I hope you are all staying warm on this chilly Winter Solstice Eve! With the holiday season in full swing and the New Year just around the corner, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on the 2024 Chimney Swift season and share the monitoring summary results.
Thank you very much to the 90+ volunteers (wow!!!) who helped with our monitoring program this year. We are so grateful for this growing community of people who are passionate about Chimney Swift conservation. This program truly could not function without volunteer support, so we really can’t say it enough – thank you for your time, patience, and energy!
We would love to hear any feedback on our monitoring program and your experience as a volunteer – what you like, what you don’t like, suggestions, etc. I’d also love to know your thoughts on the season kick-off event, and if you’d be interested in an event like this next year. Here is a link to a feedback form which can be submitted anonymously or with your name depending on what you are most comfortable with: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHVjFHpsw44dbWaqMl4zbLnafbG6bUeeh1MbCLuvGR_emAxg/viewform?usp=header
You can now find the updated MCSI Roost and Nest Site database on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website or by clicking here. This document summarizes the peak Chimney Swift count (and the date on which it occurred) at each monitored site as well as the date on which the peak count occurred. This document also indicates if each monitored site was used as a roost site or a nest site (based on the monitoring data available). This document also indicates if a nesting attempt was successful or if it was a failure (if known).
Here are a few highlights:
We monitored ~155 sites in 30 communities across Manitoba.
We confirmed 6 new swift sites: a private residence on Kerby Ave in Miami, the Hemp Oil building in Ste Agathe, a private residence on Ruby St in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood, Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, the apartment building at 481 Corydon Ave, and the west chimney on the Infirmary building at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (swifts regularly use the east chimney).
We confirmed the presence of swifts at 14 sites on our priority list.
90+ volunteers participated in our monitoring program.
This year, we tried something new and started the year off with a volunteer appreciation & season kick-off event at Assiniboine Park on May 14. It was lovely to see so many friendly faces, meet other swift enthusiasts, and get excited for the upcoming monitoring season.
As usual, we participated in the National Chimney Swift Roost Survey (frequently referred to as NRMP). This year, the NRMP nights took place on May 22, May 26, May 30, and June 3. By monitoring on these nights (with a focus on sites that host high counts of roosting swifts), we are able to contribute Manitoba data to this national effort. If you’re curious to learn more about this national program, you can visit the following webpage: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/bird-surveys/volunteers/national-chimney-swift-roost-survey-protocol.html On that webpage (in Appendix 3), you can find the annual dates for the 4 spring monitoring nights until 2031.
This year, we also organized monthly monitoring blitzes. Our blitzes took place on June 19, July 17, and August 7. While the spring NRMP nights are useful to know if a site is being used as a spring roost by swifts, we can’t necessarily tell that early on if a site will be used for a nesting attempt throughout the summer. These additional monitoring nights provided us with more information on when, where and how swifts use different sites.
Volunteers were free to monitor whenever worked for them throughout the season, whether that was on scheduled NRMP nights and/or monthly blitzes, or on different days if they were Some volunteers regularly monitored the same site, while others visited a variety of different sites to check for swift presence.
Thank you once again to our incredible network of volunteers.
I’d also like to extend a big thank you to the MCSI Steering Committee for their ongoing support:
Tim Poole, Barb Stewart, Rob Stewart, Frank Machovec, Christian Artuso, Lewis Cocks, Nicole Firlotte, Joanne Tuckwell, Ron Bazin, Ken De Smet, Laura Burns, Meredith Stoesz, Kristin Mozel
We’ll be back in the new year with more swift stories to tell and updates to share.
Until then, have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!
It’s official – the swifts have headed south and the 2024 Chimney Swift monitoring season has officially come to an end. What a successful season it was! Thank you SO MUCH to our wonderful and dedicated team of volunteers. We will share the monitoring summary in a future blog post once we’ve compiled all the data. On that note, please remember to send in any remaining datasheets!
Now for the final recap of the year:
St Adolphe
Barb did a roost hour watch of the Church on Sept 1 and while she saw 1 lone swallow and a group of Common Nighthawks foraging overhead, she did not see any swifts.
SMHC
Nia and Linda watched the Yellow Brick chimney and T04 on August 29 during the roosting hour and saw no swifts.
Winona watched T01 on August 30 from 7:45pm-8:25pm and saw 1 entry at 8:15pm, 1 exit at 8:16pm, 1 entry at 8:21pm and 1 entry at 8:22pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney).
Gerald watched T01 on September 3 from 7:50pm-8:00pm and did not see any swifts in the area.
Lower Fort Garry
If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ll know that the Fur Loft had a late nesting attempt and that the site finally fledged last week. Gerald watched the Fur Loft on Sept 1 from 7:27-8:34pm and saw 1 exit at 7:35pm, 1 entry at 7:45pm, 3 entries at 8:00pm, 1 entry at 8:03pm, 1 exit at 8:07pm and 1 entry at 8:18pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On September 3, Gerald watched the Fur Loft for 5 minutes and saw 2 entries at 8:17pm.
Gerald returned on Sept 4 to check if the swifts were still there. There were no swifts to be seen, confirming that the adults and young of the year have officially departed!
That wraps up our final monitoring update of the year. We will be back soon with a season summary to share.
Well, we’ve reached the end of August and fall is officially in the air! Swift numbers are definitely dwindling in most spots now – many of your reports this week indicated no swifts around. However, they are still present in some areas. Interestingly, as of August 28, there were still swifts in The Pas which is the northernmost part of their range! More details in the monitoring summary below.
The swifts will likely all be gone from Manitoba in the next week (or two, if there are some real stragglers). Thank you for your continued monitoring efforts, and please don’t forget to send in your datasheets!
Lower Fort Garry
Gerald monitored at Lower Fort Garry on August 26 from 7:45pm-8:54pm. At the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry/exit around 7:59pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:13pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:18pm, 1 entry at 8:32pm and 1 entry at 8:33pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). Wow, feeding still ongoing!!! At the Men’s House, there was no activity – it seems those adults and fledglings have officially departed.
Gerald returned on August 29 to check on the nesting attempt. He watched the Fur Loft from 8:10pm-8:45pm, and saw 2 entries at 8:11pm, 1 exit at 8:13pm, 1 entry at 8:19pm, 1 exit at 8:20pm, 1 entry at 8:20pm, 1 entry at 8:28pm, 1 exit at 8:29pm, 1 entry at 8:34pm and 1 entry at 8:35pm. That’s 5 swifts roosting in the chimney! Great news – it looks like this late nesting attempt has resulted in successful fledging! A MASSIVE thank you to Gerald for the hours and hours of work this season, from all his own monitoring time to coordinating the Selkirk Birdwatchers Club monitoring efforts.
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
Gerald monitored T01, T03 and the Infirmary chimney on August 24 from 7:50pm-9:02pm (with the help of his trusty camera set-up). At T03, he saw 6 entries between 8:29pm and 8:56pm (6 swifts roosting in the tower). At the Infirmary chimney, he saw 1 entry at 7:55pm, 1 exit at 8:15pm, 1 entry at 8:28pm, 7 entries between 8:45pm-8:47pm, 4 exits between 8:48pm-8:50pm, and 1 entry at 8:56pm (up to 8 swifts in the chimney but 5 swifts inside the chimney at the end of the roosting hour). At T01, there was zero activity observed.
St Adolphe
On August 27, Rob and Barb did a roosting hour watch at the Church chimney.
Barb reports: “A single swift was feeding low over the cemetery. Then two were spotted, then four. Well, that was a good start. After repeat sightings of one to four swifts, a ruckus broke out just at sunset involving a low flying group of swifts mixed with Barn Swallows; it was impossible to count which bird was what species at this dark point of the evening skirmish. A predatory hawk, small sized – let’s call in a “merlin” – was being mobbed. The hawk roosted on top of the hydro pole behind the rectory and sat there undisturbed, rubbing its bill on the top of the pole. After ~3 minutes the hawk flew off. We didn’t see a swift after that for the next ~25 minutes. And, voila, the roosting hour was over.”
While 4 swifts were seen in the air, there were no entries/exits at the Church chimney. Barb and Rob aren’t sure where the swifts ended up roosting.
The Pas
Danica and Grace watched the Loraine Apartments chimney (114 3rd St W) on August 28 from 1:01pm-2:01pm. They saw lots of activity – 1 exit at 1:01pm, 1 entry at 1:17pm, 1 exit at 1:18pm, 1 entry at 1:29pm, 1 entry at 1:30pm, 1 exit at 1:30pm, 1 entry at 1:31pm, 1 exit at 1:32pm, 1 entry at 1:32pm, 1 exit at 1:32pm, 2 entries at 1:33pm, 2 exits at 1:33pm, and 3 entries at 1:34pm. They saw up to 5 swifts flying at once, with 4 of these swifts seen using the chimney. Danica and Grace mentioned that they believe the group of 5 swifts includes 2 adults and 3 fledglings.
Portage la Prairie
On August 28, Gordon and Jana monitored the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada from 8:00pm-8:45pm and saw no swifts.
Winnipeg
One of our priority sites this year is L&B Towers (415 Edison Ave). Earlier this summer, we thought this site was capped but it turns out there is in fact a chimney still open on this building, it’s just very tricky to see! On August 27, Tim was at this site and saw 4 swifts flying around L&B Towers, including 1 exit from the chimney. Woohoo, confirmed!
Donna monitored St Paul the Apostle Parish on August 25, from 40 minutes before sunset until 15 minutes after sunset. She did not see any swift activity.
On August 23, Blair monitored 261 Youville St from 7:59pm-8:50pm and saw no swifts. On August 26, Blair monitored 1310 Archibald St from 7:46pm-8:27pm and saw no swifts at this site as well.
Breanne regularly monitored the Maryland Foodfare throughout the summer. On August 14, she monitored from 7:50pm-9:20pm and saw 1 entry at 8:44pm and 1 entry at 8:46pm. On August 27, she monitored from 7:25pm-8:55pm and did not see any swifts.
It looks like the swifts have now departed from most Winnipeg sites.
Updated Priority Site List (August 30):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
As we near the end of August, the swift counts in many areas are now starting to vary greatly from night to night. Most swifts have now wrapped up their nesting attempts, and the adults and fledglings are gearing up to head south (though there seems to be one site with feeding still ongoing – details in the Lower Fort Garry update below). This is an exciting time of year because you might notice migrating swifts roosting in a chimney that wasn’t being used during the nesting season. As always, keep an eye and ear out and let us know if you have any observations to report!
Dauphin
On August 21, Pat watched the Hong Kong Café chimney during the roosting hour. 7 swifts entered the chimney for the roosting hour. Pat notes: “At several times I saw 7-9+ swifts fling about but when all was said and done, only 7 went down the roost chimney. They were all flying about, chasing each other and then they were gone? I did notice one that tried to go down earlier but it had trouble lining itself up and fluttered off after one attempt so I suspect a YOY” – yep, sounds like fledglings! Great to hear.
