on your property

We plan to score candidates against this criteria. Each Swift Champion will be awarded with a plaque of an image designed by local designer Richard Cain. As volunteers for the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative we need your help with this process by nominating suitable candidates for the ‘Swift Champion’ program. If you have any ideal candidates, whether it is the owners and managers of buildings you are involved in monitoring or whether it is the work of exceptional volunteers in your area, please let us know.

 

We have another important matter for anyone still plugging away monitoring for a few more weeks. Please can you pay close attention to the state of the chimney you are monitoring? It is clear that there are a few which are in need of some repairs. There will be a new blog post soon, but for example see this photo of a chimney in Winnipeg which has records of use by swifts in the not-too-distant past. The cracks around the bricks are where the mortar has begun to crumble due to erosion, probably caused by the slightly chilly winters we can experience here in Manitoba. If you see any signs of this types of damage or any other potential damage please let us know.
 
You can find out more information by contacting our Habitat Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator Tim Poole on mcsi.outreach@gmail.com or 204-943-9029.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015. The day started with promise. It was a lovely, sun-drenched morning with light winds. What a perfect start to a once in a lifetime experience which followed. After 9 monitoring seasons involving over 1,000 hours of chimney rim staring, I witnessed fledging for the first time!

Here is a synopsis of the monitoring session at the St. Adolphe Catholic Church, which spanned 8:50 to 10:50 AM:

8:50 monitoring session starts

8:51:29 exit

9:02:30 entry
9:04:54 exit

9:06:47 entry
9:16:20 entry (2 adults in now)

9:19:10 exit, exit (2 adults out together)
9:19:33 exit = low, fluttery wing beats = A FLEDGLING – JUVENILE No. 1; 2 adults and juvenile no. 1 fly together east, low over cemetery with the adults leading

9:34 juvenile and 1 adult fly together low over cemetery with the adult leading

9:41:XX exit = JUVENILE No. 2

9:47:03 juvenile flies north to south, alone
10:07:05 juvenile (can see intact wing margins) overhead west to east, alone

10:17 three swifts fly east to west on approach to chimney rim
10:17:45 2 adults enter + 1 juvenile misses entry – see the video link; juvenile flies to N then NE
10:17:55 1 adult exits and flies toward the juvenile
10:18:37 1 adult exits to SE

10:19 1 adult and 1 juvenile fly north of Church

10:39:45 entry; fast, easy = adult
10:40:47 exit; adult – see moulting on trailing wing edge

10:45 adult with juvenile following closely (within 1/2 body length) approach the chimney rim from the east
10:45:54 entry by adult; entry by slightly hesitant juvenile
10:46:43 exit by adult; fast, to east

10:50 monitoring session stops. Four consecutive exits indicated two fledglings were airborne this morning. Slow, fluttery flying and intact wing margins supported the identification of juveniles. Viewing a missed entry into the chimney was a bonus and there is footage of this amazing event!

Follow this link (to YouTube) to view a short video clip of two adult chimney swifts leading a fledgling back to the home chimney at the St. Adolphe Catholic Church ~ 10:17 am, Saturday, August 1, 2015.

It takes more than good luck to make the most of a chimney swift monitoring season which captures such rare events. Many people support my swift watching habits and reports. THANKS to Rob, Duncan, and Ryan who are my puppy-sitting and tech support team. THANKS also to Frank for bringing all the news to you as our webmaster. Much appreciated early season monitoring support for the five St. Adolphe nest sites came from Ken, Lewis, Roberta, Frank, Jacquie, Kathy, and Rob.

Now jumping back to the days leading up to fledging day, adult activity at the Church nest site was high. Monitoring sessions which took place in the morning, for at least an hour, between 8:30 and 11:30 showed: 6 entry/exit cycles an hour – July 26; 7 entry/exit cycles an hour – July 30; and 7 entry/exit cycles an hour – July 31. After fledging, a “robust roosting hour” session on Aug. 3 did not pick up an increased head count – two adults roosted for the night; it may take several days before the youngsters are out foraging during the evening. Once the pesky string of nighttime thunder storms subsides, another attempt will be made to get a post-fledging count to confirm the number of fledglings at the Church nest site.

Despite the very good outcome at the Church, overall, the 2015 nesting season has been problematic for the St. Adolphe chimney swifts. Of 5 available nest sites in town, only 4 were occupied this year. Breeding adults returned later in May than in most previous years and nest building began close to (or after) the June 1 “cut-off” date for possible successful outcomes. Indeed, the Brodeur Bros. pair was the last to start their nest around June 7-9 and was one of the unsuccessful couples. Nest failures are indicated when breeding adults stop using the chimneys during the daytime. This occurred at: Main St. between July 7-12; Brodeur Bros. on July 14; and at the NE Club Amical between July 17-24.

