It feels like this will be one of our last Chimney Swift updates for 2019 – but what a year it has been!
Here are some updates from around the province, proving there is still life in the old swift yet.
We begin with Selkirk:
On July 19, Robert and Donna, counted 15
swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and 2 in the
infirmary;
On July 24, Robert and Donna, counted 34
swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, 4 in the yellow
brick and 2 in the infirmary;
On July 24 and July 31, Ray and Sybil
did not have any activity at the Merchant’s Hotel;
On August 2, Gerald counted 1 swift at
Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
On August 5, Gerald counted 3 in one
chimney, and 1 in the other chimney at St Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport;
On August 8, Gerald counted 2 in the
chimney at Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
On August 13, Linda and Nia counted 28
swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, Robert and
Donna counted 2 at a busy nest site at the yellow brick chimney and 2 in
the infirmary;
On August 14, Ray and Sybil’s luck
changed and they counted a net 10 at the 367 Main Street site and August 15 a
total of 7;
On August 14, Gerald counted 2 in the
chimney at Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
In Brandon, Margaret and Millie continue
their vigilant watching. Here is their brief report from the 9th:
‘We
decided to go earlier so this report includes daytime monitoring. We are
concerned that our swifts arrived later and are at increased risk of nest
failure. They are still feeding – we left feeling hopeful!’
Continuous feeding
of young was going on. Jump to August 13, and the feeding was as busy as ever,
7 entries, 6 exits in 72 minutes. A similar rate was recorded on the 18th.
Fledging must be close for this pair.
Speaking of
fledging, Garry sent this report on the 13th:
‘20:24 – 1
swift circling, with low sweeps by chimney several times.
20:25 – same swift enters
chimney, in a rather halting fashion.
20:33 – 1 swift circling chimney
for almost 10 minutes. Making many wide circles and several low sweeps low to
the chimney. Then it disappeared.
20:51 – 2 swifts circling
chimney, keeping close company, some twittering with several low sweeps by
chimney.
20:55 – the 2 swifts enter
chimney, both in a halting manner.
21:03- 1 swift enters chimney.
Came out of nowhere and dove in like a bullet. Adult I presume.
Waited until 21:19 but saw no
other entry. There were distractions with cars pulling out from where I was
parked so not impossible that I missed one more dive-bomb entry.
So … I would say at least 2
young have been reared in this chimney, maybe 3, judging by the somewhat
careful entries of 3 swifts.’
Brilliant news from Watt Street
in East Kildonan. Thanks Garry for watching and sharing. More success in Portage
la Prairie where Cal sent this report:
‘This evening Gord and myself along with Janice Madill did
another swift watch. Gord covered the former Women’s Gail and had 3
rather late entries. Janice Madill and myself covered Trinity United
Church.
The following is a quick breakdown of events at
the church:
8:43 – a flyover flock of 16 swifts seen
8:48 – a flyover flock of 19 swifts seen
(a real surge in numbers over last week )
8:20 to 8:52 – several attempts at entry by an
obvious fledgling
8:58 – 2 quick entries
9:02 – 1 quick entry followed by (at last) the
rather clumsy entry by a fledgling
9:16 – another quick entry
Total 5 final entries for the evening all in the
south chimney. There is the possibility that more than one of these 5 entries
was a fledgling. We don’t really think so though as they were all
“smooth” entries with the one exception. Unless of course two more
fledglings “caught on” quicker on how to make more skillful entries!’
Back in Winnipeg, and it looks as though we had a fledged swift reported
by Barbara and Phil:
‘Plenty of aerial CHSW activity (I counted 13, but there may have a
couple more) over east Osborne Village. No entries into Royal Oak. There
were some tantalizing low flyovers of the Clarke chimney, three failed entries
(3 different birds, or just one who couldn’t get it right?). But only 3
entries in the end. Where did the other 10 go?’
Where
indeed! Blair in St Boniface sent this:
‘My
reports for this week. They cover two locations that had a pair of swifts
all season. This week was a repeat of what I saw last week.
261 Youville – had swifts
entering and exiting a couple of times, then two swifts went in for the night.
340 Provencher Blvd – had two
swifts enter the chimney, 1 left 15 minutes later and then two returned 8
minutes later, for a total of 3 in the chimney.’
The suspicion here is that
Provencher fledged one swift and Youville is still an ongoing nest attempt.
Randy from the Manitoba Museum sent an
intriguing report on the 14th:
‘And, while having a coffee meeting with other
curators at Joe and Lilly’s in Sports Manitoba, a swift entered the
gray-painted NE chimney of Children’s House on Pacific. It entered about 10:40
and exited less than a minute later. I did not see another entry after about 20
minutes.’
A second report came
24 hours later from Randy.