Because the number of swifts seen in the sky during Pat’s monitoring session was higher than the number of swifts that were seen entering the Hong Kong Café chimney, Ken was curious to see if some of these swifts were roosting in the Old Scott’s Hardware chimney (which is the nearest known chimney to the Hong Kong Café). Ken monitored the Old Scott’s Hardware chimney the next evening (Aug 22) but did not see any swifts using this chimney. As Ken put it, “the mystery continues!”
La Broquerie
Frank watched the St Joachim Church in La Broquerie on August 18 from 7:50pm-9:10pm. At the large chimney, he saw 2 entries at 8:11pm, 1 entry at 8:18pm, and 2 entries at 8:22pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney). At the small chimney, he saw 1 entry at 8:06pm, 1 entry at 8:17pm, 1 exit at 8:18pm, 1 entry at 8:24pm, and 1 entry at 8:33pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney).
The two chimneys at the St Joachim Roman Catholic Church in La Broquerie. Photo by Frank Machovec.
Lockport
On August 17, Gerald watched the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound from 8:00pm-9:10pm. He saw 1 swift rapidly enter the south chimney at 8:54pm. There were no entries or exits into the north chimney.
On August 21, Fred and Nettie monitored these chimneys from 7:30pm-9:05pm and saw no activity.
Lower Fort Garry
On August 20, Gerald watched the Lower Fort Garry sites on from 7:45pm-9:06pm. At the Fur Loft, there was 1 exit at 8:04pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:13pm, 1 exit at 8:18pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:33pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:38pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:43pm, and 2 entries at 8:51pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). Seems like feeding activity – this late breeding attempt is still ongoing! We’re guessing that this site should fledge within the next week – we will see what happens.
At the Men’s House, there were 3 entries at 8:39pm, 2 entries at 8:40pm, 1 edit at 8:43pm, 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 entry at 8:49pm, 1 exit at 8:50pm and 1 entry at 8:51pm (6 swifts roosting in the chimney).
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
On August 17, Patti and Dennis watched T02 from 8:08pm-9:13pm and saw 4 entries between 8:41pm-9:04pm (4 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On August 22, Linda and Nia watched the Yellow Brick chimney and T04 from 7:58pm-9:05pm. At the Yellow Brick chimney, they saw 4 entries between 8:36pm-8:51pm (4 swifts roosting in the chimney). At T04, they saw 3 entries at 8:44pm, 2 entries at 8:46pm, 1 exit at 8:47pm, 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 entry at 8:54pm, 2 entries at 8:55pm, 1 exit at 9:15pm, 1 exit at 9:16pm, and 1 entry at 9:16pm (up to 8 swifts in the chimney but only 7 swifts in at the end of the roosting hour).
Southport
On August 21, Jana watched the Mynarski House from 7:53pm-8:58pm and saw only 1 swift, which entered the chimney at 8:27pm.
Wasagaming
On August 11, Ellie monitored the chimney at 306 Buffalo Drive from 8:30-9:30pm and saw no activity.
Updated Priority Site List (August 23):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
We have officially reached mid-August – time is really flying by. Before we know it, the swifts will be departing. There’s lots of great monitoring still happening – thank you as always to our incredible volunteers!
If you want to get another monitoring session or two in before the end of the season, I recommend looking at our priority list (at the end of this blog post) and checking out one of these sites during the roosting hour! If there isn’t a site on this list that works for you to monitor, send us a message and we can give you some more options of other sites that haven’t been watched yet this year and that would be worth checking for occupancy.
Let’s get right into the monitoring updates.
Darlingford
On August 13, Frank drove out to Darlingford for a roost hour watch of the Darlingford School Heritage Museum, from 8:20pm-9:30pm. He saw two swifts enter the chimney at 8:41pm, and 1 more entry at 8:59pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney).
Darlingford School Heritage Museum (rear view). Photo by Frank Machovec.
Portage la Prairie
On August 13, Jana watched the Mynarski House in Southport and saw 2 entries at 8:27pm, 2 entries at 8:36pm, and 1 entry at 8:41pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On August 14, Gordon watched the Trinity United Church from 8:28pm-9:15pm. He saw 2 entries at 8:39pm, 1 entry at 8:57pm, and 1 entry at 9:02pm (4 swifts roosting in the chimney).
The Pas
Joel has been regularly monitoring the Lorraine Apartments in The Pas. On July 25 he monitored from 8:44am-9:14am and did not see any activity. On July 13, he monitored from 9:21am-9:51am and saw 1 entry/exit at 9:29pm. On August 8th, he monitored from 2:13pm-2:30pm and noticed at least 2 adult swifts (possibly 3) silently entering and exiting the chimney every few minutes. On August 16th, he monitored from 9:43am-9:55am and saw 1 entry at 9:54am, and 2 exits at 9:55am.
St Adolphe
Barb and Rob did a roosting hour watch at the Church on August 11 and counted 19 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour, which is 2 down from their roosting hour count on August 7.
Lower Fort Garry
On August 14, Gerald did two monitoring sessions at Lower Fort Garry – one during the daytime (11:45am-12:30pm) and one during the roosting hour (8:00pm-9:12pm). During the daytime at the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry at 12:26pm and 1 exit at 12:26pm. At the Men’s House, there were 2 entries at 12:13pm and 1 exit at 12:22pm. During the roosting hour at the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry/exit around 8:05pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:14pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:26pm, 1 entry at 8:45pm and 1 entry at 8:46pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). At the Men’s House, there was 1 entry/exit around 8:00pm, 2 entries at 8:15pm, 2 probable entries at 8:18pm (Gerald briefly had to look at the camera to change the battery), 1 exit at 8:19pm, 2 entries at 8:37pm, and 1 entry at 8:43pm (at least 4 swifts roosting in the chimney, but possibly 6 swifts roosting in the chimney).
It seems feeding is ongoing at the Fur Loft, and there are fledglings at the Men’s House.
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
On August 9, Evan monitored T03 and the Infirmary chimney from 8:25pm-9:30pm. Once again, there was lots of activity at both these sites! During the 65-minute session, there were up to 21 swifts seen flying overhead. At the Infirmary, there were a total of 18 entries and 15 exits, with up to 4 swifts in the chimney at once but only 3 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour. At T03, there were 15 entries and 14 exits, with only 1 swift confirmed in the chimney at once and 1 swift in the tower at the end of the roosting hour – that’s a lot of ins and outs!
On August 12, Patti and Dennis monitored T02 from 8:08pm-9:24pm. Between 8:57pm and 9:19pm, they saw 13 entries and 4 exits, with 9 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour!
On August 13, Fred and Nettie monitored T01 from 7:40pm-9:25pm. They saw 1 exit at 7:54pm, 1 exit at 8:15pm, 1 entry at 8:29pm, 1 exit at 8:30pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm, and 1 entry at 9:06pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). Nia and Linda monitored the Yellow Brick chimney from 8:28pm-9:28pm, and saw 2 entries at 8:50pm, 1 entry at 8:52pm, 1 entry at 8:53pm, and 1 exit at 9:01pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney). At T04, Linda and Nia saw 1 entry at 8:40pm, 2 entries at 8:45pm, 1 entry at 9:00pm, 1 entry at 9:09pm, 2 exits at 9:10pm, 3 entries at 9:15pm, 1 exit at 9:15pm, 1 exit at 9:16pm, and 1 entry at 9:16pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On August 15, Winona monitored the Infirmary and T03 during the evening. At the Infirmary chimney, she saw 11 entries and 6 exits, with 5 swifts roosting in the chimney. At T03, she saw 5 entries and 3 exits, with 2 swifts roosting in the chimney.
Selkirk
Winona monitored the Merchant’s Hotel on August 9 from 8:30pm-9:15pm but did not see any activity.
Gerald monitored the Main St apartment building on August 9 from 8:25pm-10:20pm. He saw 1 entry at 8:47pm and 1 entry at 8:56pm.
Winnipeg
John monitored the CMU chimney during the daytime on August 10, from 2:53pm-4:01pm. There was not much activity – only 1 brief swift fly-by at 4:01pm (no entries or exits). John returned to monitor the chimney on August 11, this time in the evening from 7:59pm-9:23pm, to see if there were any swifts roosting in the chimney. He saw 1 entry at 8:42pm ,1 slow fluttering entry at 8:50pm, 2 entries at 8:59pm (one of which was a slow fluttering entry), 1 entry at 9:09pm, and 1 entry at 9:16pm. That’s a total of 6 swifts roosting in the chimney! The slow fluttering entries and high swift counts could indicate the presence of fledglings, and supports a successful nesting attempt at this site! On August 12, Graham did a roosting hour monitoring session at the chimney, from 8:16pm-9:20pm. He saw 1 entry at 8:15pm, 1 entry at 8:25pm, 1 entry at 8:50pm, 1 entry at 8:54pm, 1 entry at 9:02pm, and 1 entry at 9:06pm (6 swifts roosting in the chimney once again). Graham noted that he thinks the last swift that entered was definitely a fledgling because it spent a few minutes circling the chimney before finally attempting to enter.
Aynsley monitored the tower at the Assiniboine Park Zoo on August 13 during the roosting hour. She observed up to 3 swifts using the tower, with 1 swift in the tower at the end of the roosting hour.
Jennifer watched the chimney at 340 Provencher Blvd (CCFM) on August 9, for approx. 30 minutes just after sunset. She saw 2 entries within a few minutes of each other. The next day on August 10, she watched the chimney again for 25 minutes during the roosting hour. There was 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 exit followed by 1 entry at 8:51pm, 1 exit at 8:54pm, 1 entry at 9:01pm and 1 entry at 9:02pm.
Updated Priority Site List (August 16):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
Blitz results, record-breaking numbers in St Adolphe, etc!
It’s time for the weekly monitoring recap, including results from our blitz on August 7 – thanks to everyone who was able to monitor on this day, or another day this week! Friendly reminder to send along any monitoring sheets (it’s never too late to send in your reports, even if they are from a few months ago).
This time of year can be quite confusing when it comes to interpreting what is going on chimney-side, given the mix of new fledglings and the possibility of newly-arrived adult migrants. While it’s often difficult to know with certainty what is happening, it’s fun to speculate and give our best guesses! Keep reading for the latest updates.
St Adolphe
On August 2, Barb spent 70 minutes monitoring the Church during the daytime, but did not see a single swift. In fact, she did not see a single aerial insectivore!
On August 7 (blitz day), Barb and Rob monitored from 8:00pm to 10:30pm, which included 30 minutes of “daytime” monitoring and 60 minutes of “roost hour” monitoring. During the “daytime” portion, they did see one or two swifts flying low in the sky, but did not see any entries or exits. Around sunset, Rob saw a group of 8-9 swifts in the sky. At 9:02pm, there was 1 “seemingly cautious” entry. 10 minutes later, 2 more swifts entered. Barb described these entries as : “a meteoric drop which was markedly different in style to the first swift roosting for the night”. That’s when things really picked up… Between 9:15pm and 9:20pm, there were 18 more entries! That’s a total of 21 swifts roosting in the chimney.
