Swifts are still here, and the reports are still flowing. Here is the latest monitoring news from the chimney tops of Manitoba.
We start at
the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Kelsey sent this report on Thursday morning
via text:
‘I think there might be fledging at the zoo. I have 2 bird with
feathers missing on their wings and a third cleaner looking bird that took 3
shots to get into the chimney’
For those unfamiliar with swift biology, the adult birds moult
during the breeding period, and if you look closely in binoculars, you can
often see the missing wing feathers. However, fledging birds do not moult and
have clean looking wings. The second part of the text re. the 3 three attempts
to enter the chimney is very typical of an inexperienced bird. We therefore
believe (unless Barb tells me otherwise) that Kelsey has confirmed that at
least one Chimney Swift has fledged from inside this tower.
Katrina also watched the same chimney that
same day, and 3 birds continued to be observed in the area.
in Brandon, Margaret
and Millie continue to watch the Orange Block. They sent the following
update from Tuesday evening:
‘Princess Ave was busier than
on Sunday nights, but not distracting. Insects are in short supply!!’
2
swifts continue to use this site.
Frank and Jacquie braved the (not so) coming storm at 464 St Mary Avenue and 274 Osborne on the 31st. Unfortunately, no swifts were seen. Just down the road, Tim noted a single entry at the Granite Curling Club. This was a very early entry, and we suspect all swifts went to bed early that night.
In
St Boniface, Blair sent a nice report in:
‘I was
back to watch the chimney at 690 St. Joseph for evidence of fledged Chimney
Swifts. This chimney was successful last year and seems to be
successful again this season.
When we arrived, there were 10 – 11 Swifts in the air.
Between 8:35 and 8:53, there were 3 entries.Then 9
swifts were seen in the air for a total of 12 in the area. During the
hour the chimney was watched, I recorded a total of 8 entries, with one exit at
the very end. This swift did not return to the chimney during the time it
was watched.
Previous visits to this chimney this season resulted in only a pair of swifts in the chimney, so with 8 entries tonight, there could be 5-6young present now.’
In Osborne Village, Barbara and Phil provided another excellent update:
‘We didn’t go out on
Wednesday because of the lightning, so these are from Friday.
It looks as though the young
have fledged at Royal Oak, and Clarke (My Place) is still active (though they
roost very early)‘
Leah
also let
us know that there were swifts still feeding during daytime at Lower Fort Garry
on Thursday morning, and then she even found 7 swifts around Kildonan United
Church on Kilbride on her way home.
Finally,
Gerald sent the following from Selkirk:
‘Robert and Donna Hempler counted 34 Chimney Swifts entering the large stack at the Selkirk Mental |Health Centre on July 24, a season high number.’
And
there we have it. Keep the energy going folks, there is very little time left,
and still swifts to find and swifts to count! We suggest that you take a leaf
out of Blair’s book, and return to a site you have already monitored before the
season ends.
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
We were very saddened to hear of the passing of long-term MCSI volunteer David Dawson. David volunteered in his home community of La Broquerie from 2010, doing his final monitoring check at the end of June this year.
Swift Champion David Dawson
During his years of volunteering, David monitored the Paroisse Saint Joachim in La Broquerie. For many of those years, he only watched the large chimney on the side of the building. However in 2016, David organised to have the chimney on the rear of the building cleaned (funded by MCSI). He found a bees nest blocking access, removed it, and swifts have been using this spot ever since.
David was also well known for his building prowess – he was keen to build boxes for bats, as well as towers for swifts. Having decided that his two towers would stand better chances being attached to existing buildings, David donated them to other MCSI volunteers. One now stands in a private address in St Vital, and the other is attached to the side of the building at the Carman Elementary School.
His efforts and
enthusiasm will be hard to replace.
No, not THAT south! Here’s an update from the Chimney Swift capital of Manitoba, Saint Adolphe.
Taking wing was the theme of the last week of July. For me, heading off to Ontario for a family wedding was eased by the support of a legion of friends. Tim, Lynnea, Frank, Jacquie, Lewis, and Roberta did a magnificent job of monitoring the Club Amical in St Adolphe in my absence. At the SE nest site, ongoing daytime feeding on Thurs./Fri. changed to a burst of activity on the evening of Sat. July 27th, then an increased head count in the chimney was detected Mon. morning. I flew down to town upon my return and at least 2 fledglings were patrolling the Main St corridor Mon. afternoon/Tues. morning; Wednesday, the fledglings were practicing some touch ‘n’ go entries and exits.
Over the August long weekend, the Main St juveniles should be next to launch. Stay tuned for that fledging news next week.
Now, it’s time to move to another round of shout-outs and info updates for Southern Ontario. Starting in Guelph on July 26, our hosts Karen and Ken B. took us to the refurbished factory site where Sleeman Breweries has opened Spring Mill Distillery (in the Metalworks development on Arthur Street). The old brick chimney at this site should be opened for Chimney Swifts in 2020.
Moving over to the Kitchener wedding, taking a patio break at dusk on Sat. July 27th was a good move. A single swift flew over the Victoria Park Pavilion then 4 quickly winged their way by. Were these possible fast flights to a roost site?
At another gathering on Sun., July 28th we had the good fortune to hear of Bryan R.’s continued stewardship activities for a Toronto nest site. Years ago, Bryan was instrumental in following up on raccoon predation in an active swift chimney next door. This year, he linked with Ontario’s swift stewards ~ Bird Studies Canada ~ to track demolition plans for the same site; luckily those plans have been thwarted. The bonus round was Bryan recently catching a big flurry of activity consistent with fledging!
It is rewarding to see how many folks make an effort to support Chimney Swifts. That’s what is needed throughout the summer and winter ranges of these birds – zone defence and beyond. Take an interest and make a difference – do what you can, wherever, and whenever you can!
Apologies for the delayed weekly
update. Tonight is another Wednesday and we would encourage you to get out and
follow-up on any nesting in sites, as there may well be young swifts in the
sky. Send us your reports and we will try to interpret what is happening for
you.
The past week has generated much
excitement in Manitoba’s Chimney Swift world. We had our first confirmed
fledged chicks in St Adolphe for 2019, numerous active nest sites were observed
and we even managed to find several new sites. Buckle down for a review of the
past 10 days.
We begin in Osborne Village. We had
ten chimneys watched on Wednesday evening, and lots of activity in some
chimneys, less in others. Phil at the Royal Oak on River had an
impressive 14 entries and 12 exits, with a very pair on this site. Barbara had
3 entries and 2 exits at the My Place Realty property at 105 Clark. Theses
sites seem to be at very different points in the breeding cycle, the Royal Oak
looking very close to fledging date. Phil and Barbara also managed to recruit Lisa
and Peter to watch the new chimney on Scott. Although we are still waiting
for the full report, we know that they had some good activity here as well. Blair
took on the Biltmore, at 395 River and reported:
‘I saw a maximum of three
swifts in the air at one time. There were 6 entries and exits at 1-2
minutes later during the evening. There at 9:31 and 9:33 two swifts entered for
the night.’