What went wrong with the nesting attempts in 2015? Heavy rain storms seemed to arrive weekly and the Main St. swifts stopped using the chimney within a day of a Saturday night deluge.​ Nests can wash off the interior surfaces of chimneys and insects (chimney swift food) can be washed out of the air column with sustained rains. Insect abundance can also be reduced by prolonged weather patterns involving high temperature/humidity – these systems cannot be controlled. Reduced food availability also may be related to insecticide use. The St. Adolphe area lies within the mosquito abatement area for the City of Winnipeg and it is also embedded in agricultural lands where soybean aphids are controlled through the aerial spraying.

It will take a lot of intensive study to tease apart the contributing factors to nest failures. However, based on the recent monitoring results in St. Adolphe, it appears that the general population decline of chimney swifts may not be occurring entirely due to the lack of habitat.

Now to add in monitoring data from other communities…more good news flew in from Margaret and Millie and their alternate monitor Louanne. They have been rewarded for their diligent nightly sessions at Site 900 in Brandon. On August 3, 8 entry/exit cycles were made before 2 adults roosted for the night. On August 4, roosting hour observations indicated an entry by an inexperienced swift ~ likely a juvenile. Between 9:17-9:18 PM, Millie and Margaret noted ” Two attempts i.e. a dive and a pull-up. Finally made it into the chimney on the third attempt.” It is likely that the 2015 nesting attempt at this Brandon site has been successful!

Monitoring of roost sites indicated an increase in chimney swift abundance by mid-July. Roosting hour counts at Assiniboine School = 34 on July 1 and 69 on July 19. In Selkirk, the big roost had 19 swifts in for the night of July 20 and 28 swifts in for the night of July 27. The swifts are on the move now…

By mid-August, a profound redistribution of the Manitoba chimney swift population will take place. In St. Adolphe, successful fledging seems to trigger a “release” of unsuccessful adults from the community. In previous years, the local birds have gathered at the Church (when the site had successful fledging) or left the community altogether (this happened in years with poor food supply = extremely low rates of entry/exit cycles = low feeding rates of juveniles, which resulted in the majority of nesting attempts failing). Ken, in Dauphin, usually expects his swifts to be gone from the roost site by August 18.

So, if you want to enjoy some “last looks” before the swifts head south, head out to your favourite chimney soon!

Happy swifting, Barb.

All birds replace worn and damaged feathers through the annual moulting process. For chimney swifts in Manitoba, the summer moult overlaps with breeding activities. Feather replacement is an energy consuming affair for all birds, but it further taxes breeding swifts.

For general information, Steve Howell (Peterson Reference Guide to Molt in North American Birds; 2010) has an interesting chapter on moulting in various species of the swift family (Apodidae).  For detailed technical information, Peter Pyle wrote the bible on plumage and moult characteristics which enables ageing/sexing of birds (Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part 1. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, California; 1997). Chimney swifts are a challenge to study – they are fast fliers, both sexes are similar in appearance, and the birds roost/nest in remote locations where we cannot see them. However, we can get glimpses of the birds as they enter/exit chimney sites and dash about feeding.

As obligate aerial insectivores – chimney swifts MUST feed on insect prey collected in the air. It is essential for swifts to remain capable of flying, so they have a gradual, protracted moult. Some birds such as ducks, swans, and grebes, replace their feathers synchronously over a short period e.g., two week period, which renders them flightless.

As chimney swifts have one moult per year they have one definitive adult plumage which is called the “definitive basic”. Birds which have two moults per year e.g., Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, have two definitive plumages per year –  the definitive basic (adult winter) and definitive alternate (adult breeding) (http://ofo.ca/site/page/view/articles.plumages). As our monitoring season continues, so does the swift’s moulting.
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For monitors in Manitoba, moult characteristics become an important way to distinguish fledglings from adults. Most fledging takes place toward the end of July and into the first week of August, and it is useful to identify juveniles to help estimate nesting success. The flight of newly fledged chimney swifts is characterized by: flying at low altitudes, rapid wing beats for slow air speed, large banking turns, and, occasionally, difficult entries to chimneys (yes, they do miss the opening and tumble down the outside face!). However, within several days post-fledging, young swifts are proficient fliers and they are not easy to distinguish from adults based on flight competency alone. So how do you distinguish juveniles vs. adults? The best way is to look for evidence of moulting on the trailing wing margins. Juveniles will have intact margins while adults will have discontinuities and gaps due to worn and missing feathers.

To illustrate how the trailing wing margin changes over time, Dave Lavigne has once again generously provided very informative photos of adult chimney swifts (see Dave’s new site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlavignephotography ).  

Many thanks Dave for sharing your images with us all! The trio of photos, taken in Goderich, ON, clearly shows the change in appearance of the trailing wing margins from May through mid-July. For each image, the typical stage of nesting for Manitoba breeding adults, is indicated after the date on which Dave took the photo:

If you start watching the swift’s trailing wing margins, you will be ready to identify and greet newly fledged juveniles in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the challenge!