Barb pointed out the significance of this observation: “Total entries = 21! That number is a seasonal high for ’24 and a new record for max in the Church – the previous max in was 19 roosting on Aug 17-18, 2009. So the numbers at the Church likely reflect Church fledglings/parents, failed breeding adults from ST A and some From Aways…maybe more will arrive over the next couple of weeks as the swifts get pointed south…”
Brandon
The search for swifts in Brandon has proven very difficult this year. Despite their big efforts, the monitoring team has not been able to find out where the swifts (which are seen intermittently) are roosting. Louanne did let me know about an eBird report by Carson of 3 swifts at the Riverbank Discovery Centre on August 8 at 8:45am.
Portage la Prairie
Gordon watched Olina Jewels and the MTS building on August 7 (blitz day) from 8:35pm-9:30pm, but did not see any swifts.
Southport
Jana watched the Mynarski House on August 7 (blitz day) from 8:11pm-9:20pm and once again saw a lot of activity. She saw 1 entry at 8:14pm, 1 entry at 8:19pm, 1 exit at 8:21pm, 1 entry at 8:33pm, 1 exit at 8:40pm, 1 entry at 8:44pm, 1 entry at 8:57pm, 1 exit at 9:02pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm, 1 exit at 9:06pm, 1 entry at 9:08pm, and 1 entry at 9:17pm. That’s 4 swifts roosting in the chimney.
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
On August 3, Patti and Dennis did a roost hour watch of T02, from 8:30-9:39pm. They saw 1 entry at 8:42pm, 1 exit at 8:45pm, 1 entry at 8:53pm, 1 exit at 8:55pm, 1 entry at 8:59pm, 1 exit at 9:00pm, 1 entry at 9:02pm, 1 exit at 9:03pm, 1 entry at 9:19pm, 1 exit at 9:21pm, 1 entry at 9:28pm, 2 entries at 9:32pm, and 1 entry at 9:34pm. That’s 4 swifts roosting in the chimney which could indicate fledglings.
On August 6, Tim organized another mini roosting hour blitz of the SMHC sites to try and get more information on the current swift situation. The results were interesting. In Tim’s words, it was “utter swift chaos”.
Fred and Nettie watched T01 from 7:45pm-9:30pm, and saw 1 possible exit at 8:05pm, and 2 entries (9:06pm and 9:18pm). That’s 2 swifts roosting in T01.
Patti and Dennis watched T02 from 8:24pm-9:31pm and saw 1 entry at 8:31pm, 1 entry at 8:32pm, 1 exit at 8:33pm, 1 exit at 8:34pm, 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 exit at 8:51pm, 1 entry at 9:03pm, and 2 entries at 9:14pm. That’s 3 swifts roosting in T02.
Linda and Nia watched the Yellow Brick chimney and T04 from 8:05pm-9:31pm. At the Yellow Brick chimney, they saw 1 entry/exit around 8:14pm, 2 entries at 8:27pm, 1 exit at 8:28pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:43pm, 1 entry at 8:58pm, 2 entries at 9:04pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:09pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:14pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:17pm, 1 entry at 9:22pm. That’s 5 swifts roosting in the Yellow Brick chimney.
At T04 (which we think fledged almost two weeks ago), they saw 1 entry at 8:07pm, 1 exit at 8:12pm, 1 entry at 8:22pm, 1 exit at 8:24pm, 1 exit at 8:26pm, 1 entry at 8:35pm, 1 entry at 8:42pm, 2 entries at 8:45pm, 1 exit at 8:49pm, 1 exit at 8:52pm, 1 entry at 8:58pm, 1 exit at 8:59pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm, 1 entry at 9:08pm. That’s 4 swifts roosting in T04.
Tim watched the Infirmary chimney and T03 from 8:00pm-9:29pm. At the Infirmary chimney (which we think also fledged almost two weeks ago), there was a lot of activity – 20 entries and 15 exits! Here’s the breakdown: 1 entry/exit around 8:09pm, 2 entries at 8:11pm, 2 exits at 8:12pm, 2 entries at 8:22pm, 2 exits at 8:23pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:28pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:32pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:39pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:49pm, 1 entry at 8:51pm, 1 exit at 8:57pm, 2 entries around 8:58pm, 2 entries at 9:07pm, 2 exits at 9:10pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:11pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:12pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:15pm, 2 entries around 9:17pm, and 1 entry at 9:24pm. Tim mentions that he may have missed an exit at the end because it was quite dark at this point, but there were 4 or 5 swifts roosting in the Infirmary.
At T03, Tim saw 1 entry/exit around 8:11pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:14pm, 1 entry at 8:24pm, 1 exit at 8:29pm, 1 entry at 8:33pm, 1 exit at 8:35pm, and 2 entries at 9:05pm. That’s 2 swifts roosting in T03. The entry/exits early on in the evening seem to indicate that feeding is still happening. If this is the case, fledging should happen very soon!
Tim suspects that the variation in levels of activity and roosting numbers is a combination of the resident adults and fledglings, and early migration.
Lockport
Gerald watched the chimneys at the St Andrews Lock and Dam on August 3 from 8:45pm-9:40pm, with interesting results. So far this year, the swifts have been observed using the south chimney flue. This time, he did not see any entries/exits at the south chimney flue, but he did see 2 entries (9:02pm and 9:09pm) into the north chimney flue! As Gerald pointed out, it may be that the swifts have switched to using the north flue, or that the swifts that were there previously have departed and the swifts that were using the north flue are migrants.
Lower Fort Garry
Gerald monitored at Lower Fort Garry on August 6 from 8:22-9:30pm. At the Men’s House, he saw 1 entry/exit around 8:28pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:30pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:39pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:50pm, 1 entry at 8:56pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:01pm, 1 exit at 9:02pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:09pm, 1 entry at 9:11pm, and 1 entry at 9:15pm. That’s 2 swifts roosting in the chimney.
At the Fur Loft, he saw 1 exit 8:28pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:35pm, 1 entry at 8:40pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:43pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:59pm, 1 entry at 9:01pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:11pm. 1 exit at 9:12pm, 1 entry at 9:20pm and 1 entry at 9:21pm. That’s 3 swifts roosting in the chimney.
Darlingford
Frank watched the Darlingford School Heritage Museum on August 2 from 9:45am-12:10pm. He saw 1 exit at 10:25am, 1 entry at 11:25am, 1 exit at 11:29am, 1 exit at 11:40am, 1 entry at 11:43am, 1 entry at 12:02pm, and 1 exit at 12:03pm. Seems like there is still feeding activity at this site.
Winnipeg
John watched the CMU chimney on August 3 from 3:30pm-5:00pm. He saw 1 entry at 3:31pm, 1 entry at 3:32pm, 1 exit at 3:33pm, 1 exit at 3:34pm, 1 entry at 3:48pm, 1 exit at 3:51pm, 1 entry at 3:54pm, 1 exit at 3:55pm, 1 entry at 4:18pm, 1 exit at 4:20pm, 1 exit at 4:38pm, 1 entry at 4:43pm, and 1 exit at 4:44pm. This activity could indicate that feeding is still going on at this site.
Last week, Nicole and Cain were out for a walk in Wolseley and saw 1 swift enter the chimney at a private residence on Ruby St at 9:00pm, followed by an exit at 9:05pm.
Frank watched the McBeth House on August 7 (blitz day) from 7:10pm-9:30pm. This site has 3 chimneys, one of which is a priority site. While he did not see any swifts use the chimney that is a priority site (the central one), he did see activity at the east chimney – 1 exit at 7:46pm, 1 entry/exit around 7:59pm, 1 exit at 8:25pm, 1 entry at 8:31pm, and 1 entry at 9:03pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). He did mention that at 8:24pm, there was a swift that passed very low over the building which could have been a fast exit from the middle chimney, but he couldn’t tell for sure.
On August 7 (blitz day), Rudolf was stationed at the Northdale Shopping Centre from 8:48pm to 9:25pm. At the Curtis Hotel, he saw 1 entry at 9:05pm and 1 entry at 9:16pm. He did not see any activity at 1010 Brazier.
Breanne has been doing weekly roosting hour watches of the chimney at the Maryland Foodfare. On June 13, she monitored from 8:27pm-10:07pm and saw 1 exit at 8:47pm, 1 entry at 8:54pm, 1 exit 9:04pm, 1 entry at 9:13pm, 1 exit at 9:23pm, 1 entry at 9:40pm, and 1 entry at 9:48pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). On June 24, she monitored from 8:40pm-10:10pm and saw 1 entry 9:05pm and 1 entry 9:46pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). On July 3, she monitored from 8:40pm-10:16pm and saw 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 exit at 8:51pm, and 1 entry at 9:51pm (1 swift roosting in chimney). On July 12, she monitored from 8:30pm-10:10pm and saw 1 entry/exit around 8:47pm, and 1 entry 9:26pm (1 swift roosting in chimney). On July 17, she monitored from 8:30pm-10:00pm and saw 1 entry at 9:48pm and 1 entry at 9:52pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). On July 24, she monitored from 8:20pm-9:50pm and saw 1 entry at 9:36pm and 1 entry at 9:41pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). On July 31, she monitored from 8:12pm-9:42pm and saw 2 entries at 9:27pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). On August 7 (blitz day), she monitored from 8:00pm-9:30pm and saw 1 entry 9:21pm and 1 entry 9:25pm (2 swifts roosting in chimney). It’s hard to say for sure, but judging by the lack of entries/exits prior to roosting, I wonder if there was a nest failure sometime in June but the swifts continued to use the chimney to roost.
Updated Priority Site List (August 9):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
It’s officially August, and there is no shortage of swift action to report. Keep reading for the latest monitoring updates including a new site in Miami, and more fledglings!
We’re going to hold another monitoring night on Wednesday, August 7. This time of year is very interesting for monitoring because of the mix of ongoing nesting attempts, fledglings, and pre-migratory movements. If you are free to monitor on August 7 or another day that week either during the day or the roosting hour, we’d love to know what is going on chimney-side!
A quick note, copied from last week’s blog – throughout these monitoring recaps, in an attempt at brevity, I will often use “entry/exit” as a way of indicating an entry followed by an exit within one or two minutes.
Miami
On July 22, Kevin and Evan discovered a new swift site in Miami! At around 4:02pm, they saw a swift enter a private residence on Kerby Avenue. This is the first confirmed site in Miami.
St Adolphe
Good news coming in from St Adolphe – the Church site has fledged! On July 27, Barb noticed a fledgling in the sky, which she identified by its behaviour in flight. Here’s her description of the sighting: “A lovely slow turn made without wing tilt or changing planes was a giveaway; it was like watching a jet taxi from the landing strip to the docking station – there was no change of wing tilt/angle during the turn. Also, there were a couple of low fliers that made checking the wing margins possible; the adults are still very ragged.”
Last week’s blog post mentioned “The Swarm” – the group of newly-arrived swifts that were wreaking havoc at the Church chimney, while the young were still in the chimney. While monitoring on Sunday, Barb observed only single or double entries/exits, with up to 7 swifts accounted for but no swarming. On Monday, 17 swifts were accounted for, which also supports fledging but can not alone confirm it because swifts are starting to migrate, therefore the rise in swift number could be the arrival of more swifts in town.