Frank sent his report from
three chimneys that he and Jacquie were watching:
‘I took up a position in the back lane for better line of
sight to the 424 River location while still close to the Stradbrook sites. Up
to six CHSW were in the vicinity in the earlier part of the monitoring period,
but I couldn’t determine where these birds roosted. They were making a wide arc
over the area, generally focused to the east of my location. Jacquie didn’t see
the “group of six.”
There were a few VERY low passes by a very vocal trio of
CHSW, but they didn’t appear to use ”our” chimneys.
During the fly-bys I shifted location to try to see where
the swifts were going. One could almost reach up and touch them, or so it
seemed.
So:
Augustine United Church: 1 CHSW
411 Stradbrook: 1 CHSW
424 River: 1 CHSW’
Sabina at
245 Bell, a new spring find, was out of luck:
‘I hope you and everyone had more success than I did at 245
Bell last night! However I know others must have had success because I saw
swifts diving around River Ave and saw upwards to 15 swifts around. Just not a
single entry/exit for me..’
Tim tried
a new site on Harkness, saw 4 swifts fly over at sundown, and then nothing. Kelsey
however did have a pair feeding young at 141 River.
Finally, Leah took on 549 Gertude:
‘So… last Wednesday was an odd evening at 549 Gertrude
(2017-35). Heard and saw virtually no birds, which is odd as the previous
week, from down the street, it sounded like there were all sorts of birds
around this site! The good news is… two birds did go into the chimney at
sunset. I also saw what I believe was a departure earlier on. And
then a 3rd bird showed up almost a half hour after
sunset…. made a few attempts at the church chimney, and then may have gone in a
chimney in a house next door. It all happened very quickly and the light
was going…’
Cal in
Portage la Prairie sent the following:
‘Gord and I did a
watch on Wednesday evening with me manning Trinity United Church and Gord the
former Womens Jail. We had a total of 6 final entries for the evening, 3
for the Jail and 3 for Trinity so there were at least 6 individual birds
about.
My activity breakdown is as follows, all for the south chimney:
Moving to Morden, David has sent a promising update:
‘I had been away from my chimney for too long and didn’t
know what to expect tonight. Luckily, all seems to be well in the Swift
world. The pair was busy entering then exiting the chimney, their time
inside varying between 33 seconds to 65 seconds. 8 different entry/exits
were recorded during my session, followed by roosting entries for both birds.’
Brilliant news, and on the 28th, David sent a
second update:
‘Very similar pattern to what I observed this past
“Swift Wednesday”. 8 entry/exit cycles with 20-60 second stays
in the chimney over the monitoring session. Also 2 roosting entries about
15 minutes after sunset. The only “different” behavior was that
one bird made a single fly-by of the chimney before entering 30 seconds later
the first time and 10 seconds later the second time.’
In other news, we have numerous reports from volunteers around the
province. Blair checked a couple of his sites. At 188 St Mary’s, he had
an entry and exit during the day on the 23rd and on the 22nd,
he had 3 entries and 3 exits at 340 Provencher. Certainly a breeding attempt
still going in the second of these chimneys.
Tim proved
once again that he is better at finding swifts on his bike. On the 23rd,
he spotted an exit from 71 Kennedy on his way home from work. This chimney has
been on the database since the early days of MCSI, but has never been confirmed
as an active site for swifts. On the 24th, he spotted a swift enter,
and then exit a chimney on a private house on Balmoral. On the 25th,
it was a third new site confirmed in 3 days, spotting a swift entering a
chimney at the apartment at 555 Lanark, next to the swift playground that is
Lanark Gardens. We also had a report of 2 swifts entering a chimney on
Dorchester by Cam, another new site.
The Assiniboine Park Zoo is still active. Paulson was on
site on the 19th and observed one exit. Kelsey also
confirmed that there is still daytime activity on the 25th, with an
early entry and exit.
We will have a proper update soon from Barb in St Adolphe, but we were delighted to hear that there was a fledging event at the Southeast Club Amical at the weekend. While Barb was away, Frank, Jacquie, Lewis, Roberta, Lynnea and Tim all took the trip down to the valley to make sure that we were able to catch the fledging event. On Monday, Frank and Jacquie recorded 13 entries and 11 exits. However, the total in the chimney was 4 during this session, and with no helpers on site, and the pattern of activity, we are confident that 2 swifts fledged.
Let’s keep those reports flowing in!
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
Another week of
interesting swift reports has arrived in our in-trays. This week we have
another new site, this time in St Francois Xavier, reports demonstrating that
our swift parents are now 100% focused on feeding non-brooded chicks, and some mixed
news from St Adolphe.
First to St
Francois Xavier though, and Mike and Michele:
‘Great news to report from St Francois
Xavier!! We can now positively confirm that chimney swifts were seen entering a
second chimney, not too far from the church. We’ve always had an eye on a
couple of potential chimneys but never spent enough time at that location to
see if they were actually being visited.
Wed
night, we decided to split up since I was going to be late arriving at the
church anyway (just like our wedding day…lol) By the time I arrived, Mike had
already witnessed 2 entries at the new location and he couldn’t wait to tell me
about it. A bit later on I saw a total of 5 swifts in the air, harassing a
crow.’
Congratulations
both!
Frank,
Rhonda, Jacquie, Lewis and Lynnea hit
the town in Carman for an evening to try work out what is happening. Frank
reported on last Wednesdays shenanigans:
‘Lynnea, Lewis, Jacquie and I drove out to Carman
last night, and we met up with Rhonda at the Memorial Hall. We devised a clever
plan to monitor five sites with a designated local scout (Rhonda).
Lewis took the
Memorial Hall where he had four entries and one exit.
Jacquie took
the residence down the street and had two entries, no exits.
Both locations
saw fly-bys of swifts, up to three near the Hall and up to 7 over the
residence.
The rest of us
took up positions to the south:
Lynnea took the
relocated tower at the Elementary School—no entries/exits.
I checked the
two residences across from the School: 163 2nd St SW with two
chimneys (one capped, the other possibly available) and 151 2nd St
SW (brick chimney with insert). No entries or exits.
Rhonda
monitored the general area near the intersection of 2nd St SW
and 4th Ave SW where several fly-bys of up about six CHSW were
noted. Lynnea and I had the occasional fly-by by up to 4 CHSW. Rhonda did a
reconnaissance trip to try to find alternative destinations for the “missing”
birds.
Unfortunately,
we didn’t link up for a post-viewing debriefing (sorry Rhonda!). Once again, we
couldn’t account for all the CHSW seen/heard.
