Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

An Update on the Chimney Swifts and 2021 Monitoring

Spring is slowly but surely making its way into Manitoba, and the Chimney Swifts are also on their way. We are on the lookout for our first swift sightings in Manitoba, so when you see your first, please let us know! As the swifts are starting to show up in North Dakota and Minnesota, we have finalized our plans for Chimney Swift Monitoring in 2021.

Chimney Swift sightings in April and May 2021 from eBird.org. Each purple rectangle is at least one Chimney Swift.

For most sites, Chimney Swift monitoring will continue to follow the MCSI night protocol with the same format as last year. Monitoring will start on Wednesday, May 26^th and continue each Wednesday until June 23^rd (rain dates are Thursday each week). By the end of June, we should be able to determine if the Swifts have decided to make a nesting attempt in each monitored chimney.

For several of the larger roost chimneys, we will also be conducting the National Roost Monitoring Protocol (NRMP). This protocol is followed throughout Canada, where the Canadian Wildlife Service collects data on roosting chimneys that host four or more Chimney Swifts. This monitoring happens every four days for a two-week period (rather than once a week).

Both the MCSI Nights and the NRMP start on Wednesday, May 26^th this year. If you would like a MCSI volunteer lanyard to wear while monitoring, please contact me (email below) and I can send one out to you.

NRMP nights and the MCSI nights follow the same monitoring protocol (other than the dates the monitoring takes place) as well as the same data sheet. You can find our 2021 protocol and data sheet at the following links:

2021 Monitoring Protocol (pdf)

2021 Data Sheet (pdf)

2021 Data Sheet (Word)

If you are looking for a chimney to watch in your neighbourhood, send an email to myself (Amanda) at manitobachimneyswift@gmail.com and I would be happy to find one for you! We always have more chimneys than monitors each year.

For the NRMP nights the following chimneys still need volunteers to monitor:

• Carmen Memorial Hall, Carmen
• St Paul’s United Church, Souris
• 5000 Crescent Road West (Rufus Prince Building), Portage la Prairie
• Ecole Assiniboine School, Winnipeg
• 2187 Portage Ave (Moorgate Apartments), Winnipeg

In other swift news – you may have heard, seen or read about the 800-1000 Swifts seen using chimneys at two homes in California (link to the story: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/we-lost-count-after-800-torrance-home-overrun-by-migrating-birds/). These are likely Vaux’s Swifts, as the breeding range for our local Chimney Swifts only is as far west as Saskatchewan.

One of the houses in California with Vaux’s Swifts.

While this is certainly an eye-catching phenomenon and something you would likely never forget – it is unfortunate that the story has largely been circulating with negative connotations towards Swifts in general. Both the Vaux’s and Chimney Swifts are aerial insectivores, a group of birds whose populations are undergoing steep declines, and both are protected in Canada by federal and provincial legislation. In addition to their innate value as part of our world’s biodiversity, they also provide tangible benefits to people by eating a huge number of insects we often think of as pests.

If you are worried about birds, such as swifts, entering your house, it is as easy as closing your fireplace damper. This leaves the chimney open for swifts to use as roosting and nesting habitat, while keeping the inside of your house bird free. In fact, we strongly encourage closing your dampers, as Swifts can get confused by the extra light source (associating light with the chimney exit).

To learn more about Chimney Swifts and separate fact from fiction, check out our factsheets about hosting Swifts and how you can be a Chimney Swift champion!

Chimney Swift: Manitoba’s Flying Cigar – https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/factsheet1.pdf

Are Chimney Swifts Using My Chimney – https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/factsheet2.pdf

Become a Chimney Swift Champion – https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/factsheet3.pdf

— Amanda Shave

At the end of October 2020, we watched the Chimney Swifts fly southward to their nonbreeding grounds in South America through citizen scientist sightings in eBird. As we approach the time when the swifts return here in Manitoba, I thought we could take a look at where they were sighted over the winter – and where they are now.