More from Barb: “As there is no accessible cleanout trap, the mystery remains as to: clutch size, percent hatched, percent fledged, age specific mortality if some chicks died along the way. However, we can say that for the first time, a successful fledging took place after a premigratory assemblage of local + “from-away” swifts moved into a nest site.”
Winnipeg
Blair has been continuing his monitoring checks around St Boniface. On July 20, Blair watched 261 Youville from 10:37am-11:47am. He saw 1 entry at 10:56am, 1 exit at 11:00am, 1 entry 11:06am, 1 exit at 11:08am, 2 entries at 11:34am, 1 exit 11:37am and 1 exit at 11:46am. Seems like there was feeding ongoing at this site. Blair returned for a roosting hour watch that evening, from 8:52pm to 9:56pm. He saw 1 exit at 8:55pm, 1 exit at 8:57pm, 1 entry at 9:14pm, 1 exit at 9:15pm, 1 entry at 9:17pm, 1 entry at 9:26pm, 1 exit at 9:29pm, and 1 entry at 9:35pm (2 swifts roosting for the night). On July 21, Blair watched 1310 Archibald from 1:47pm-2:47pm. He saw 1 entry/exit at 1:54pm, 1 entry/exit around 2:06pm, 1 entry/exit around 2:13pm, 1 entry/exit at 2:27pm, and 1 entry/exit at 2:44pm. Definitely sounds like feeding behaviour. On July 26, Blair watched 188 St Mary’s Rd from 9:28am-10:28am and saw no swifts at all. On July 27, Blair watched 847 Marion from 9:12am-10:12am and saw no swifts at all there either. On July 28, Blair monitored 690 St Joseph during the roosting hour. At 8:58pm, he saw 8 swifts above the chimney. At 9:17pm, 2 swifts entered. At 9:18pm, 2 more swifts approached the chimney, but they left without going in (possibly because of two birds, likely pigeons, on the chimney). There was one more entry at 9:32pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney). On July 29, Blair returned to 1310 Archibald St for an evening watch, from 8:40pm-9:30pm. He saw 1 exit at 8:36pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:50pm, and 1 entry at 9:02pm. On July 30, Blair monitored 261 Youville St once again, this time during the evening from 8:34pm-9:40pm. He saw 1 exit at 8:37pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:46pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:05pm, 1 entry at 9:13pm, 1 exit at 9:16pm, 1 entry at 9:27pm, and 1 entry at 9:29pm- feeding likely still ongoing, and 2 birds in the chimney for the night.
John watched the CMU chimney on July 27 from 5:44pm-6:44pm and there was no shortage of excitement. At 5:46pm, he saw 2 of what he described as ‘aborted entries’, swifts dropping low to the chimney and then flying away. At 5:49pm, he saw another aborted entry. There was then 1 entry at 5:53pm, 1 exit at 5:54pm, 1 exit at 5:55pm, 1 entry at 5:56pm, 1 exit at 5:56pm, 3 more aborted entries (at 6:07pm, 6:08pm, and 6:12pm), 1 entry at 6:15pm, 2 exits at 6:16pm, 2 aborted entries around 6:17pm and 1 aborted entry at 6:43pm (at which point 6 swifts were flying overhead). Up to 3 swifts were confirmed using the chimney. It’s hard to know exactly what is going here – the aborted entries could indicate fledglings, or migrating adults that have recently arrived to the area.
On July 27, Garry made another monitoring visit to 722 Watt St, from 10:25-11:25am. There was a lot of action! He saw 1 exit as he was getting out of his car at 10:25am, 1 entry at 10:32am (which he described as “a first awkward aborted attempt and then a successful entry”), and 1 exit at 10:34am. Then around 10:38am-10:40am, he observed “upwards of 16 swifts in the air, various configurations of synchronized flying and directly over the chimney. A couple swooped down night to the chimney but no entry”. At 10:58pm, he saw 1 slow entry followed by 1 exit. Finally, he saw 1 entry at 11:16am. Even with all the chaos around the chimney, it seems feeding is ongoing based on the single entry followed by a single exit, around 4 times within the hour. My guess is that the other swifts flying around and diving are adult swifts that are newly-arrived to the area, though it’s hard to know for sure. This observation reminds me of “the swarm” that Barb has been describing in St Adolphe these past few weeks.
On July 31, while leading an IBA bird walk in Assiniboine Park, our group made a quick stop at the zoo tower. Shortly after arriving, we saw 1 entry around 10am followed by a sneaky exit 2 minutes later.
Portage la Prairie
On July 24, Gordon watched the chimney at the Red River College during the roosting hour. Though he did see 2 swifts in the sky, there was no activity at the chimney.
On July 31, Gordon watched 329 Duke Avenue (former Portage Correctional Centre) during the roosting hour. He saw 1 entry/exit at 8:58pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:09pm, 2 entries at 9:19pm, 1 exit at 9:21pm, and 1 entry at 9:30pm.
Also on July 31, Jana watched a building in Southport that has been used by swifts in the past. She saw 1 entry/exit around 8:40pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:46pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:00pm, and 2 entries around 9:11pm. This site hadn’t been monitored yet this year so it’s great to know that there is a nesting attempt ongoing!
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
In last week’s blog post, we detailed the intensive monitoring efforts taking place at the SMHC which indicated that of the 6 initial nesting attempts on site, 5 of them were still ongoing or complete (fledged).
This past week, these sites were watched during the roosting hour and/or the next day during the daytime. I’ll go through what was seen one site at a time.
T01: We’ll start with T01, which was only watched during the roosting hour. On July 31, Fred and Nettie did a roost hour watch of T01 and saw 1 exit at 8:07pm, 1 entry at 8:28pm, and 1 entry at 9:26pm. Last week we suspected a nest failure, and this week’s observations support that conclusion.
T02: On July 28, Patti and Dennis watched T02 during the roosting hour and saw 1 entry at 8:33pm, 1 entry at 8:34pm, 2 exits at 8:35pm, and 4 entries between 9:18pm and 9:37pm. The count of four roosting in the chimney could be an indication of fledging. On August 1, Evan watched T02 from 10:30am-11:30am, and saw 1 entry at 11:10am and 1 entry at 11:18am. He thinks he may have missed exits because he suspects they may have been exiting low towards the opposite side of where he was watching. It’s hard to know if this site is still feeding or has fledged.
T03: Evan watched T03 on August 1 from 9:20am-10:20am. He saw 1 entry at 9:35am, 1 exit at 9:41am, 2 entries at 9:50am, 2 exits at 9:52am, 1 entry at 10:02am, 1 exit at 10:03am, and 1 entry at 10:06am. He mentioned that he likely missed an exit at the end, because he was distracted by a large group of swifts were chasing a merlin around the towers! Based on this data it’s hard to know if this site is still feeding or has fledged.
T04: Linda and Nia did a roost hour watch on July 31, there was 1 exit at 9:00pm, 1 entry at 9:03pm, 1 exit at 9:04pm, and 5 entries between 9:06pm and 9:39pm. Kevin watched this site the next morning from 9:32am to 11:36am. He saw 1 entry/exit around 9:45am, 1 entry at 9:59am, 1 exit at 10:05am, 1 entry at 10:06am, 1 exit at 10:14am, 1 entry/exit around 10:30am, 1 entry/exit around 11:04am, 1 entry at 11:19am, 1 entry/exit around 11:20am, and 1 entry/exit around 11:33am (up to 2 swifts confirmed in the chimney at once). The count of 5 roosting in the chimney supports the presence of fledglings (which seemed to be the case last week as well).
Yellow Brick: Linda and Nia watched this chimney during the roosting hour on July 31. They saw 1 entry at 8:58pm, 1 exit at 8:59pm, 2 entries at 9:00pm, 2 entries at 9:02pm, 1 exit at 9:02pm, 3 entries between 9:15pm and 9:20pm, 1 exit at 9:25pm and 1 entry at 9:37pm. 6 swifts were in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour, which could be an indication of fledging at this site. The next day, Kevin watched from 9:32am-11:36am, Kevin saw 2 entries at 10:38am, 2 exits at 10:41am, 1 entry/exit around 10:58am, 1 entry/exit around 11:01am, 1 entry/exit around 11:14am, 1 entry/exit around 11:17am, 2 entries at 11:36am, 1 exit at 11:36am and 1 exit at 11:37am (up to 2 swifts confirmed in chimney at once). It’s hard to pinpoint if this site has fledged or if feeding is ongoing. The count of 6 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour could be an indication of fledging at this site, but it’s hard to rule out the the presence of migrant adults.
Infirmary: Evan watched the Infirmary chimney on August 1 from 9:20am-10:20am. He saw 1 entry/exit around 9:32am, and 1 entry/exit around 9:55am. We suspect this site fledged last week.
To recap, we think that T01 has failed, T04 and Infirmary have fledged, and T02, T03 and Yellow Brick are either feeding or fledged. We will be able to find out more when we check the cleanout traps in the fall.
Lower Fort Garry
On July 29, Gerald monitored the Lower Fort Garry chimneys during the roosting hour. At the Men’s House, he saw 1 entry at 8:40pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:59pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:10pm, and 1 entry at 9:23pm (2 swifts in the chimney at the end the roosting hour). At the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry at 9:15pm.
Eriksdale
On July 26, Kevin and Evan stopped in Eriksdale and looked for swifts from 1:20pm-2pm. They did not see any swifts.
Carman
The following is a report from Rhonda, from July 26: “I haven’t heard or seen a swift in Carman for about a week and a half. The skies are quiet. I will continue to monitor for any activity. Maybe the Carman swifts went on vacation? Could they of booked it when the spray planes started to spray the fields? I hear there are “bug” issues in the field crops. Or, heaven forbid, have they capped the chimney? (That one I can check out…) One thing I do know is that I do miss them. They tend to brighten the skies with their cheery chatter. There is still lots of summer left. They may return?” Agreed, they definitely do brighten the skies with their cheery chatter!
Wasagaming (Riding Mountain National Park)
Ellie watched the chimney at 306 Buffalo Dr on July 29 from 9-10pm, but did not see any swifts.
Updated Priority Site List (August 2):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
La Salle
–
27 Beaudry St
Ste Hyacinthe Church
Ron B.
Morden
–
352 Stephen St
Pembina Hills Art Centre
Marvin & Evelyn K.
Swan River
–
518 Main St
Commercial building
The Pas
–
380 Hazelwood Ave
VIA Rail Station
capped
Wasagaming
–
106 Buffalo Dr
Dragonfly Delights Tea Room
Winnipeg
City Centre
100 Adelaide St
Immigrant Centre Building
Winnipeg
City Centre
172 Edmonton
Ladywood Apartments
Winnipeg
City Centre
222 York Ave
Brink’s Canada
Winnipeg
City Centre
91 Albert St
The Old Market Autonomous Zone
Winnipeg
Fort Garry
1022 Pembina Hwy
Cambridge Hotel
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
118 Scott St
Apartment
Ron B.