No Timmies
products were consumed, either…’
So we are at
least two swifts short in Carman. There are certainly more sites to find. And
not even a rewarding Timmies, how did Frank survive?
Ken and Jan sent this report in from the Riding Mountain
region:
‘We found ourselves passing through
Clear Lake (Wasagaming) this evening (Wednesday) so we stopped at the museum to
watch for swifts for about an hour. We saw one entry into the northern chimney
of the two western ones and 2 minutes later a swift left. We waited hoping for
a repeat performance but that was all, didn’t even see them flying overhead, we
left just past an hour observation time.
Later
we got to Dauphin and went straight to the roost to watch the roosting hour
during which time we saw 11 swifts go down that chimney.’
Gerald also sent the latest summaries from the Selkirk
Birdwatchers Club. Here is our summary:
Gerald recorded
an exit followed by an entry in one chimney, and three entries in the other
chimney at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound in Lockport on July
15;
Winona counted
3 entries and an exit at the Merchants in Selkirk on July 16;
Winona counted
4 entries at the Merchants in Selkirk on July 17;
Linda and Nia counted
17 entrances in the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on July 17;
Linda and Nia counted
2 entrances and 2 exits in the yellow
bricj chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on July 17;
Gerald recorded
one entrance in the southwest chimney, but no activity in the southeast chimney
at Lower Fort Garry on July 18, with 6 swifts counted in the air.
Blair became the latest victim of Tim’s
overenthusiastic attempt to find a new site, this time seeing nothing and
hearing nothing at St Boniface Hospital. Sorry Blair!
And the Tim’s
curse did not stop there even. This time it was Leah who was left
scratching her head in Fort Rouge:
‘So, unfortunately, no exits/entries at 626
Wardlaw. A spectacular looking chimney – roost size? – but although there
were a number of pairs of birds that flew over the chimney, no dips or near
misses. More activity to the south and east – from the sounds of it, and
after taking a walk after I finished, possibly 549 Gertrude (chimney at the
church)? Is that chimney active this year?’
Kelsey confirmed that swifts remain busy at the zoo. All
our fingers and toes are crossed on this one!
Garry sent this from East Kildonan:
‘Feeding activity has really picked up at 712 Watt Street.
Timing of visits indicates feeding non-brooded young. Things are progressing
nicely!’
And for the purists, here is the swift pattern he refers to:
‘11:06 – entry one swift 11:06 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit) 11:16 – exit one swift (appears both adults now out of chimney at the same time) 11:30 – entry 2 swifts (both adults returned to chimney together) 11:31 – exit one swift 11:47 – entry one swift 11:47 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit) 12:04 – entry one swift 12:04 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit):06 – entry one swift
Rudolf also reported 7 swifts in the area around Kildonan Drive and the Bergen Cut-off.
Barbara and Phil continue there
Osborne endeavours, with breeding activity at the Royal Oak on River and the
apartment on Clarke. Looking forward to Wednesday in this area. They also
confirmed swifts using the chimney during the day on Sunday at Augustine United
Church.
On Sunday evening
it was the turn of Margaret and Millie to send an excellent update from
Brandon, looking good for non-brooded feeding of swifts in the chimney. This
chimney is amazingly consistent!
Another week
goes by, and we have more swift reports flying by. Right now it seems that our
swifts are at varying stages, from the latter stage of incubation all the way
through to feeding non-brooded young. In fact, Barbara and Phil in
Osborne Village gave some great examples of this in their weekly update:
‘It looks as though we have two chimneys
(Royal Oak, and the Biltmore) with newly hatched young, one (Clarke)with CHSW
who roost early (maybe eggs not yet hatched), and two with no daytime activity
at all.
Thanks to Barb for her analysis of CHSW activity after hatching. It helps to make sense of the activity we are seeing, and meant that I stayed an extra 5 minutes at the Biltmore as the entry/exit pattern of every 20 minutes suggested they were due again at that time.’
Leah watched an experimental chimney on
Lilac. We say experimental, as Google Earth images suggest there were 6 small
entry holes on the top of the chimney. We thought it might be worth a shot at
seeing if swifts were using something a bit funky. Leah reported thus:
‘No entries, unfortunately. Will
they seriously enter such small holes? I had ruled out these types of
chimneys as usable…’
The answer
seems to be no. This would not be the first Tim Poole fail of the monitoring
week!
Kelsey went roaming
in St James, and possibly wishes she hadn’t:
‘The
first night I stayed and watched the 2 chimneys on the “Piano
Building” the whole time. I saw 2 swifts high overhead, they got lower
overtime, and the last time I saw them they were headed northwest, so I went
and checked where they might have gone. I found a house on Roseberrywith
a good looking chimney.
The next night I went was going to watch that chimney,
but I
got so excited trying to follow the group of 10 that I
didn’t end up watching that chimney at all. this time the group seemed to hover
a little more northeast of the “Piano Building”. There is an odd
looking small chimney on the back of Underworld Scuba, as well as a chimney on
the back of Liberty Full Gospel Chapel, on Marjorie. This is an odd looking
chimney (and the picture on google maps shows a cap that is no longer there),
but they were swooping quite low towards it repeatedly, before disappearing.‘
Garry visited Watt
Street in East Kildonan on July 9th, and sent the following:
‘Activity
continues at 712 Watt Street. Timing of visits indicates feeding brooded young,
so all appears to be good at this site!‘
Gerald sent us a
great number of excellent updates. Here is a summary of the latest news from
the Selkirk Birdwatching Club:
On July 3rd, Linda and Nia counted 14 in the large stack and 2 in the yellow chimney at Selkirk Mental Health Centre;
On July 4th, Robert and Donna counted 24 in the large stack, 2 in the Infirmary and 2 in the yellow chimney at Selkirk Mental Health Centre;
On July 4th, Winona counted 1 in the Merchant’s Hotel;
On July 5th, Winona counted 3 in the Merchant’s Hotel;
On July 7th, Gerald counted 2 in the southeast chimney and 0 in the southwest chimney at Lower Fort Garry.
In Brandon, Margaret
and Millie sent three update sheets, showing the pair in the Orange Block
still active on June 30, July 2 and July 7.
Janice did this weeks Trinity United Church
watch in Portage la Prairie, and had only a single entry.
Ken compiled the Dauphin report on behalf
of the team, with Pat, Marilyn and Jan in place to watch the swifts:
‘Well, Dauphin observers
talked themselves into getting a set of Wednesday observations and reports out
this week. It seems to be getting harder to sneak that 1 hour of observation in
with so much happening. As an example, we are all geocachers and tonight there
was a caching event for us which was hard not to miss being called “Long Live
the Queen” as sort of a christening of our new Dairy Queen. This 1 hour event
was from 8 to 9 PM. With our sunset being at 9:53 PM we barely had time to down
our ice cream and get to our observation spots for our chimneys. So what to do,
well we did some observation before the event and then some more after it.