First, a quick reminder of the Chimney Swift breeding, migration and nonbreeding ranges.

There are fewer observations of Chimney Swifts in their nonbreeding range, so I have combined the months of December, January and February together in the map below. You can see that swifts were sighted in Belize (4 swifts seen on Dec 5), Costa Rica (28 swifts seen from Dec 2-Jan 24), the Cayman Islands (1 swift seen on Feb 4), Peru (1 swift seen on Dec 29 and 1 on Jan 4) and Chile. It is strange for me to think of our “local” birds being seen on the same birding list as Tinamous, Toucans, Trogans and Parrots! Check out this eBird list from Peru where there must have been some great birding (in addition to Chimney Swifts, of course) https://ebird.org/checklist/S78853414

The sightings in Central America are outside of what is thought to be the non-breeding range. Were these individuals on migration? Or did they spend the winter in Central America instead of heading a bit further south? Chimney Swifts are as much of a mystery (if not more) at the non-breeding grounds as they are when they nest in Manitoba! For the Chimney Swifts reported in Belize – the birders made a note that the swifts were in migration still moving southwards, however the other sightings are unknown.

Map of Chimney Swift sightings in eBird.org for December 2020 and January-February 2021.

Our next map is for March 2021 and you can certainly see that Chimney Swifts are on the move! A big difference from the locations that we saw from the winter. You can see swifts moving up Central America, arriving at the Gulf Coast and then moving up through the United States. Although many individuals are still in the lower states, there is one enterprising group (4 swifts) that was seen by a citizen scientist in Lansing, Michigan reported on March 25th.

Map of Chimney Swift sightings from eBird.org for March 2021.

Chimney Swifts usually start arriving in Manitoba from May 1^st (earliest) onwards, so another month and a bit before we will start seeing the swifts here. MCSI is preparing our 2021 season protocol for our Chimney Swift monitoring program – and we look forward to working with all of our volunteers in 2021. I will update our blog with more swift migration action near the end of April – so keep an eye out!

— Amanda Shave

The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative is please to announce this year’s Chimney Swift Champions! Chimney Swift Champions are recognized for the work they do to protect Chimney Swifts in Manitoba. This can range from preserving habitat to education. Due to COVID-19 restrictions our plaque presentations have been a little different this year (the now ubiquitous “curbside dropoff”) but our appreciation for these individuals is in no way diminished! A big thank you to each of our Champions this year, the work you do is very appreciated!

Our first Champion this year was House of Hesed on Edmonton St in Winnipeg. Moe (Executive Director) and the home residents have been incredibly caring and interested in the Chimney Swifts using their chimney. The chimney was occupied by nesting chimney swifts in 2018 when Moe heard noises coming from their chimney. They partnered with MCSI to repair the chimney in 2019. While there were no breeding swifts using the chimney this year, there did seem to be evidence that swifts had used it as a roost site earlier in the spring.

Our second Champion this year was Guent Salzmann. Guent was the catalyst for setting up the Nature Manitoba Bluebird Fund. This fund has allowed us to repair and clean many chimneys, protecting and preserving critical habitat for breeding and roosting chimney swifts. The Bluebird Fund was also key in the relocation and re-building of an artificial chimney swift tower from the Old Grace Hospital site to Assiniboine Park Zoo, where it became the first artificial tower in Manitoba to successfully host chimney swifts. Guent passed away in November 2020, but his care for nature will live on. For more about Guent’s life and legacy see Nature Manitoba’s January newsletter at https://www.naturemanitoba.ca/news-articles/remembering-guent-salzmann

Our third set of Champions this year are Rhonda and Craig Baxter. Barb hit a jackpot in summer of 2019 when she was approached by Rhonda during an unassuming session monitoring swifts in St Adolphe. Rhonda had approached Barb to ask about the birds in her chimney. Prior to that conversation Barb had thought she had the nesting/ roosting sites in St Adolphe pinned down! In fact, the Baxter’s had nesting swifts with young in her chimney in 2018 and 2019. Additionally, their chimney has a terracotta collar on it, a type of material that we didn’t think that swifts were able to use! Since that fateful meeting Rhonda and Craig have been a delight to work with. Our program was able to offer them a chimney cleaning last year, and Rhonda was able to put off roof work this spring until Barb was able to determine that no Chimney Swifts were using the chimney this year.