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
141 River Ave
Ludlow Court Apartments
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
245 Bell Ave
Children’s Education Funds Inc
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
260 Wentworth Ave
Lady Wentworth Apartments
Tim P.
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
272 Cockburn St
King George Court
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
280 River Ave
Moxam Court
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
411 Stradbrook Ave
Lancaster Apartment
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
526 Walker Ave
Clarence Court
Tim P.
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
834 Grosvenor Ave
Eugene Apartments
Winnipeg
Fort Rouge
444 River Ave
Augustine United Church
Winnipeg
North Kildonan
1400 Rothesay St
Chief Peguis Junior High School
Meredith S.
Winnipeg
North Kildonan
25 Valhalla Dr
Valhalla Gardens
Winnipeg
North Kildonan
415 Edison Ave
L&B Towers
Capped
Winnipeg
River Heights
1025 Grant Ave
Grant Arms Apartments
Ron B.
Winnipeg
River Heights
465A Lanark St
Lanark Gardens
Winnipeg
River Heights
465D Lanark St
Lanark Gardens
Winnipeg
River Heights
555 Lanark St
Lanark Tower
Cam T.
Winnipeg
River Heights
394 Academy Rd
Uptown Lofts
Winnipeg
St Boniface
780 Elizabeth Rd
Arundel Apartments
Winnipeg
St Boniface
790 Elizabeth Rd
Arundel Apartments
Frank M.
Winnipeg
St Boniface
99 Birchdale Ave
Nordale School
Winnipeg
St Vital
531 St Mary’s Rd
Riverside Billiards
Blair R.
Winnipeg
St James
2285 Portage Ave
Foodfare
Winnipeg
St James
2400 Portage Ave
St Paul The Apostle Parish
Donna M., Eugenia G.
Winnipeg
St James
2415 Portage Ave
Essex House (broken pest cage)
Winnipeg
West Broadway
198 Furby St
Harvard Apartments
Ron B.
Winnipeg
West Broadway
39 Balmoral St
Apartment
Winnipeg
West End
318 Home St
Mennonite Church
Winnipeg
West End
803 Erin Street
Elan Designs and Upholstery
Jeff H.
Winnipeg
West Kildonan
31 McBeth St
McBeth House (A) middle chimney
That’s it for this week.
Thank you for all your efforts, past, present and future!
End of July Update: Nest failures, fledglings, and everything in between!
I want to start off this week’s blog post with a moment of appreciation for the incredibly community we have supporting the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative. I am constantly amazed and so thankful for the enthusiasm, patience and dedication shown by so many volunteers! It’s heartwarming and inspiring. Thank you for continuing to brave the heat, the humidity, the bugs, etc. in the name of swift conservation! It really does make a difference.
We have a loooot of monitoring updates this week! Last week, we had another blitz night. Overall, over 13 volunteers participated. We managed to monitor at least 13 chimneys/towers, in 8 different communities! Thanks to everyone who participated.
As we approach the end of July, the swifts are at a variety of different stages – some sites are showing signs of nest failure, some are showing signs of late nesting attempts (still incubating), some are showing signs of feeding young, and some sites are showing signs of fledging. At some sites, there is even the arrival of large groups of adult swifts who weren’t there during the rest of the summer, already forming pre-migratory groupings! Spoiler alert: A large “swarm” of these newly-arrived swifts has been causing drama in St. Adolphe. I am sure that the next few weeks will continue to be interesting.
A quick note – throughout these monitoring recaps, in an attempt at brevity, I will often use “entry/exit” as a way of indicating an entry followed by an exit within one or two minutes. This pattern of an entry followed by an exit is often referred to as a “classic exchange” or with additional context, an “incubation exchange” or “feeding exchange” depending on the frequency of these exchanges per hour. For more details on these nesting dynamics, you can check out these old blog posts: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/mcsi-canada-day-blog/ https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/st-adolphe-in-2021-and-more/
Brandon
We will start this week in Brandon. As we’ve mentioned many times on the blog, this summer’s swift situation in Brandon has been downright confusing. On July 24, the Westman Naturalists led “Operation Chimney Swift” – they split up into 4 groups and watched 4 different areas (yellow x on the map), nearby to where Louanne spotted 3 swifts the previous morning on July 23 (blue x on the map).
Here’s a part of the recap shared by Gillian in a post-event email:
“Ken and Colleen saw a swift at Louise and 2nd at about 9:20pm, it flew off to the SW. This is very close to where Louanne saw swifts. Also, Sherry Punak-Murphy has seen swifts near New Era School. Our possible chimneys are 208 Louise Ave (S side), another down 2nd St to the South. We looked on the S side of Victoria and found a couple more possible chimneys: 510 Victoria (SW corner of 5th & Vic); 534 5th (I think). Glennis has spotted several possible chimneys near New Era School.”
A massive thank you to the Westman Naturalists for organizing this event (on top of their regular monitoring efforts) and for not giving up on the swifts this season!
St Adolphe
Last week, Barb did some intensive monitoring at all 5 of the St Adolphe nest sites that get monitored annually. Unfortunately, both the SE and NE Club Amical chimneys as well as the Brodeur Bros./Daycare chimney and the Main St private residence chimney all showed signs of nest failure. Thankfully, all was well at the Church. Barb reports: “The Church: ah, my number one ranked chimney in town is holding all the hope for fledglings this year! A pair of breeding swifts and a confirmed helper (3 consecutive entries seen on Sunday) are feeding non-brooded young at a rate of 5-6 times per hour. That is excellent!”
More from Barb, for some insight on how the nest activity progresses and how to estimate fledging dates: “Hatching at the Church took place July 1-2, so that started the clock at Day 1 of feeding brooded young. The juveniles are now wing flapping and strengthening their flight muscles – this is when the nests tend to start to slip if they aren’t securely fastened to the inside wall of the chimney. Day 20-21 brings about the precarious transfer of the juveniles as they move out of the bowl of the nest onto the wall of the chimney. You want to see continued feeding through those days…that should be this coming Sat./Sun. Then we hold our breath again as the juveniles approach Day 28-30 (July 28-30 if they hatched July 1; July 29-31 if they hatched July 2) and get ready to fly out of the chimney for their first flight. There is no cleanout trap at the Church, so it becomes a daily task to monitor for changes in site activity that suggest fledglings are airborne.
Throughout the season, there has consistently been a group of 12 adult swifts in the St Adolphe area. Despite the nest failures, this number didn’t dramatically decrease, so the failed breeders have been sticking around.
However, there was a noticeable change in swift numbers in St Adolphe on July 19. While monitoring the Church site, Barb saw a group of about 16-17 swifts which is a higher count than has been accounted for this year. She has dubbed this group of swifts “The Swarm”. She knows they are adults (and not fledglings from the local nest sites) because of the easy-to-see moulting happening in the wings. She describes “big gaps in the trailing wing margin plus very frayed wing tips”. It’s the time of year when adult swifts are replacing their feathers, while fledglings will have brand new feathers that aren’t yet in need of replacing.
This new influx of adults must be a “pre-migratory grouping” – swifts that have arrived into St. Adolphe, on their way out of the breeding grounds and towards their wintering grounds down south. This pre-migratory grouping is noteworthy because of how early it is – the local nest site has not even fledged yet. Very interesting!
“The Swarm” brought some drama. On July 20, Barb was monitoring the Church and saw some typical feeding exchanges and the usual count of 3 swifts entering and exiting (breeding pair + helper). However, “The Swarm” then arrived, with a lot of low level flyovers and “peer ‘n’ veers” at the chimney. They then began entering the chimney! She saw 12 consecutive entries within 90 seconds. Over the next 8 minutes, she counted 19 consecutive exits. This mass use of a chimney with an ongoing breeding attempt, by non-breeding swifts during the daytime, is an unprecedented observation for Barb and was certainly worrying – how might this impact the breeding pair + helper + young that have yet to fledge? A monitoring session on Sunday with a lack of typical feeding patterns led Barb to fear a nest failure.
On July 24, Barb completed 3 monitoring sessions to try and understand what was happening here.
Here is her executive summary:
“Session 1 – 05:20 to 7:20 AM: three birds were accounted for; max seen was 2 exiting the Church chimney together; the activity pattern included three consecutive entries and three consecutive exits, suggesting that the breeding pair and helper were onsite feeding. Some juveniles have survived 🙂
Session 2 – 10:20 to 12:00 noon: The Swarm was active – 13+ swifts were accounted for; Drop ‘n’ veer, tilt ‘n’ veer flyovers etc. telegraphed interest with something(s) inside the chimney; small groups of 3-4 dropped into the chimney from the swarm and exited into the swarm. Single entry/exits took place = likely feeding events but the swarm activity tends to mask this.
Session 3 – 8:36-8:52 PM (daytime) then 8:52-9:52 PM (roosting hour; sunset 9:22 PM): single entry/exits during the daytime. Roosting entries began at 9 PM – the total for the night =14! Rob was instrumental in doing sky counts as I did rim watching…our “swifts in + sky counts” totalled 14 during the roosting hour, so we feel confident all the birds flying about roosted in the Church.”.
And a summary of swift count timeline: “The baseline count in St A was 12 before the influx of from-away birds on July 19th; the peak count was 19 last weekend; yesterday the max count was 14, so 5 swifts have shuffled along. There are at least 3 ST A birds still in town = breeding pair and helper. The other 11 could be some combo of St A swifts + from-aways.”
This situation is fascinating and unprecedented. I can’t wait to hear how things evolve over the next week!
Winnipeg
Blair has been making daytime monitoring visits to all the sites in St Boniface that showed promising nesting activity earlier this summer. On July 8, he monitored 531 St Mary’s Rd (Riverside Billiards) from 10:46am-11:30pm, and saw 1 entry at 11:03am, 1 entry at 11:07am, 1 exit at 11:18am, and another exit at 11:20am. He then monitored 1310 Archibald St from 12:34-1:34pm and saw 1 entry/exit at 12:42pm and 1 entry/exit at 1:13pm. On July 12, Blair monitored 790 Elizabeth Rd from 9:44-10:44am, and saw 1 exit at 10:24am. On July 15, he monitored 314 St Annes Rd (Fernwood Apts) from 11:06am-12:06pm. He saw 1 exit at 11:36am, and 1 entry at 11:54pm. On July 18, Blair monitored 690 St Joseph St from 10:07-11:43am and saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 10:11am, 1 entry/exit at 10:18am, 1 entry/exit at 10:19am, 1 entry/exit at 10:30am, 1 exit at 11:05am, 1 entry/exit at 11:22am, 1 exit at 11:27am, 1 entry at 11:41am, and 1 exit at 11:43am. Lots of action, with up to 3 swifts in the chimney at once.