‘Watched the Pacific Avenue chimney
yesterday (Aug 15) for about 10 minutes in the morning, 8:15-8:25, and ten
minutes in the afternoon, 4:45-4:55 with no observations.
Watched for 55
minutes this morning (Aug 16) with some activity:
8:14 – 1 leaving
8:14 – 1 leaving
8:15 – 1 leaving
8:30 – 1 entering (might have missed the exit?)
8:35 – 1 entering
8:37 – 1 exiting
8:56 – 1 flew over the chimney about 5 feet above, did not enter
9:06 – 1 entering
9:08 – 1 exiting
Chimney is in full
sun by 8:10 or earlier. Birds exited towards the east or the southeast (towards
the river) and returned from similar directions.’
New Silver Heights was very active on the 16th,
watched by Bob and Valerie:
‘We went to look at the chimney at the Silver
Heights apartments yesterday. Activity, but apparently no fledging yet.’
Katrina still
had an entry at the zoo on the 15th. This tower has been a hive of
activity in 2019!
Ken and Jan had a
busy week in Dauphin starting on the 14th:
‘Started out being a great night to watch swifts but then rain clouds
moved in about an hour before sunset and drowned us out at one chimney but
cleared out by the time we move to the roost chimney. Chimney 2018-14 wasn’t
observed this night as volunteers are now working with Elections Canada so we
started with 2018-15. We immediately spotted swifts flying overhead, 5 became 8
then 11 and then 14 but all flying high overhead. There was one entry event
with 2 swifts going down with the last one clearing having trouble and hovering
over the chimney mouth before dropping in. I would suggest this chimney has now
fledged and one adult and a YOY are using the chimney for roosting.
Moved on over to
observe the roost chimney #600 and observed the larger flock from 2018-15 of
over 14 swifts flying through the light rain. There was then a series of 5
entry/exits which correlates to last weeks observation that the roost has a
nest inside with young still not fledged. As sunset came, individual swifts
started to roost but the big flock number did not materialize so it might be a
composite flock of fledglings, parents and migrants. The final estimate for
swifts in the chimney was only 7 but the maximum seem flying at one time was
16. It seems likely that the rest of the flock split themselves into the two
nesting chimneys.
A summary could look
like this: 16 swifts minus 7 in roost = 9 with 2 in nest chimney = 11 minus 4
adults = 7 possible YOY fledged so far which is a really good number with the
nest in the roost still to fledge (maybe I’m dreaming this success number!).’
The intrigue continued on the 17th
at the large roost chimney:
‘Stopped
by the Dauphin roost on our way home from a meal of Chinese food tonight and in
less than 5 minutes saw an exit, entrance and exit so they are still not fledge
yet.’
Finally, Barb has
sent possibly her last report from St Adolphe for 2019:
‘Chimney Swift
activity in St Adolphe was much reduced on Waning Wednesday, August 14. The
aerial presence of the swifts along the north-south corridor was non-existent.
At minute 50 of a one hour watch, a quick exit was made at the Main St.
chimney. The departing swift was black and sleek, but was not presenting itself
in a way to i.d., so it may have been a juvenile but that can’t be confirmed.
Over at the older
residential area near the curling rink on Wednesday, up to 6 swifts could be
seen flying low over the mature tree tops. They were feeding actively with
Purple Martins. Watching the rim of the newly identified nest site yielded no
entry/exit observations in 30 minutes. There was no need for concern though as
fledging took place at this site Aug. 10-11. Fledglings could be seen flying
near the nest chimney on Monday and again Wednesday, so flight training is well
underway.
For other nest site
monitors, it is fast approaching the cutoff date for successful fledging. In St
Adolphe, August 16 is the latest known date for successful takeoff – and that
was a Day 32 liftoff at the Brodeur Bros. site in 2010 (fledging was delayed by
significant, prolonged wind activity). Watch for changes in activity patterns
at your sites: an increase of activity by adults may signal drawing the young
up to the chimney rim prior to fledging; an increase in activity by obviously
flight-challenged swifts – including tentative entries – suggests fledglings
are learning to navigate in the airspace. Once fledging takes place, the use of
the natal site diminishes over 7-10 days and, yes, it can be variable between
sites. This year the SE Club fledglings were in/out of the chimney often during
the day for over a week while the Main St young were not using their chimney at
all during a 90 minute watch 2 days post-fledging.
Margaret and Millie
often have successful fledging at their site in Brandon at later dates in
August. Tim has some good thoughts on this…’
In response to Barb’s
last ‘poke’, Tim’s hypothesis is that swifts arrive back in Brandon later than
the east. Maybe the season draws out longer in the southwest, stays warmer, and
perhaps there is less insecticide spraying in the city. And that’s that!
And that is indeed our update. A plethora of great reports. Thank you everyone One more week to come, and possibly another week of great reports. We look forward to hearing from you.
Tim Poole