Our fourth Champion this year is Roxy Lanes. Roxy Lanes has been a monitoring spot for our volunteers for a number of years, but a twist of fate brought MCSI and the bowling lanes together in a different way in 2020. Ward Christianson, one of our volunteers was out to see a Summer Tanager (rare to see in Winnipeg). It turns out this was right near the home of Roxy Lanes owner Melissa, and they got talking about Chimney Swifts instead! Roxy Lanes is a converted movie theatre – certainly an interesting home for the swifts! We were able to repair the front chimney (where swifts have been observed in the past, including this summer), as well as a chimney on the side of the building that previously had a large hole near the bottom. We have a number of other monitoring sites that have swifts using chimneys less than 15m from each other, so it will be interesting to see if swifts will start to use this second chimney, now that it is suitable habitat again.

Before (left) and after (right) repair to the side chimney at Roxy Lanes. We suspect the large hole would create cold drafts, discouraging Chimney Swift Nesting. Now a cleanout has been installed and the chimney is ready for swifts!

Before (left) and after (right) repairs to the front chimney at Roxy Lanes. This chimney has been home to swifts for several breeding season (looks like the pigeons also approve).

Last but not least, our fifth Champion for this year is Nicole Firlotte. Nicole is a member of our MCSI Steering Committee. Through her work as the Manager of the Biodiversity, Habitat and Endangered Species section for Manitoba Nicole has been instrumental in enforcing protection of swifts and swift habitat through the Manitoba Endangered Species and Ecosystems Act. This has included mitigation at the Old Grace Hospital site, installation of the artificial tower at Assiniboine Park Zoo (part of the aforementioned mitigation), worked with a realty company to uncap a chimney to replace another one being lined, and continues to be critical in mitigation taking place at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre for chimneys used by Chimney Swifts. In addition to all of that Nicole has monitored sites at the Old Grace and Fleetwood Apartments for MCSI for many years.

Nicole Firlotte with her Chimney Swift Champion plaque.

— Amanda Shave

As the Chimney Swifts make a break for the warm weather of South America, we can re-live our own memories of summer weather by checking out the results of the 2020 monitoring season! This was certainly a season to remember, mainly due to the impact that COVID-19 had in Manitoba, across Canada and worldwide. Here in Manitoba, MCSI started off with a backyard Chimney Swift watch. As the government of Manitoba started to open the province back up, we switched to a monitoring season more like the usual.

Another difference this year was the cancellation of the Canada-wide National Roost Monitoring Program in 2020 due to COVID-19. The MCSI Steering Committee replaced these nights with the MCSI Monitoring Nights each Wednesday from late May to late June. We had pretty good weather in that approximately 30-day period, with only one Wednesday being interrupted by a thunderstorm (with people monitoring on the following Thursday instead).

Once the summer nesting season moved into full swing, we had volunteers observing Chimneys Swifts both in the evening (roosting), as well as during the day. We were able to get several confirmed nesting successes this year (always a difficult task with this enigmatic bird), as well as other nesting attempts identified by following swift behaviour and numbers of individuals at the chimneys.

Notable in the fall were several instances of Chimney Swifts hanging around quite late in the season. The roosting chimney in Dauphin did not have a fall count of zero individuals until September 7^th (at which point it was -3 degrees). The first zero count of the fall at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound (our last known site with swifts in Manitoba) was September 12^th. The swifts had persisted through a patch of cold and windy weather, before heading off to warmer climates.