Over the past few weeks, Tim has gone on some very productive bike rides. On July 13, after 5 minutes of watching 260 Wentworth (a priority site), he saw 1 entry at 11:18am. Priority site confirmed! He then stopped to watch 890 McMilllan, but instead caught an entry into 915 Corydon at 11:41am. On July 14, he saw 1 entry (10:56am) at 105 Clarke St within a minute of arriving. He also saw 1 entry into 843 Sherbrook (Bardal Funeral Home) at 12:13pm, and 1 entry/exit at 481 Corydon at 1:50pm. On July 23 at 8:02am, Tim saw 1 swift exit the chimney at 526 Walker Ave (Clarence Court Apts). This site was also a priority site, so we can now cross it off our priority list!
There has been a lot of monitoring at the Canadian Mennonite University chimney. Paul monitored on July 13 from 7:55-8:40pm, and saw 1 entry/exit at 7:57pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:07pm, 1 exit at 8:30pm, 1 entry at 8:33pm, and 1 more entry/exit at 8:40pm. The next day (July 14), John watched the CMU chimney from 4:20-5:20pm and saw 1 exit at 4:34pm, 1 entry at 4:46pm, 1 exit at 4:50pm, 1 entry/exit at 4:57pm, 1 entry/exit at 5:08pm, 1 entry/exit at 5:19pm. The multiple entry/exits per hour point to ongoing feeding young at this site. On July 18, I (Marissa) visited CMU to join Graham, John, Paul, and Hilary for a morning swift watch. The group usually does a weekly bird walk around the campus, but this week we watched the chimney instead. From 8:32am to 9:32am, we saw 1 entry at 8:45am, 1 entry at 8:48am, 1 exit at 8:50am, 1 exit at 9:06am, and 1 entry at 9:13am. At 9:24am, 2 swifts flew low above the chimney but did not go in. On July 25, Graham and Richard watched the chimney again from 8:28am to 9:32am and saw more classic feeding behaviour – 1 entry/exit at 8:29am, 1 entry/exit at 8:31am, 1 entry/exit at 8:48am, 1 entry/exit at 8:53am, and 1 entry at 9:27am. Nice!
On July 17, Rudolf watched the chimneys at the Curtis Hotel and 1010 Brazier from 7:06pm to 8:16pm. At least 6 swifts were present. He saw 1 entry into the Curtis Hotel at 7:37pm. He also saw 1 entry into 1010 Brazier at 8:14pm, followed by an exit within seconds.
Kevin and Evan have been helping with priority site monitoring. On July 12, Kevin watched the Essex House on Portage Ave during the daytime and did not see any entries/exits. On July 19, Kevin watched 272 Cockburn St (priority site) for 60 minutes in the morning. While he saw 5 swifts in the sky, there were no entries or exits at the chimney. On July 19, Evan watched 834 Grosvenor (priority site) and while 4 swifts were seen flying overhead throughout the hour, none were seen using the chimney. In the afternoon, Evan watched the Mont Royal Apts (2265 Portage Ave) from 11:40am to 12:40pm and saw 2 entries at 11:40am followed by 1 exit at 11:44am. He also watched the Food Fare (2285 Portage Ave) but did not see any entries or exits. On July 24, Evan monitored the chimney on the North side of the McBeth House from 11:18am to 12:18pm. He saw 1 exit at 11:18am, 1 entry at 11:49am, 1 exit at 11:53am, 1 entry at 11:54am, 1 exit at 11:58am, 1 entry at 12:18pm, and 1 exit at 12:22pm.
On July 17, I (Marissa) started off the blitz day with a 60-minute morning monitoring session at 385 Henderson Hwy (formerly Roxy Lanes), which hadn’t been monitored since 2022. There was some activity at the red chimney, including 1 entry at 8:37am and 1 exit at 9:04am. There were crows near the chimney for part of the monitoring session which may have impacted entries/exits. Later that evening, I saw 1 entry at 9:47pm into the Viscount Apartments (1794 Portage Ave).
Photo by Marissa Berard: A swift entering the chimney at 385 Henderson Hwy.
On July 24, I did an impromptu roost hour monitoring session at the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower (in other words, I convinced a friend to spend some time watching the tower with me while we were on a walk in the area). We watched the tower from 9:14pm to 9:51pm. At 9:15pm, we saw 1 exit followed by 1 entry at 9:17pm (and 6 swifts flying together overhead). At 9:19pm, 4 swifts flew low over the tower but did not enter. There was then 1 exit at 9:28pm, 1 entry at 9:28pm, 2 entries at 9:36pm, and 1 entry at 9:42pm (4 swifts roosting in the tower). At the time of the final entry, there were no other swifts seen in the sky. I returned for a daytime monitoring session the next day (July 25) from 2:12pm to 3:12pm. Up to 4 swifts were seen flying overhead at the beginning of the session. There was 1 entry at 2:37pm, 1 entry at 2:43pm, and 1 exit at 2:47pm. I wonder if I may have missed some exits at the start of the session – I noticed that the swifts at this site seem to exit low towards to the south which is tough to see from the clearing to the north of the tower. About 10 minutes into the session, I moved to a spot along the paved path to the west of the tower which offered a better view of the south side of the tower. I would recommend this spot for future sessions.
Aynsley and Dennis visited this site this morning (July 26) from 10:55am to 12:00pm. There was 1 exit at 11:01am, 1 exit at 11:19am, 1 entry at 11:26am, 1 entry at 11:28am, 1 exit at 11:38am, and 1 entry at 11:57am. The max number of swifts seen in the sky was 12 individuals at 11:08am. Hard to know what is going on here – there is daytime activity, but not really any classic entry/exit exchanges.
Aynsley has been busy checking out different sites across the city. On July 18, she spent some time at 245 Bell Ave, 141 River Ave, and 444 River Ave but did not see any activity. On July 19, she watched a private residence on Balmoral St as well as 625 Osborne St (Fort Rouge Leisure Centre) but did not see any activity. On July 23, she visited 394 Academy Rd, a private residence on Dorchester Ave, and a private residence on Kylemore Ave but once again did not see any activity. On July 25, she visited the St. Avila School and saw 3 exits and 1 entry during the daytime. She also visited the St. Norbert Parish but did not see any activity.
Selkirk -Selkirk Mental Health Centre
Thanks to Tim, Tim’s students, and the Selkirk Birdwatchers Club, there has been some intensive monitoring at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre this past week which has provided us with valuable information on the site’s six nesting attempts. Buckle up, here goes a recap of the goings-on!
On July 15, Evan did some daytime monitoring. From 10:45-11:45am, he watched T01 and saw 2 entries at 11:12am, and 1 exit at 11:27am. He notes there may have been an exit at 11:25 as well but that it may have been a swift doing a fast low-fly over the chimney. From 11:50pm-12:50pm, he watched T02 and saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 12:08pm.
On July 17 during the roosting hour, Nia and Linda watched these two sites again. At the Yellow Brick chimney, they saw 2 entries around 9:00pm, 1 exit at 9:06pm, 1 exit at 9:14pm, 1 entry at 9:16pm, 1 entry at 9:27pm, 1 exit at 9:32pm, and 1 entry at 9:58pm (2 swifts confirmed in the chimney). At T04, they saw 1 entry/exit at 9:09pm, 1 exit at 9:21pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:30pm, 1 entry at 9:35pm, 1 exit at 9:40pm, 1 entry at 9:49pm, and 1 entry at 9:56pm (2 swifts confirmed in the chimney). Patti and Denis watched T02, and saw 1 entry/exit at 9:15pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:20pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:32pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:35pm, and 3 entries between 9:49pm and 9:58pm (3 swifts confirmed in chimney).
On July 18, Gerald monitored T01, T03 and the Infirmary chimney during the roosting hour. At the Infirmary chimney, he saw 1 entry at 9:46pm. At T01, he saw 1 exit at 9:11pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:24pm, 1 entry at 9:39pm, 1 entry at 9:49pm, and 1 exit at 9:51pm (up to 4 in the chimney at once, but 3 in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour). At T03, there was 1 exit at 9:05pm, 1 exit at 9:17pm, and 1 entry at 9:46pm.
On July 24, Tim organized a mini blitz of the SMHC sites to try and get a better idea of what is happening at these sites. Linda and Nia watched the Yellow Brick chimney and T04, from 9:25am-10:36am. At T04, there was 1 exit at 9:53am, 1 entry at 10:10am, 1 entry at 10:28am, 1 exit at 10:31am. At the Yellow Brick chimney, there was 1 entry at 9:37am, 1 exit at 9:43am, 1 entry/exit around 9:44am, 1 entry/exit around 10:11am, 1 entry/exit around 10:29am. Linda and Nia note that 2 of these exits were weak, and the swift “dribbled out” of the chimney – a possible indication of fledglings. Patti watched T02 from 9:03am to 10:32am, and saw 1 entry/exit around 9:23am, 1 entry at 9:28am, 1 entry/exit around 10:18am, and 1 entry at 10:23am. These seem like a few classic feeding exchanges. At the end of the session, there were still 10-12 swifts flying overhead. Kevin watched T03 and the Infirmary chimney from 9:32am to 11:02am. At T03, there was 1 entry at 9:50am, 1 entry at 9:53am, 1 exit at 9:57am, 1 exit at 10:25am, 1 entry at 10:26am, 1 exit at 10:32am, 1 entry/exit around 10:38am. At the Infirmary chimney, there was 1 entry at 9:56am, 1 exit at 9:58am, 1 entry at 10:32am, and 1 exit at 10:34am. Harry watched T01 from 9:32am to 11:02am and saw no entries or exits at all.
So, other than T01 which had zero activity and indicates nest failure, there seemed to be some feeding behaviour but with a lot of variability, so it was still a bit unclear what the activity at the other sites meant.
To further investigate, Tim organized a mini monitoring blitz the next evening, on July 25. Nia and Linda watched the Yellow Brick chimney from 8:45pm to 9:52pm. There were 2 entries around 8:51pm followed by 2 exits around 8:52pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:07pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:15pm, and 1 entry at 9:39pm. It seems that feeding is ongoing at this site.
At the T04, there was 1 entry at 8:58pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:00pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:12pm, 2 exits at 9:16pm, 1 entry at 9:17pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:35pm, and 1 entry at 9:37pm and 1 entry at 9:39pm. That’s up to 4 swifts in the tower at once. The combination of a higher number of swifts using this chimney along with messy entries/exits supports that this site has fledglings. Patti watched T2 and once again saw feeding activity as well as 3 swifts roosted in the chimney at the end of the night (which means there could be a helper at this site). At T1, there was still no breeding activity, but 3 swifts entered to roost for the night. At T3, there were at least 4 entry/exit exchanges within an hour, and 2 swifts entered the chimney for the night which seems to show that feeding is ongoing at this site. At the Infirmary, there was lots of activity. There were 7 swifts roosting in the chimney by the end of the session, 2 of which were fledglings (possibly more because of this high count of 7 swifts). It’s hard to confirm if these additional birds are more fledglings, or other adults coming to roost in this chimney.
So, to recap: Based on the incredible monitoring efforts by Tim and his students and the Selkirk Birdwatchers Club, it seems that of the 6 initial breeding attempts at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, 5 of them are either ongoing (still feeding) or complete (have fledged). That is great news!