We are happy to report that all 3 chimneys where reporting
swift sightings but none had repeated in’s and out’s of any sort of set timing
so we think we have nesting but still sitting on eggs. The reason we’ve said
“some swifts think it’s still spring” is that we have birds flying around in
pairs just chattering things up and even some “chevron” Vv flying about.
Entries and exits were anywhere from a few minutes apart to over ½ hour
duration either in the air or the chimney. There were some veer and peers but
not consistent enough to indicate some internal chimney event was happening. We
have not had any major “nest washing off the chimney walls” rainfalls but have
had some unseasonably hot humid days.
By the end of the evening, there were at least 1-2 swifts
in nesting chimneys and the roost had possibly 10-12 as we were not directly
watching this chimney but could see birds approach it from our other
observation stations.‘
Given
the previous report from this location, all we can say is that the swifts were
being as brilliantly baffling as ever, there being no large roost on that
evening.
Finally in this section, what about our evening trip to Emerson?Frank, Jacquie, Lynnea and Tim took on the challenge, and this is what Tim sent in:
‘Emerson last night left everyone scratching heads. As
befitting a Machovec roadtrip, a stop at Timmies was a necessity. Apart from the
requisite Manitoba construction, we arrived in Emerson on roosting hour
checking West Lynne which has a couple of likely chimneys.
We decided to focus our efforts in the main town. Heading
through Emerson, I directed us towards 3 buildings that were identified as
potential habitat last fall.
Lynnea suddenly spotted a
possible swift, there was a quick verbal exchange as I failed to find said swift, and then we leapt
into action. Frank drove like a hero, turned the corner
rapidly, and we could clearly see a pair above us. Success!
Ultimately, Frank and Jacquie
watched the Masonic building, Lynnea a house and I took on an abandoned house.
We each saw and heard swifts, Lynnea‘s max being 2 clearly identifiable pairs.It surely wouldn’t be too long before a swift took the
plunge? The final swift sightings were around 9:20. After that, nothing!
We have no idea where they are heading. Maybe West Lynne, but why spend so much
time in Emerson? Maybe a tree? Maybe they popped over the border? Maybe we need
to do more scouting the buildings! Who knows, but it is clear that a new plan
is needed to work out this place and Neepawa.‘
Another
week closes, and some big news from St Adolphe in our weekly update. Yes, we
have swifts hatching this week! We also have some updates from around the
province, from Lockport, St Francois Xavier and Neepawa among others.
Usually
we end with St Adolphe, and Barbs weekly update, but this time it is
really important to at least open with part of the update as Barb gives a
terrific explanation of what is actually happening in the chimney right now:
‘Here is a reminder of some
Chimney Swift biology to help you track activity at your nest sites:
Hatching Day = Day 1 of feeding.
Feeding brooded young lasts for 6-7 days; typically, 2
entry/exit cycles are seen in an hour. Last week Tim referenced brooding = the
warming of young in the nest by adults. When the juveniles can regulate their
own temperature, both adults can head out to forage…that is when the chimney
will be “unattended”, reflecting the next stage of nesting.
Feeding non-brooded young occurs between Day 6-7 and Day
28-30. Feeding rates are often 3-4 times per hour, or more, if a locally
abundant food patch is present. Watch for longer duration-in intervals, =
turnaround times, now that the same swift enters and leaves. The between-visit
intervals are now going to be shorter than those seen in the feeding brooded
young stage.
At Day 28-30, the juveniles take their first flights
outside the chimney as fledglings.
Fledglings use the natal chimney for resting and are still
fed there for a few days. However, daytime use of the chimney declines markedly
over the first week post-fledging as the youngsters gain flight proficiency and
become independent feeders.
Roosting by the family group at the natal chimney will
continue until pre-migratory groups come together in August.’
Now to that St Adolphe update:
CLUB AMICAL
On Monday July 1, between 10:10
– 11:30 AM, the SE pair had 2 entry/exit cycles; 1 minute duration-in interval;
41 minute between-visit interval; 1 minute duration-in interval.
The NE pair had a 30 minute
between-visit interval and a long, 37 minute duration-in interval.
Hatching was indicated at both
sites.
BRODEUR BROS.
Classic incubation exchanges
were first seen Sunday, June 30. Hatching is likely to occur within the next 7
days.
CHURCH
Friday, June 28; 9:55 – 10:55
AM: 1 entry/exit cycle with a 2 minute duration-in interval; repeated
approaches low to rim before flying off = “peer ‘n’ veers”. SOMETHING
WAS HAPPENING.
The sequence and timing of the
entry/exit events indicated the site was unattended – the breeding pair
were feeding non-brooded young! The peer ‘n veer events of Friday
telegraphed hatching.
MAIN ST.
As of July 3, incubation is
still underway and hatching is expected any time now.
In summary, as of July 3, all 5
nest sites in St Adolphe were active and 3 stages of nesting were evident. The
SE and NE Club sites had brooded young while the Church site had non-brooded young
(Day 6). Incubation was progressing at Main St and Brodeur Bros.
While some classic incubation
exchanges and typical unattended site activity have been seen, there have been
long stretches of disturbingly low activity. It is another hot, dry summer and
airborne insects may be limiting. We welcome some rain and the ripening of food
sources. There are many beaks to fill in the nests now!’
So there we have it, we have
swifts hatching, and even more interesting, we already have non-brooded young.
Next we head to a brilliant effort in Osborne Village from Barbara and Phil. This area has long been crying out for a couple of locally based volunteers, and in 2019, we finally have two dedicated and skilled people in the area. Here is their report from the week:
‘Catch-up time in Osborne
Village! Fresh from our contribution to Toronto’s CHSW data, we needed to
catch up on watching in our neighbourhood.
You’ll see that both the Clarke
site, and the Royal Oak apartments on River each had one entry, which I assume
means that there is a nesting pair in the chimney.
I did a day-time watch at the Biltmore (395 River), and was rewarded with an almost immediate entry/exit. The 30% chance of showers changed to 100% rain, and since I came out without a jacket, I cut the watch short after the trees no longer provided shelter.
I moved on to 118 Scott in the afternoon, and while there was some overhead activity, there was no activity in the chimney. I did have a great conversation with a local resident who was very interested.
In the evening I watched 351River (Rosemount Apartments) for the first time. One entry there. Phil watched 6 Roslyn (same back lane) which is not on the data base. No activity there, but he had a better overhead view of the area, so saw the birds that I could only hear. ‘
An
excellent update, and we have covered almost every known site in that area
thanks to Barbara and Phil!
Mavis has also been watching in
this area as she can see one of the 424 River chimneys form her
apartment (in keeping with these chimneys, she can only see one):
‘Although
I’ve been watching and recording a few times, I have yet to see any Swifts
enter the chimney that I can see. I see them fly around it, but haven’t
seen them go into it. They are so fast that I can’t guarantee they aren’t going
in – just that I’m not seeing them go in. There are up to 6 Swifts that I see
flying, but mostly 4 when I am watching.’