Overall, we had monitors out in 25 communities across Manitoba, watching a total of 185 sites (21 new sites this year). Some of these sites had no Chimney Swifts, some sites had Chimney Swifts using chimneys, while others still had Chimney Swifts around but more searching is required to find where in the neighbourhood they are nesting/ roosting.

As always, the MCSI Roost and Nest Site data base is available on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website. This document summarizes the high counts of Chimneys Swifts at sites, if a site was used for nesting or roosting, and successes/ failures of nest (if known).

The MCSI Monitoring Nights results are also available on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website. This table gives a snap-shot into Chimney Swift numbers at each site over an approximately 30-day period.

–Amanda Shave

Our last update on the locations of our Manitoba Chimney Swifts was in mid-September, as we ended off our Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative monitoring season. I thought I would pop in with a quick “where are they now” for swifts across North America. For a quick reminder here is a map of the breeding, migration and nonbreeding ranges for Chimney Swifts. They breed across central and eastern Canada and the United States. On migration Chimney Swifts pass through Mexico, central America and the Caribbean before reaching the nonbreeding range in western south America.

Our next look in at the birds comes from the month of October in the image below. Here we can see that the pattern of citizen science sightings of Chimney Swifts has changed quite a bit. There are no more sightings in Manitoba. In Canada only one swift was seen in Montreal and some left in southern Ontario (most of these records are from the first week in October). Meanwhile, there are swifts reported on the Yucatan Peninsula and in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in central America. New on this map are the presence of some Chimney Swifts who have reached their winter range with sightings of at least 85 individuals across Colombia.

At least if we can’t travel this winter, we can live vicariously through the Chimney Swifts! Stay tuned for future migration updates as we head into late fall.

If you’d like to look at the Chimney Swift maps in more detail below is the link in eBird for all data so far in 2020. You can change the date range for Chimney Swift sightings in the top right-hand corner. You can also zoom in to see exactly where the swifts were sighted (as an example, check out Bogota, Colombia) and see what kinds of habitat they are using during migration and the nonbreeding period.

Follow this link for the current eBird species map.

–Amanda Shave

Chimney Swifts using nest sites in St. Adolphe have been monitored annually since 2007. To assess breeding success, behaviour observations + physical evidence seen in cleanout traps were used for the Brodeur Bros./Daycare and Main St. sites; only behaviour observations were available for the Club Amical, Church, and 2019-31 sites. Merci et thank you to our swift-friendly “landlords” – S. and A. Leclerc, owners of site 2019-31, Paroisse St. Adolphe, the RM of Ritchot, and the staff of the St Adolphe Child Care Centre – for supporting the MCSI Research Program and St Adolphe’s Chimney Swifts!

The Covid-19 pandemic was being managed with public health regulations and advisories. Beyond relocating to more isolated viewing locations (away from sidewalks), and reducing the frequency of monitoring private homes, the St Adolphe Chimney Swift Research Program rolled out as usual in May and continued through to the departure of the swifts in August.

In 2020, breeding pairs of Chimney Swifts were established at 5 of the 6 known nest sites in St. Adolphe (~80% site occupancy). Of the 5 nesting attempts, only the adults at the Church successfully fledged young (20% success). The clutch size, or total number of eggs laid, was unknown but 2 juveniles fledged from the Church on August 2^nd -3^rd.

Heat and winds dominated the breeding season in 2020. However, high feeding rates were seen again compared to very low feeding rates seen in the previous couple of years. Some heavy rain events punctuated the season and one nest failure was associated with a storm. There were also unexplained reasons for nest failures.

An unusual event took place in late July. Adults from several sites left St Adolphe before fledging took place at the Church. The resident flock of unsuccessful breeders usually stays in town until the time of first fledging at some site. Also, the breeding pair from the Church had very unusual attendance at the site for a few days post-fledging. We have much more to learn about the dynamics of breeding Chimney Swifts!

A summary of the nesting attempt outcomes for 2020 is tabled below. These results are based on 132 hours of observations.