Selkirk – Other sites
On July 15, Gerald watched the 367 Main St Apartments. He saw 1 entry at 9:03pm followed by an exit at 9:05pm. He notes seeing 10 swifts flying in the sky, which is more than usually seen in this area. He saw 1 entry at 9:20pm and 1 exit at 9:29pm. This chimney has two flues, and the swifts typically enter/exit in the south flue. This is important information because at 9:33pm, he saw something interesting – 1 swift entered into the north flue of the chimney! He then saw 1 exit from this north flue at 9:46pm. Interesting.
On July 23, Gerald watched the Merchants Hotel. He did not see any swifts flying around until he saw 2 swifts enter the chimney at 9:30pm.
Lower Fort Garry
Gerald watched the Lower Fort Garry sites on July 11 during the roosting hour. At the Fur Loft, he saw 1 entry at 8:56pm and 1 entry at 9:15pm. At the Men’s House, he saw 1 entry/exit at 9:04pm, followed by 1 entry at 9:17pm.
On July 24, Evan watched the Fur Loft from 9:15am to 10:45am. Over the 90 minute session, he saw 1 entry/exit around 9:56am. The rate of one exchange over a 90 minute session seems to be an incubation exchange which would indicate a late breeding attempt.
Aynsley watched the Men’s House and saw regular feeding exchanges.
Lockport
On July 14, Jackie monitored the St Andres Lock and Dam from 7:47pm to 10:02pm. At the north chimney, she saw 1 entry at 8:27pm, 1 entry at 9:03pm, 1 exit at 9:34pm, and 1 entry at 9:45pm. There were no entries/exits observed at the south chimney.
The Pas
Joel along with a few other observers have been keeping an eye on the sky in The Pas. While there have been swift sightings (up to 3 swifts) in a few different places, swifts have only been confirmed in one chimney this year (Loraine Apts on 3rd St W). On July 8, Joel watched the Loraine Apts from 8:48am to 9:19am, and saw 1 entry at 8:53am and 1 exit at 9:17am. On July 15, Matt watched the Loraine Apts and saw 1 entry at 1 pm, and did not see an exit within the next half hour of observation. Meanwhile, Joel, Danica and Grace spread out and watched Bignell St but did not see any swifts. On July 17, Joel watched the Loraine Apts from 8:36am to 9:06am, and saw 1 entry at 8:58am.
La Broquerie
On July 17, Lewis and Frank made a trip to La Broquerie to monitor the two chimneys at the Church, from 7:45pm to 10:00pm (135 mins). There were 6 swifts circling over the area at the beginning. What follows is a whole lot of action at that large chimney! I will list it all here, for full effect: 1 entry at 7:57pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:04pm, 2 entries around 8:31pm, 2 exits around 8:33pm, 1 entry at 8:48pm, 2 exits at 8:49pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:55pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:59pm1 entry at 9:06pm, 1 entry at 9:07pm, 1 entry at 9:08pm, 1 entry at 9:09pm, 2 exits at 9:10pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:24pm, 1 exit at 9:33pm, 1 exit at 9:34pm, 1 entry at 9:40pm, 1 entry at 9:47pm.
Wow, that’s a whopping 15 entries and 13 exits! I wish all monitoring sessions were that exciting. While up to 4 swifts were in the chimney at once (4 entries in a row between 9:06pm and 9:09pm), only 2 swifts were in the large chimney at the end of the roosting hour. At the small chimney, there was 1 entry at 9:12pm, and 1 entry at 9:23pm. Barb mentioned perhaps the 2 swifts roosting in the small chimney could be helpers at the large chimney.
Frank returned to this site on July 24 and watched from 8pm to 9:50pm. This time, there was still some activity but there were no group flights. At the large chimney, he saw 2 exits at 8:18pm, 1 entry at 8:19pm, 1 exit at 8:25pm, 1 entry at 8:45pm, 2 exits at 8:50pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm, and 1 entry at 9:30pm. There were up to 3 swifts in the chimney at once, but only 2 at the end of the roosting hour. At the small chimney, there were 2 entries at 8:40pm followed by 1 entry at 9:30pm.
St Adolphe
This week, Barb did some intensive monitoring at all 5 of the St Adolphe nest sites that get monitored annually.
Unfortunately, both the SE and NE Club Amical chimneys as well as the Brodeur Bros./Daycare chimney and the Main St private residence chimney all showed signs of nest failure.
Thankfully, all was well at the Church. Barb reports: “The Church: ah, my number one ranked chimney in town is holding all the hope for fledglings this year! A pair of breeding swifts and a confirmed helper (3 consecutive entries seen on Sunday) are feeding non-brooded young at a rate of 5-6 times per hour. That is excellent!”
More from Barb, for some insight on how the nest activity progresses and how to estimate fledging dates: “Hatching at the Church took place July 1-2, so that started the clock at Day 1 of feeding brooded young. The juveniles are now wing flapping and strengthening their flight muscles – this is when the nests tend to start to slip if they aren’t securely fastened to the inside wall of the chimney. Day 20-21 brings about the precarious transfer of the juveniles as they move out of the bowl of the nest onto the wall of the chimney. You want to see continued feeding through those days…that should be this coming Sat./Sun. Then we hold our breath again as the juveniles approach Day 28-30 (July 28-30 if they hatched July 1; July 29-31 if they hatched July 2) and get ready to fly out of the chimney for their first flight. There is no cleanout trap at the Church, so it becomes a daily task to monitor for changes in site activity that suggest fledglings are airborne.
Throughout the season, there has consistently been a group of 12 adult swifts in the St Adolphe area. Despite the nest failures, this number didn’t dramatically decrease, so the failed breeders have been sticking around.
However, there was a noticeable change in swift numbers in St Adolphe this morning. While monitoring the Church site, Barb saw a “swarm” of about 16-17 swifts (more than have been accounted for this year). She knows they are adults (and not fledglings from the local nest sites) because of the easy-to-see moulting happening in the wings. She describes “big gaps in the trailing wing margin plus very frayed wing tips”. It’s the time of year when adult swifts are replacing their feathers, while fledglings will have brand new feathers that aren’t yet in need of replacing.
This new influx of adults must be a “pre-migratory grouping” – swifts that have arrived into St. Adolphe, on their way out of the breeding grounds and towards their wintering grounds down south. This pre-migratory grouping is noteworthy because of how early it is – the local nest site has not even fledged yet. Very interesting!
St Francois Xavier
On July 17, Mike and Michele watched both sites in St Francois Xavier during the evening (pre-roosting hour). They started at the Church and saw 1 exit at 7:07pm and 1 entry at 7:25pm. They then moved to the private residence on Paul St, where they saw 1 entry/exit around 7:54pm, 1 entry at 8:07pm, and 1 exit at 8:12pm. They were also treated to 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers!
Portage la Prairie
On July 10, Gordon watched the two chimneys at the Trinity United Church during the roosting hour. He saw 2 entries into the south chimney (1 at 9:50pm and the other at 10:02pm).
On July 17, Gordon monitored 329 Duke Avenue (former Portage Correctional Centre) from 8:45pm to 10 pm and saw a lot of activity in the small north chimney. He saw 1 exit at 8:57pm, 1 exit at 9:11pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:13pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:25pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:27pm, 1 entry at 9:33pm, 1 entry at 9:40pm and 1 entry at 9:44pm. This looks like feeding behaviour, with a possible helper! Jana briefly monitored this site on July 19 from 1:00pm to 1:25pm and saw 1 entry/exit around 1:23pm, with around 15 swifts in the air.
Updated Priority Site List (July 26):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
As we approach mid-July, swift nesting attempts continue to move along at different paces. Some nesting swifts are still incubating, while others are now feeding young. It’s been an eventful few weeks, full of reminders that swifts can be hard to predict and that we should never jump to conclusions too fast. Thanks to everyone who has continued to monitor and share with us your observations.
Before jumping in, I would like to announce another MCSI monitoring blitz on Wednesday, July 17. If you are free during the day or the evening, we’d love if you could check out your usual site or another site on our list! Please send us an email if you would like some chimney options.
Keep reading for a jam-packed monitoring update, including a new site, and some crow drama.
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
It’s been very interesting to follow along the Selkirk Mental Health Centre updates. The combination of Gerald and the Selkirk Bird Watchers (SBWC) doing regular roosting hour monitoring sessions and Kevin and Evan doing regular daytime monitoring sessions has been providing a wonderful depth of information.
Last week, there was some crow drama chimney-side at the SMHC.
On July 4, Evan and Kevin monitored for 1 hour during the daytime. Evan watched T04 and saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 12:15pm, followed by another entry/exit cycle at 12:54pm. Evan also watched the Yellow Brick chimney, where he saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 12:07pm.
Over at T1 is where the drama started. A few minutes into the monitoring session, Kevin noticed a crow sitting in the top of the T01 tower. Half an hour later, the crow was sitting atop T03. The crows finally left for the final 22 minutes of monitoring, but no swifts entered the tower (though they were diving and veering away on several occasions). This observation set off a bit of a panic – where the crows now going to start perching in the towers regularly and become a major disturbance to the swifts?
Later that evening, the SBWC did a roosting hour watch. Things were normal at T04 and the Yellow Brick chimney – Nia and Linda saw 2 entries into each chimney. At the Infirmary however, Gerald saw a family of 5 crows north of the Infirmary building. They moved around a little bit and eventually went to an antenna around 15-20 feet away from the Infirmary chimney. They finally left the area at 9:27pm. Gerald did see swifts circle around throughout the evening, but he did not see any entries or exits at the Infirmary chimney, T01, or T03.
Kevin and Evan returned the next day, July 5, for another daytime watch (9:45-10:45am). This time, Kevin saw no activity at T02 or the Yellow Brick chimney. Fortunately, there was activity at two of the “crow drama” chimneys. At the Infirmary, Evan saw 1 entry at 9:49am, 1 exit at 9:59am, 1 entry at 10:15am, and 1 exit at 10:21am. At T03, he saw 1 exit at 10:17am, and 1 entry at 10:38am.
On July 7, Patti and Dennis watched T02 saw 2 entries during the roosting hour.
On July 8, Kevin did another daytime morning session from 10:10-11:10am. At T03, Kevin saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 10:38am, and another entry/exit cycle at 11:14am. At the Infirmary, there was 1 exit at 10:16am, followed by 1 entry/exit cycle at 10:40am, and another entry/exit cycle at 10:56am. These observations seem to indicate feeding exchanges at both T03 and the Infirmary.
Later that evening, Gerald did a roosting hour watch at T01. He saw 1 entry at 9:07pm, 1 exit at 9:13pm, either a dive or a rapid exchange at 9:59pm, and 1 high speed entry at 10:08pm.
On July 9, another daytime monitoring session by Kevin. At T01, there was 1 entry/exit at 10:10am, 1 entry/exit at 10:12am, and 1 entry/exit at 10:35am (seems to be typical feeding exchanges). At T04, there was 1 entry/exit cycle at 10:03am (seems like an incubation change). At the Yellow Brick chimney, there was 1 entry/exit cycle at 11:58am (seems to be an incubation exchange). At T02, there were 2 entry/exit cycles within an hour (typical feeding exchanges).