Next to
the Kildonans. Frank led a group to West Kildonan/the North End on
Wednesday and returned with this, slightly damp, swiftless report:
‘Lewis Cocks, Jacquie and
I went in search of swifts in the North End.Temperature was only 18C, and
there was a noticeable absence of bugs at both sites we checked.
At the chimney at 123
Matheson Ave E (Etz Chayim Congregation), no swifts were seen or heard.
At the two smaller chimneys
at 50 Mac (Seven Oaks House Museum), Lewis had two high fly-bys but no entries
were recorded.
We curtailed observations at
sunset due to rain.’
The
following evening, Tim had an absolutely banker of a new site, the
Immaculate Conception Parish on Austin Street in North Point Douglas. He had
previously taken a couple of excursions in this neighbourhood during June and
noted that there were swifts around this chimney. Surely then a new site was
guaranteed to be confirmed? Well, apart from a couple of late high flyers, the
evening ended in dark disappointment as no swifts were spotted using the
chimney. An odd evening given that the chimney looked very impressive! Tim did
though have better luck on a brief excursion on Saturday evening:
‘I went to buy ice cream just
now, and as you do, I tracked a swift into a new location in a private
house opposite the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre.’
On
Thursday, Lynnea and Adam decided to do a multi-site check. They watched
the Roxy Lanes on Henderson for 20 minutes but eventually got annoyed looking
at pigeons on the chimney (they were later advised to watch tight, as they may
have seen said pigeons getting dive-bombed). The moved onto the Valhalla
chimney and were rewarded with an exit. Onwards to Archiibald Storage and 2
entries. The roll thus ended at the Niakwa Plaza on Archibald as it was
probably a little late by the time they arrived. Zero swifts noted here.
Blair
had tried a new
site in St Boniface as well, this time on the 2nd:
‘This
week I checked out a new chimney at 381 De La Cathedrale.. Although, it
looked like a good 3.5 by 5 brick chimney to me, no swift activity was observed
on this evening.’
On Canada Day, Gerald had a great evening at Lockport.
There were 6 entries and 1 exit on one chimney at the Manitenance Compound and
2 entries at the other.
In St Francois Xavier we received this Wednesday report:
‘Mike was on his own this evening for monitoring night and he was
very excited to report something very interesting when he got home. For the
first time this year, he witnessed 4 swifts enter the chimney to roost for the
night. We had seen 4 in the air before but we were under the impression that
only one pair was using this chimney….seems we were wrong about that. The
first one entered at 9:32pm followed by a pair together 12 minutes later then
the last one 1 minute after that. No exits were witnessed this evening.’
Gord in Portage la Prairie lucked out on Wednesday,
with zero swift activity at Olina’s and the MTS Building.
Back to
Tuesday, and Tim was in Neepawa this time during the morning:
‘I was in Neepawa earlier. Spent 80 minutes at the hospital
and got one sighting. Elusive! I then headed across town, found a pair low
flying low over the Safeway parking lot. They were still taking nesting
material from a tree. At one point it looked like there were several swifts in
the air. Unfortunately I did not find where they took the nesting material.
Lots of private houses south of the highway which look good.’
This is still
proving a challenge – getting a swift to fly into a chimney in Neepawa!
Keep the
reports coming. Next Wednesday, we are looking for any volunteers who fancy a
trip down the highway to Emerson. Please email us if you are interested in
helping to find swifts in the south.
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
The Manitoba
Chimney Swift Initiative (MCSI) is today launching a crucial new set of
factsheets. These factsheets are being targeted at property owners with
resident Chimney Swifts. In many cases, Chimney Swifts nest in chimneys
attached to an a furnace, whether working or not. However, in some cases,
especially in private homes, Chimney Swifts nest in chimneys dropping into to
the household fireplace. In the next week we expect eggs to begin hatching and
the parent swifts to begin the new phase of regular feeding of young birds.
Following four incidents, two in 2017 and two in 2018, of nests falling from the wall of a chimney into a fireplace, MCSI felt that we needed to act. In each year, chicks from one nest were returned successfully to the chimney and fledged following intervention by MCSI volunteers. Although we were delighted with this outcome, we also had a situation in each year, where due to a lack of information, swifts were not returned to the chimney in good time, and the adult birds abandoned their young. In these cases, with a heavy heart, the swifts were delivered to a rehabilitation centre. Although the staff and volunteers at the rehabilitation centre were able to raise the chicks, due to the short breeding season in Manitoba. the birds had to be flown to London Ontario to be released by the excellent Debbie Lefebre at Swift Care Ontario. This approach did lead to birds being returned to the wild in both years BUT we do not want to make a habit of flying birds halfway across Canada to release them for various reasons. In Manitoba, our swifts remain for a much shorter period than London, and therefore the window to raise, train and release young swifts is too short. It is therefore an imperative that the swifts are returned to the chimney, returned to their parents, who will feed, train and lead these young swifts to survive their first months of life.
Our objective
is to ensure that if a nest falls into the base of the fireplace, the chicks
are returned to the chimney as soon as possible by part of the MCSI team. We
have also produced a separate sheet which is being sent by Manitoba Sustainable
Development to various groups who may receive a call about baby birds in the
fireplace, including rehab centres, veterinarians, pest control companies and
chimney sweeps.
The new
factsheets, were drafted by Christian Artuso and the Steering Committee, and
designed to fit in with our existing series of facthseets by the talented
Richard Cain.
We are looking for help from you, our volunteer network. We really need to get this message out in communities across Manitoba. You can help in the following ways:
We have stacks of factsheets, and would love it if you could take some to local community centres, libraries and other meeting places that people may see them;
Pin up the front page on community notice boards;
Hand deliver to houses which you think may have, or get swifts nesting in the chimney; and
Post the images above across social media or share from the Facebook page @ManitobaIBA (simply add this as your search on Facebook).
Please email
us if you can help – we want to get these factsheets distributed widely and
quickly.
Happy swift-ing, and let’s help make 2019 a very successful year for our swifts!
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
Canada Day, the beginning of the month of July will soon lead to a new phase in the life of Manitoba’s swifts. Right now, they are sitting tight on eggs, incubating. In early July we will see a slight change as adults begin the process of feeding their chicks. These chicks begin life at a brooding stage. This means that an adult stays with the naked young until they reach a stage where they have enough feathering to keep them warm.
In the
meantime, our swifts remain busy, and this segues to our weekly monitoring
review.