 (Prepared by B. E. Stewart, Sila Consultants, Oct. 21, 2020; sila.stewart@gmail.com)

Note: this nest outcome summary is available as a pdf file at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/stadolphe_2020.pdf

Needing some more Chimney Swifts in your life?

For anyone who is in Chimney Swift withdrawal, take a look at this video posted by Paul Kyle on Youtube. Paul and Georgean Kyle are directors of the Chimney Swift Conservation Association, wrote a book (Chimney Swifts: America’s Mysterious Birds above the Fireplace) and designed a Chimney Swift tower used by organizations across North America. As you can see, they are very active in the Chimney Swift conservation community.

Whether you are a “landlord” to a swift family in your chimney, or an MCSI monitor, we spend a lot of time during the spring and summer wondering just what is happening inside the chimneys! In this short video we follow the story of a Chimney Swift family through the breeding season from nest building to the first flights by the young swifts. A video camera was placed in an artificial tower at the Chaetura Canyon Chimney Swift Sanctuary in Texas to follow the goings-on of two swifts (Twig and Timber). Some of the behavioural aspects of the nesting process were of particular interest to me, as it is amazing to see this behaviour that I had previously only read about. Take a watch and let us know what you think! Are there any aspects of the life of swifts inside the chimney that were new to you?

You may also view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OuZWvyCcCI&t=251s

(The video runs just over 13 minutes and has English audio with French subtitles.)

–Amanda Shave

While most of the Chimney Swifts seem to have left Manitoba in the past several weeks, we do have a few groups that have stuck it out until recently despite the windy and cool weather. Our recent focus has been on the swifts hanging out in Dauphin and Selkirk…

Pat and Marilyn watched the nesting chimney at the Watson Arts Centre building in Dauphin on September 2^nd. Unfortunately, it had been raining an hour before monitoring started, and while they heard bird twitter about 20 minutes after arrival, they saw no activity at the chimney. Pat thought that either the Chimney Swifts were already in the chimney before monitoring started because of rain, or they had moved on from using the nesting chimney, possibly starting migration.

On September 7^th Ken and Jan visited the Dauphin Roost site for the roosting hour. This time they saw no swifts for an official “zero count” at this chimney. As Ken said “I’m thankful that I didn’t see anything and hopeful that they are truly on their way south as they are warning us of possible frost tonight with temperatures of -3^oC. Maybe see them next spring.” While zero counts are not so interesting to watch, they give us an accurate picture of Chimney Swift timing, which is important to establish in Manitoba. We are at the northern edge of the Chimney Swift breeding range in Manitoba, so reports of swift timing in more southerly parts of the range may not apply here.

Nia and Linda watched the Selkirk Mental Health Centre’s yellow brick chimney on September 3^rd. They saw a total of three swifts that went done the chimney about a minute a part from each other near the end of the roost monitoring period. A couple of days later on September 5^th, Winona watched the same chimney. She observed one entry around 7:30pm, and another entry a couple of minutes before sunset (7:59pm).

On the same night as Winona, Gerald was out watching the swift family still at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound (site 2018-16.1) for 35 minutes around sunset. There were four entries spread across the observation time, with entries starting around 7:50pm, and ending shortly before 8:30pm. The second chimney at the site (2018-16.2) had no entries or exits.

Each night from September 7^th– 11^th Gerald and Winona continued to watched the site 2018-16.1 at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound. On September 7^th Gerald watched the chimney for 20 minutes. He saw three entries into the chimney, but was not able to stay until sunset. On September 8^th Gerald was back again for the full roost monitoring period. A total of eight swifts were observed using the chimney for roosting. Entries started around 7:40pm and continued until just after sunset. On September 9^th there were still 6 swifts using the chimney for the night. On the same night the other chimney at the site (2018-16.2) had one swift that decided to roost for the night – somewhat unusual. On September 10^th he once again was at the St Andrews Maintenance compound. Site 2018-16.2 had one swift do a quick entry and exit to check the chimney out, but at the end of the night only site 2018-16.1 had swifts – with a total of five roosting.