So, to recap – despite last week’s crow scare, there are six ongoing breeding attempts (some still incubating, some feeding young) at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre! This is the first time we have had breeding attempts at all 6 sites. Very exciting!!!
Selkirk
On July 3, Fred and Nettie watched the Merchant’s Hotel during the roosting hour. They saw 1 entry at 8:43pm, 1 entry at 9:10pm, 1 exit at 9:13pm, and 1 entry at 9:57pm (2 swifts confirmed in the chimney).
Lockport
On July 2, Gerald watched the St Andrews Lock and Dam and saw 2 entries into the north chimney during the roosting hour.
Stonewall
Kevin did a 60 minute daytime monitoring session in Stonewall on July 3, watching the chimney at 336 Main St. He did not see any swift activity.
Ste Agathe
New site alert! On June 28, Tim was in Ste. Agathe. At 11:57am, he saw 1 entry into the chimney at 223-225 Chemin Pembina Trail. This site is our first confirmed site in Ste. Agathe – woohoo!
St Adolphe
Now for some more exciting, in-depth nest monitoring updates from St. Adolphe.
On July 2, Barb did a 60 minute daytime monitoring session at the Church. She saw 2 classic exchanges (entry/exit cycles) within the hour, so the swifts are now feeding brooded young.
On July 3, she spent 70 minutes at the Club Amical chimneys (9:45-10:55am). . At the SE chimney, she saw 1 entry/exit cycle at 10:55am (classic incubation exchange). At the NE chimney, she saw 1 exit at 9:59am, 1 entry/exit at 10:34am.
Barb returned to the Club Amical chimneys on July 4, to watch from 10:37-11:42am. At the SE chimney, there was a classic incubation exchange around 11:39am. At the NE chimney, she witnessed repeated flyovers and “drop ‘n’ veers”. Things began a little bit chaotic – She saw 1 entry at 10:47am, followed almost immediately by an exit 3 seconds later. Barb comments – “Was that a short snoopy visit by one of the local flock members?” She then saw 1 exit at 10:49am, and 1 entry at 10:54am. Things then settled down, with a classic exchange at 11:08am and another one at 11:37am. The two classic exchanges within the hour point to feeding brooded young.
On July 5, Barb checked out the Brodeur Bros./Daycare chimney and saw 2 classic exchanges within the hour, showing that they are feeding brooded young at this site as well.
On July 7, Barb returned to the Club Amical. At the SE chimney, she saw 1 classic exchange, suggesting that incubation is ongoing. She saw no activity at all at the NE chimney, which is quite different than the 2 feeding exchanges within the hour that she saw 3 days prior…
Barb returned the next day (July 9) to further investigate this strange change in activity. This time, she saw no activity at both sites (though she does point out it was late morning and it was getting pretty hot and humid out). In Barb’s words, “I feared a double down disaster with two nest failures”.
The next morning, July 9, she made an earlier visit from 8:36-9:36am. Much to her (and our) relief, she saw 3 exchanges at the NE chimney, and 1 exchange at the SE chimney. So, it seems the NE chimney swifts are still feeding young, and the SE chimney swifts are still incubating, despite the lack of activity in the previous sessions.
Barb also pointed out that there seem to be extra swifts around town (more than the breeding pairs accounted for at the nesting sites): “How they are partitioned for roosting is a mystery…no obvious sign of “helpers” at any site so far this year.”
Darlingford
On July 5, Frank returned to the Darlingford School Heritage Museum for a 2 hour session, from 8:05pm to 10:10pm. He saw 1 entry at 9:43pm, 1 entry at 9:48pm, and then 1 exit at 10:01pm followed by an almost immediate return and entry at 10:01pm.
Morden
On July 5, Marvin and Nicholas watched the Pembina Hills Art Centre chimney. There was a concert happening just below the chimney. No swifts were observed.
Carman
On July 7, Rhonda watched the chimney during the daytime at the Memorial Hall in Carman. She saw 1 exit at 9:48am, 1 entry at 10:39am, and 1 exit at 10:43am. She mentions there is also another pair of swifts that do fly overs of the hall at about 4 hour intervals, though she isn’t sure which chimney they are using.
Brandon
The swift situation this year in Brandon continues to be a hard puzzle to decipher. To refresh your memory, no swifts were seen or heard on June 19 at the Orange Block. On June 26, Glennis, Sandy and Louanne decided to check out other areas near to the Orange Block chimney. They did hear swifts a few times, but did not see them.
On July 3, they decided to split up into groups and cover a few areas. Sandy, Glennis and Louanne stayed in the downtown area, visiting various locations. They saw 2 swifts around Princess Ave/13th St at around 8:46pm and 8:54pm, and 3 swifts at 8:56pm. Of the 3 swifts, 2 left the area towards the NE, and 1 went the opposite direction. Carson and his group were around the north campus of the Assiniboine Community College, and saw 3 swifts at around 8:40pm. It is hard to know if both groups saw the same 3 birds, or different individuals.
Gillian and Gwyn spent some time over the past few days scouting around downtown, but they did not see or hear Chimney Swifts. Sandy, Glennis and Louanne were at the ACC North Campus last night and also did not see or hear swifts. While there, they looked around for suitable chimneys around the campus and while there are several chimneys, it seems they are all capped or screened.
The swifts must be hanging out and roosting somewhere in Brandon, but where that is remains a mystery!
Hartney
On July 5, Katharine monitored the Hart-Cam Museum (a new site Katharine discovered last year). Unfortunately, she did not see any signs of Chimney Swifts.
Here are some thoughts Katharine shared about the swift situation in Hartney:
“It is difficult to know if CHSW ever returned to Hartney this year or whether they attempted to nest again in the Hart-Cam Museum. Although I was in town briefly in the third week of June, I was not able to do a monitoring session until this one on July 5. In the weeks prior to this monitoring, there were a number of rainstorms, thunderstorms, some hail and a severe windstorm in the area with several occasions of very heavy downpours, including one the previous afternoon. Even if CHSW had been present earlier and had attempted to nest again here this year, I fear the nest may have failed due to the extremely frequent wet weather this season. At this point, I have seen no evidence of their presence.”
Souris
Katharine did some daytime monitoring in Souris on July 7. At a private residence on 5th Ave W, she did not see any entries/exits or any swifts in the immediate airspace (though she did see 3 swifts flying around in the distance). She then briefly stopped by another private residence on 5th Ave W and saw 2 swifts fly over the house relatively low but did not see any entries/exits.
Melita
Cory and Scott were in the Melita area on July 4 and decided to stop by the Legion Hall to look for swifts. They saw up to 8 birds in the sky at once, and saw 2 entries into the chimney.
Swan River
Janine and Madeline watched the chimney at 518 Main St E during the roosting hour on July 7. They did not see any swift activity.
Winnipeg
There’s been lots of activity at the Canadian Mennonite University. On June 25, a 5 minute daytime observation by Graham yielded 1 entry at 9:57am followed by an exit within the minute. On June 29, John and Kayden watched the chimney and saw 1 entry at 3:15pm followed by 1 exit at 3:16pm. On July 2, John and Richard found themselves chimney side once again. In John’s words: we were forced to go outside because a fire alarm went off in one of the buildings. While we were outside it began to rain. Almost immediately a swift dropped into the chimney and in about 30 seconds, a swift popped out of the chimney”. It seems incubation is ongoing at the site.
On June 29, Jennifer was at the CCFM (340 Provencher Blvd) and saw 1 entry just before 9pm, as well as 2 other swifts swooping close to the chimney but flying off. She returned around 9:15pm to further investigate, and saw 1 exit at 9:25pm, 1 entry at 9:40pm, and one more entry at 10pm. So at least 2 swifts are using this site, and we’re not sure if that third one is also part of this chimney group or if it went to roost somewhere else.
On July 5, Rudolf saw 2 swifts around the chimney at 1171 Kildonan Drive, including one entry.
On July 7, Garry watched the chimney at 722 Watt St for a morning observation session. 61 minutes into the session, he saw 1 entry followed by 1 exit a minute later, indicating the swifts are likely still incubating at this site.
On July 5, Evan and Kevin did some daytime monitoring at a few sites in Winnipeg. Evan watched the St. James Foodfare (2285 Portage Ave) and while he saw 4 swifts in the air, he did not see any activity at the chimney. Kevin watched Essex House (2415 Portage Ave) and saw 1 swift in the sky but no entries/exits. Afterwards, they headed to 465 Lanark St and watched the “A” and “D” buildings but saw no swift activity.
On July 8, Donna monitored 525 Lanark and did not see swift activity, but she did see 1 entry at 555 Lanark at 9:32pm.
Updated Priority Site List (July 12):
Community
Neighbourhood
Address
Site
Observer
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Ave
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
Some exciting news to start off the week… MCSI has a new factsheet! You can access it now on our website:
“Chimney Swifts: Cities, Forests & Beyond!” – English version
“Martinets ramoneurs: Dans les villes, les forêts, et bien plus!” – Version française
This factsheet, which was created with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program, highlights the use of forest habitat by Chimney Swifts for roosting and nesting.
When it comes to Chimney Swifts, we spend a lot of time talking about chimneys (for obvious reasons). However, despite their name, Chimney Swifts were here long before the advent of chimneys. In the past, they lived in old growth forests, roosting and nesting in hollow trees. As the number of chimneys increased and the amount of trees and old growth forests decreased, swifts adapted to their changing environment by shifting their habitat use.
While most Chimney Swifts now roost and nest in chimneys, some Chimney Swifts do still nest and roost in trees. However, we know almost nothing about where and how often this occurs. As most of you may know, Chimney Swifts are a Threatened species and one of the big threats affecting this species is habitat loss (both chimneys and trees). Learning more about which trees are being used by swifts is important for guiding habitat protection and other conservation efforts.
That is why we created this factsheet – we want to know more about Chimney Swifts in natural areas in Manitoba. We hope that by spreading the word about Chimney Swifts in forests and asking folks to report any sightings of Chimney Swifts (both in urban and forested areas), we’ll be able to piece together more of the puzzle.
As we mention in the factsheet, there have been some reports of Chimney Swifts near large forested areas in western Manitoba such as Riding Mountain National Park, Dauphin, the Duck Mountains, Porcupine Hills, and The Pas. We suspect that swifts might be using hollow trees in these regions. We are hoping to do some targeted outreach in these areas to raise general awareness of Chimney Swifts and ask folks to keep an eye on the sky. The more people who know about Chimney Swifts and how to identify them, the more likely we are to find out more.
In this factsheet, we also mention several ways in which you can get involved. Here are a few examples (spoiler alert): In addition to reporting your Chimney Swift observations or volunteering as a swift monitor, you can also help by avoiding cutting down trees, preserving wetland areas, and letting us know if you come across any old hollow trees that might be suitable swift habitat (including GPS coordinates and a photo).