Leah kicks things off for us this week. On Wednesday,
Leah switched posts and watched the adjacent building to the Maple Leaf
apartments on Corydon, a chimney not previously noted for its swifts. Here is
the exciting report:
‘And GREAT news… I watched 890 McMillan (the Milan
Apartments) – and saw two enter at sunset!!! YAY! Now I couldn’t see the
Maple Leaf apartments (915 Corydon), so assuming these aren’t the same birds
using a different chimney on alternate nights… ‘
We suspect
there are two active chimneys in this area with nesting swifts.
Blair had some success in St Boniface:
‘I
revisited 393 Marion to see it’s chimney was being used since one night it had
some swifts, but all I saw was 2 fly by. I spent an hour at 261 Youville
that had a pair of swifts earlier, there was a entry and then an exit and
finally another exit, so they seem to be nesting.‘
Frank and Jacquie had a Chimney Swift flummoxing
evening:
‘We intended to watch the Viscount and Marner Apartments but couldn’t find a suitable viewing point, not to mention that we didn’t bring our chairs …
So, we relocated westward to
the Thunderbird and Stanley Park Apartments. There were 7 swifts in the general
area, especially westward near the Moorgate, but activity was more restrained
nearer the Thunderbird. We heard some very vocal CHSW to the east of our
location after sunset (toward the Deer Lodge area).
Stanley Park Apartments: NE
chimney had no swifts observed nearby.
Thunderbird: Very
interesting with repeated low fly-bys by three CHSW, but only one observed
entry AND SUBSEQUENT EXIT!’
Barb and Rob sent a report on the 24th
from the zoo tower:
‘..and a lovely night we had
last night (Sunday June 23) = Solstice + 2; the swifts were obliging.’
Gord and Tami reported ‘first 2 then 3 swifts circling and chittering overhead over
backyard’ on Mossdale in East Kildonan on Wednesday, which is very close to the
apartments on Brazier among other sites.
In the same area but to the east, Garry sent a report from
the 20th, with some excellent entry/exit cycles at the chimney on Watt.
On Monday, Ron, left the confines of his office and sent
the following:
‘I went out to check my chimneys across the street from my
office. I began my observations at 12:15 pm until 1:00 pm. At 12:29
pm I saw a single CHSW exit from the chimney at 222 York Avenue. In the
database this is Site 24 and is called VJ’s middle chimney. The chimney
is actually on a building across the back lane from VJ’s. The building is
owned by Brink’s Canada Limited. This is the same chimney in which I
observed an entry and exit last year.’
Finishing Winnipeg, we head north. First
to a quick report from Gerald on the 21st. A swift droppped in during
daytime hours to one of the chimneys at St Andrews Lock and Dam in
Lockport.
Michele and Mike in St Francois Xavier had some action:
‘It’s been a
few weeks since our last visit to the church in St Francois Xavier. For most of
the night we witnessed 3 birds in the air but one pair in particular always
flew unusually close together and were very vocal, chirping away
continually.
Interestingly,
at around 9:30pm a small falcon (probably a kestrel I think) came to perch on
the cross at the top on the steeple at the front of the church. We had seen it
around before but never perched so close to the chimney. The swifts quickly
banded together and swooped in to chase it away. It did not return.
The
only entry we saw was the final one for the night where the pair
uncharacteristically bombed in together (no graceful fluttering tonight)
chirping all the way. We did not see the lone remaining swift enter this
chimney.’
Gord was catching up on sites in Portage la
Prairie on Wednesday. He reported first from an hours observation at the Rufus
Prince building:
‘4 swifts were seen in the air and
one entry in the north chimney at 20:16.’
He finished
off in Southport:
‘No swift were seen flying around
but 2 entered the chimney. One at 21:32 and another one at 21:55.’
Also on
Wednesday, Lynnea watched two swifts frustratingly refuse to enter the
chimney at the Neepawa Health Centre during the early afternoon. These birds
are so unobliging!
Margaret and
Millie in Brandon had the nesting pair turn in early for the night at the
Orange Block on the 23rd, but were later joined by another noisy pair which
eventually went elsewhere to roost.
Finally, Ken
sent the Wednesday night update from the Dauphin observors:
‘Having 3 chimneys to check
was complicated this week with my wife being in Winnipeg for her grandma
fix. I went out last night (Tuesday) and
observed the roost chimney 600 and tonight I went to nesting chimney 2018-15
while Pat
and Marilyn watched nesting chimney 2018-14. Contrary to other
years, the roost chimney appears to be occupied by only (2) swifts instead of
up to a dozen non-nesting birds which might be a significant reflection on the
population!
Chimney 2018-14 had 2
entries so a possible nesting pair while chimney 2018-15 (which was the
one where we found dead young last fall) could possibly have a nesting pair and
helper using it (this is based on the possibility of a bird in the chimney(1)
when we arrived and then having (2) drop into the chimney(2+1=3) to be followed
by an exit (off the nest 3-1=2) and 15 minutes later a single entry (2+1=3)).
If nothing else it appears
there are 3 nesting chimneys in Dauphin.
A thought from the night:
from the 2 chimneys that had an exit, there was a re-entry for each within 15
minutes, is it possible that they were leaving a hot chimney for a quick drink
before retiring for the night?’
As for the latter, I suppose it is possible, I know that feeling from a personal perspective after all!
I said
‘finally’ but these reports are nothing without our full comprehensive review
from the swift maestro in St Adolphe. Over to Barb to tell us what
everything means.
‘Last week we noted how different
“windows” of observation could yield very different interpretations
of a nest site’s status. Using entry/exit data collected during a 2 hour watch
at Main St and Brodeur Bros., three different “windows” yielded: 2
swifts being present in each chimney (using the full two hour period); 1 swift
in each chimney (using a 60 min period); and 0 swifts being present in the Main
St chimney (using a different 60 minute period).
How we look at chimney tops can influence our
interpretations and conclusions. Variation in activity, hence our
interpretation, is also introduced with individual preferences, or cadence, of
the swifts e.g., some have short turnaround times in the chimney while others
take a bit longer. More variation occurs as a day plays out – intense afternoon
heat and lower insect abundance is linked. Then there are weather factors such
as intense rain storms or extremely high winds to contend with. Day to day life
for a Chimney Swift is not cookie-cutter predictable. All these factors are
intertwined as adults must feed themselves in addition to carrying out their
breeding activities. Easy foraging means more time is available to spend at the
chimneys.
It follows that nest site monitors can see variable
activity at the various stages of nesting. Nest building and egg laying
is a confusing process to sort out at the best of times. Nest building takes
place for at least 7 days before eggs are laid. Then, an egg may be laid every
second day until the clutch of 2-7 eggs is completed. Incubation starts with
the second to last egg laid. Nest building continues until the eggs hatch.
Complicated? Yes!
So just how do you know incubation has started? It is
difficult to tell the onset – embryological development progresses without 100%
smothering by an incubating adult – the pair can be out of the chimney together
as often is the case before roosting. Classic incubation exchanges of 1
entry/exit cycle, with short duration-in intervals, seen once per hour =
incubation, BUT NOT necessarily the start of incubation. A rear view mirror
analysis is often needed.