On September 11^th, Winona finally saw evidence of the swift starting to leave on migration with one entry seen. Then finally on September 12^th, well past swifts using any other site (that we know of in Manitoba) did Gerald get a zero count for swifts in the evening. Our last known swifts have left their Manitoba roosts for the year.

However, that was not our last Chimney Swift related activity! On September 14^th, I joined Assiniboine Park Zoo staff to check out the artificial Chimney Swift Tower at the zoo. From photos taken by the Zoo staff, we knew a nest was built, and from monitoring by Zoo staff, we believe that this site had successful fledging. Looking at the contents of the nest, we found only eggshell fragments. It looks like this nest had a successful year with all eggs hatching, and all young fledging! From the eggshell fragments found we believe that there were three fledglings from the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower. Chimney Swifts on their way to South America, the work of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative now turns to cleaning and repairing nesting and roosting chimneys!

With that, all of us at the MCSI would like to give a HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers who have stuck with us for our 14^th year of Chimney Swift monitoring! Our monitoring (like so many things at the time) got off to a rocky start with COVID-19, but I am glad we were able to stick with it and come out with positive results for our Chimneys Swifts. I would also like to give a shout out to Frank, our fearless webmaster for posting these updates all spring, summer and now into fall!

If you have any remaining Chimney Swift monitoring forms please send them to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com. Even if they are May monitoring stragglers, they form an important part of our Manitoba Chimney Swift picture in 2020.

–Amanda Shave

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over!

As the chimney swift season starts to wind up, we have fewer reports coming into the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative. However, a few volunteers still see Chimney Swifts hanging around their monitoring chimneys. So away we go…

On August 17^th and 22^nd Blair watched the chimney at 690 St Joseph. He watched two chimney swifts entering the chimney, one made an aborted entry before actually going down the chimney. On August 22^nd he had several swifts fly by, but no one entering the chimney for the night during his monitoring period. His conclusion was “I believe they have moved on, collecting for the trip south.”

On August 23^rd Gerald watched the Selkirk Health Centre Infirmary for the evening roosting session, and noted what looked like fledging. There were a total of eight entries and two exits over the 45 minutes monitoring session, ending with five swifts in the chimney up from two swifts the week before.

On August 23^rd Barb did a monitoring session in St Adolphe with her report below “It was a lovely, perfect Sunday evening to watch the skies around the St Adolphe Church. The temperature was warm at 23 C, a light breeze blew through on occasion, and as daylight faded, the cloud cover was lifting upwards to better define the chimney rim. I was really expecting to have a season closer but twice, 2 feeding swifts appeared over the cemetery/field. Just after sunset, a swift came in towards the Church chimney rim at good speed but the bird had a very slow entry, with a stall, and wing flapping alignment on the descent. A few minutes later, a swift “just appeared” over the north rim. As this bird was very low, the sighting was brief, but there was a good view of the swift doing a slight upward alignment and then a constant wing flap to “hover” over the rim before dropping in for the night.

It appears that migrants are using the Church chimney. I interpret the slow, measured entries to the chimney as an indication of swifts which were being prudent about entering their roosting portal. The Church fledglings of this year had faster, smoother entries to the chimney as their flight proficiency increased.  So while there was no indication of this year’s Church family of 4 in St Adolphe (they were last seen flying in the area on August 12), it was reassuring to know that the chimney was still hosting other swifts as they finish their residency in Manitoba for 2020.  It ain’t over ’til it’s over…”

Margaret and Amelia did a monitoring session on August 23^rd and ended up with a bit of a puzzle. In previous weeks they had been seeing pretty obvious feeding behavior from two chimney swifts. Went they watched on the 23^rd they suddenly had just one swift using the chimney. They decided to watch again on August 24^th, but saw the same pattern repeat. Calculating the approximate period from hatch to fledge, the fledge date could have been August 18^th-21^st (in between monitoring sessions). But if they did fledge, they were not using the nesting chimney. A mystery, for sure.