Since last Wednesday’s report, many interesting
observations have been made. Twig collection by a swift, followed by a direct
flight from the dead tree west of Main St. directly into Brodeur Bros. chimney,
was seen last Friday (June 21). Today (June 27) and yesterday (June 26), there
was not a twig being snapped off…
The summer solstice was an inflection point ~ beautiful,
classic incubation exchanges were seen on Saturday, June 22 at the NE Club and
Church chimneys.
Wednesday morning, June 26, the SE Club pair demonstrated incubating prowess. Here’s what the data set looked like:
START MONITORING: 9:16 AM
9:25:05 ENTRY
9:25:27 EXIT
9:45:52 ROCK DOVE (PIGEON) ON WEST SIDE OF NE CLUB RIM GOT DIVE BOMBED BY A CHIMNEY SWIFT – THE INVITATION TO GET OFF THE RIM WAS ACCEPTED! NICE BONUS EVENT!
10:20:44 ENTRY
10:21:46 EXIT
END MONITORING: 10:46 AM
Both the Main St. and Brodeur Bros. pairs are active at their sites and, hopefully, we’ll see some classic exchanges soon.
Just when you think you’ve got incubation figured out,
the early nesting birds will have hatching eggs soon. There will be subtle shift
in behaviour at the nest sites when the transition from incubation to hatching
occurs = 2 entry/exit cycles in an hour.
Watch for the signs and enjoy
your connect time with the nesting swifts!‘
Thank you to everyone for the weekly reports. Next week will see more changes still. Plans for July include a road trip to Emerson (and possibly Dominion City), and maybe somewhere else to boot. We will let you know. In the meantime, why not do a ‘Leah’ and take a look at a new chimney. You never know what you might see….
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
Another week
almost disappears and the swifts are keeping us on our toes. Keep these reports
coming – our blog would be nothing without the fun and excellent observations
of so many people!
We should
begin our summary in Selkirk this week, following a very successful blitz night
from Gerald and the excellent Selkirk Birdwatchers.
On June 10th,
Ray and Sybil watched the Merchant’s. They had 2 entries, followed
by 2 exits, and then 4 roosted for the night. A possible breeding pair/helper
scenario might be developing.
On June 14th,
Robert and Donna, counted 2 swifts entering the apartments at 267 Main
Street
On June 14th,
Gerald counted at least 3 swifts over Lower Fort Garry and 2 entered the
southeast chimney, although the southwest remains empty.
On June 16th,
Nia and Linda counted 16 entries at the large stack at the Mental
Health Centre and 2 in the yellow brick.
On June 17th,
Robert and Donna counted a drop to 10 entries at the large stack, and 2
in the Infirmary.
On June 17th,
Winona saw 2 swifts fly over the Lord Selkirk Hotel, but alas no one
dropped into the chimney.
On June 17th,
Gerald was back at the Fort and recorded a good entry/exit cycle at the
southeast chimney, confirming a breeding attempt is underway again. This time
we hope everyone stays on the wall!
Finally, Gerald
went to Lockport on June 20th, and counted 2 swifts in one chimney, and one
in the other. His comment was interetsing as it matches other observations:
‘The Swifts did not fly around. They came
from nowhere and dropped into the chimney.’
More on that
later. For now, let’s turn to Wasagaming, and a trip by the ever vigilant
Dauphin crew, Ken and Jan:
‘Well, the stars aligned yesterday afternoon, our Sunday
drive, Father’s Day and our 18th Anniversary and a possibly new
chimney swift chimney needing to be recorded so we got our park pass and headed
down to Clear Lake or is it Wasagaming?No one seems to know as both names are battered around. We
knew where the main chimney to check was located and drove around to locate a
possible second chimney which we also found.
Back to the main chimney, it is located on the National
Parks Interpretive Centre and/or museum. The building actually has 5 flues
however: the single southern one might be too small being only 2×2 bricks; the
pair of east chimneys sees one with a screen over it and it’s pair mate was in
use with smoke coming out; this left the pair of westerly chimneys. We sat
around on assorted benches and were pleased to see at least 3 swifts flying
over the townsite however they were paying no attention to any chimneys so we
went for supper.
After supper with an ice cream in a waffle cone in hand, we
walked back to the museum and were rewarded with a swift dropping into the
southerly chimney of the westerly pair. We watched and saw only 2 swifts flying
about and as they were seen heading in the general direction of the possible 2nd site
we split our forces and I watched this other chimney for an hour. This chimney
is located in the building to the east of White’s Bakery. The building was a
sort of hotel/resort but was not open and may have been under renovation.
Swifts were seen flying overhead, at times 3, but none paid any attention to
the chimney but stayed further north.
Back
at the museum 2-3 swifts were seen flying about and it was still thought that 1
was in the chimney (3+1=4). We again observed this chimney for a further 2 more
hours and observed some “dipping” flyovers accompanied by much chitter-chatter
but no further entries. The weather was closing in and it was starting to rain
plus we still had an hours drive to get back home so we left before sunset,
wishing we had been camping in the park and had been able to observe till dark.‘
Happy Wedding
Anniversary to our really dedicated volunteers, Ken and Jan from MCSI!
Rick in Neepawa is still trying to
clock those swifts into chimneys:
‘I was at the flats in
Neepawa and had time to check by the hospital for the swifts. There was one
flying around the hospital. I believe there is a possibility the other is on
nest. I have seen chimney swifts at
hospital in Neepawa on 2 occasions so far.’
I think Rick
is very close to confirming this site!
Our esteemed
former MCSI chair, Ken De Smet, is now retired and enjoying more time
with his grandchildren. Fortunately for us, Ken has decided to keep busy ont he
swift front. Here is report number one:
‘By the way,
watched downtown Stonewall last night (the 18th). Nothing at all
happening for half an hour and then 9:35 a pair was spottted & within a
minute both were down the normal chimney. Really different than the
normal when there is only one pair in town & no major swallow hunting
concentrations to be found’.
Last night, the 20th, Ken and Cal were out in Melita:
‘Watched
swifts in Melita from 9:30-10. One entry in old school museum. None interested
in back of legion hall this year! Cal said there were still 3 seen flying
around museum after 1 went down but not sure where they went. May be
unaccounted for chimneys in town?’.
Also in Melita, Lynnea observed a bird enter the
Manitoba Agriculture cinder block chimney.
In Brandon, Margaret and Millie were out on the
17th and had entries and exits at the Orange Block, another breeding attempt is
happening at this regular spot.
David in Morden had this to say:
‘I’d
been away from “my” chimney for a couple of weeks so I was eager to
try to decipher the current goings on. The total was 5 entries and 3 exits for
the session, with the majority (3 entries, 3 exits) occurring during a 31
minute period. There were even 2 birds in the chimney at the same time for 5
minutes, possibly 3 birds IF I assume eggs were always being incubated?