On August 24^th at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre large stack Gerald had two Chimney Swift entries with no exits during the hour surrounding sunset. He watched the large stack again on August 25^th and had the same two entries, noting that both “had an awkward flight”.

Winona watched the yellow brick chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on August 24^th and had one entry and one exit, so no swifts ended up using the chimney by the time 30 minutes after sunset had rolled around. Winona watched the same chimney again the next night, with the same outcome.

Gerald watched the Selkirk Mental Health Centre Infirmary chimney on August 25^th as well. He ended up with four swifts using the chimney at the end of the monitoring period after watching a variety of entries and exits.

On August 26^th Gerald watched the chimneys on the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound. It looks like the young from the south chimney have fledged. There was much wing fluttering and several entry attempts for some of the swifts to enter this chimney. This would be our program’s latest fledge date recorded, however Gerald also noted that there may have been an even later fledge date for Chimney Swifts using the Selkirk Mental Health Centre Infirmary chimney in the past.

Gerald monitored the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance facility chimneys on August 31^st during the roosting period. At site 2018-16.1 he had a total of four swifts in the chimney at the end of the night. At the second location on site (2018-16.2) he ended the night with four swifts in the chimney. For both chimneys Gerald noted that there may have been more entries before he was able to arrive on site.

Nia and Linda watched the yellow brick chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on September 1^st for 45 minutes around sunset. They had a total of 7 entries fairly evenly distributed over that period, with no exits.

On August 27^th Ken in Dauphin writes “Well I sat at the Dauphin Roost #600 this evening for the roosting hour. The hour was split with the time before sunset and the time after sunset. Before sunset there were 4 ins and 3 outs. After sunset there were 6 ins and 0 outs. At one point prior to sunset there was almost a collision over the chimney as there was one swift that came out and another went in virtually passing each other at the chimney rim. There didn’t appear to be any unaccounted-for swifts when I left with there being the 2 nesting birds and 5 migrants (total of 7 for the night).”

On August 29^th Ken once again watched the Dauphin Roost site (site 600). While things started off similar to the behavior seen on August 27^th (a number of entries and exits) it then changed! Ken writes “Five minutes after sunset four swifts flew over; three minutes later two swifts went down the chimney but four others flew past; four minutes later two more swifts went down with the last one obviously doing lots of wing flapping; two minutes later one more swift went down but two more were seen flying; four minutes later 3 swifts flew past with a minute later 1 going down with lots of wing flapping (8:50 PM); finally two singles went down followed quickly by a third which did lots of wing flapping.” Previous counts had seven swifts using this chimney, while this count had nine. Could the two additional swifts be fledged young? Barb noted that with migrating chimney swifts passing through, a change in number of swifts at a chimney this time of year don’t necessarily indicated fledged young. However, in Ken’s case the “follow the leader” approach of young imitating adults entering the chimney is a strong indicator that these extra swifts may, in fact, be fledglings.

On September 1^st, Ken reported that Chimney Swifts are still hanging on in Dauphin. He says, “Very overcast, windy and rain, single digit lows, but the swifts were still out doing their thing. There was no big flock arriving at sunset but individual birds coming and going.” He also suspects that there may be fledged swifts hanging around with some swifts seemingly not knowing where the chimney was, others trying to enter the chimney with the wind at their backs (and then overshooting the chimney entry), and one set following a “leader” swift into the chimney. Overall, Ken’s assessment was “There were at least 5-6 chimney entries that were done by inexperienced fliers but any one of these could have left and come back to try again gaining experience. There were 15 entries and 5 exits but when you work it out on paper, there appears to be 11 swifts overnighting in the chimney, up from 8 three days ago.”

We will have at least one more week’s worth of reports, as it seems some swifts are sticking around despite our recent cool and windy weather. So, stay tuned!

— Amanda Shave