I
wish I knew more about the nesting cycle as this seems like a lot of activity
for a pair that should still be incubating eggs (based on interpretation of
observations 2 weeks ago that this site was in active nest building phase and
Google telling me the incubation period is 18-21 days) Does this activity fit
the norm? Could it be a pair and a helper? So many questions…’
As
ever it was Barb who answered David’s questions:
‘I
would say the nest site activity is continuing nicely…a pair is clearly
involved with the sequential entries and exits; the exits were fairly close
together (~1 minute between events) = the pair is moving together; net 2 in for
the night.
With a 9:41 sunset, “daytime” = 8:31-9:11. So
the first consecutive entries and exits were in that daytime period. The
duration in and between visit intervals are just fine for that time of day and
for the roosting hour. All is well! But it still is tough to know about
incubation because it’s the worst time to figure out the most difficult stage
of nesting. Ah, there is always a reason to go back to the chimney
side… ‘
Back to
Winnipeg. We had a few reports on the website. Gord and Tami reported a
pair of swifts over their yard in East Kildonan at a time we would expect them
to dive into a roost. Aaron sent a few reports of swifts
including at Lilac@Fleet and over the Earl Grey School.
Leah reported that:
‘By the way – I took my husband to see the Assiniboine
School roost last night – we were only there from 2115 to 2215 – counted 66 in
for the night (although may have missed a few early on).’
At the zoo, Mitchell continued
to watch on the 20th, ad had some nice entry/exits, indicating that our nesting
pair are busy! Strangely, Katrina saw 7 swifts but no entrances on the
previous roost watch.
On the 19th, Tim
and Jon took a stroll around some downtown sites in the morning and
eventually found a pair of swifts at the Living Gospel Church near Health
Sciences. In the evening, Tim also had a pair at the apartment on Walker
in Lord Roberts. Frank and Jacquie were also nearby, and this to report:
‘We had two CHSW at 415
Mulvey this evening. Only two were seen in the area. Unlike St James birds,
these came in to the chimney at the expected time and stayed there.’
AND FINALLY!
These reports need context, and here is the weekly update from Barb in
St Adolphe:
‘Wednesday’s roundup report
for St Adolphe started with a reminder that flew in during Tuesday morning’s
dog walk. Over a hundred low flying Canada Geese were making their way north in
a leisurely fashion. It is the time of year when non-breeders carry on
migrating – no rush to get prime nesting spots, but a yield to what is an
ingrained movement. In St Adolphe, Chimney Swifts also have been seen to shift
in numbers in the third week of June. Extra “helpers” can show up at
nest sites and previously unoccupied chimneys become active with newly arrived
pairs. It is impossible to tell if these are relocating local swifts or late
arriving migrants.
So, I was intrigued to see a
tantalizing, possible 3 consecutive entry sequence at the Brodeur Bros chimney
late Tuesday morning. Bad luck, or in my case really bad timing, overrode the
ability to decipher things. Just as swifts were leaving the nest site, two
commercial trucks which had been parked next to me (the folks were working on
the municipal electrical box near my infamous blue Comfy Chair) were being
backed up and blocked my view. Insert a bad word bubble. Unfortunately, my
sight line was broken despite jumping up and hopping over to keep focused on
the chimney rim. Who knew calisthenics were part of swift monitoring? Everyone
who has sat the vigil knows how seconds can make the difference between
observing or missing an entry/exit…..so the stage was set for Wednesday.
After 2 solid hours of
monitoring Wednesday morning, with a lot of head snapping and keen peripheral
vision workout, no further indication of three swifts at Brodeur’s was seen. I
had likely missed an exit at Brodeur’s the previous morning.
However, with a long
observation period and 2 sites being watched simultaneously, the data collected
were useful to show how variation in nest site use exists. It also
shows how the length of a monitoring period can influence the interpretation of
activity. Here’s the data set:
Main St and Brodeur Bros.
Main St and Brodeur Bros. Start time: 11:00 AM 11:22:08 entry Main St 11:59:31 entry Brodeur Bros. 12:01:07 entry Brodeur Bros. (2 in) 12:45:16 entry Main St (2 in) End time: 1:00 PM
A pair used each chimney. The
Main St site was occupied for ~85% of the observation period by at least one
swift; the nest site was unattended for >22 min. (Start time to
first entry).
The Brodeur Bros. site was
occupied for ~50% of the time and for most of that time by a pair; the nest site
was unattended for >60 min.
The Main St pair were moving
about independently; the Brodeur Bros. pair were seen together in the air
before the first entry took place.
Stage of nesting for these two
sites = egg laying to early incubation (based also on spring arrival dates)?
Take a moment to look at
different 60 minute “observation periods”. If you watched between
11:25 AM and 12:25 PM, you would think that the Main St site was not in use. If
you watched between 12:00 and 1:00 PM, you might think that only 1 swift was
inside when 2 swifts were actually inside the chimney together.
If a session doesn’t go
“as you expected” don’t loose hope that your site is not active but
don’t stretch the interpretation too much either. We suggest being flexible about
monitoring and making common sense adjustments to your viewing sessions to
answer the question of the day. Set an objective when you head out to monitor
Chimney Swifts. You’ve heard this before: there is always a reason to go back
and watch again!
The next stop on Wed. was over at Club Amical:
The next stop on Wed. was over at Club Amical: Start time: 1:30 PM 2:06:27 entry NE Club – approached alone 2:11:47 entry SE Club – 1 other swift in close proximity 2:22:39 exit NE Club 2:34:00 exit SE Club End time: 2:35 PM
NE duration in was ~16 min.; 1
swift approached alone before; = a long, partner exchange at incubation stage?
SE duration in was ~22 min.;
partner was in air with the swift that entered; = egg laying to early
incubation stage (also based on spring arrival dates)?
To finish the wonderful Wed. circuit, the Church site was checked out:
To finish the wonderful Wed. circuit, the Church site was checked out: Early evening at the Church: Start time: 7:30 PM 7:37:21 2 exits 7:44:35 entry 7:52:34 entry 7:57:34 2 exits End time: 8:30 PM
Clearly, the breeding pair
continue to be active partners in the sky and down the chimney. These swifts
were the first arriving birds in town this spring. The chimney was unattended
for >7 minutes and 7 minutes and >32 minutes. In
the evening, both adults like to feed and drink and get ready for roosting –
even if they are incubating eggs. So, back to the chimney side it is…
For all of you nest site
monitors, keep watching for classic incubation exchanges ~ you will observe an
entry then an exit within 30 seconds – 2 minutes. Those partner exchanges are
best seen during earlier daytime hours. Good luck monitoring your nest sites!‘
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
