Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

A number of weeks ago, long-term La Broquerie volunteer, David Dawson, posted a piece on our website about a tower that he had constructed. His goal was to find someone who might be able to attach it to a building in a place where swifts regularly hang out, and see if swifts might nest in it.

Rhonda Smith, a resident of Carman stepped up. A few years ago, the Elementary School chimney in Carman had to be demolished, and Rhonda, who works for the Prairie Rose School Division, knew that this would be a perfect opportunity to get a replacement structure attached to the building. Thus Rhonda contacted David, and David agreed that this would be a great opportunity. 

Rhonda collected the tower, and Claude Plante and Bernie Chambers from the School Division worked out where best to place it. They decided on a location close to the old chimney at Carman Elementary School, a logical decision!

Over the past few days, they worked on fixing the tower to the school. From the following photos, you can see how they did it. 

So now we wait, the tower is in place, and we will be doing some follow-up with the students in the hope that maybe they will be the first to spot a swift entering the new structure.

This is an excellent project and would obviously not be possible without the generous donation from David, the determination of Rhonda and the willing participation of Cecile (Principal), Claude and Bernie (School Division Facilities staff). Many thanks to the Prairie Rose School Division for their commitment to making this project work.

The relocated tower is re-born…

–Tim Poole

As the long weekend disappears in the rearview mirror, we are able to report on an excellent start to the season for swift monitoring. There were many reports, and although there were a number of zero’s, there were also a surprisingly good number of occupied chimneys.

For our report, we being in Carman, and are delighted that Matt has been able to pick up the mantle of swift watching this year. Matt first spotted swifts on the 9^th May in town during the day. On the 18^th he reported:

‘I Saw two Swifts enter the chimney. First bird at 2040 hrs approaching suddenly from South and made a very fast wing-over into chimney, 2nd bird at 2110 hrs. Bird also suddenly appeared  from the South hovering directly over chimney and made a winnowing flutter entry into chimney.‘

On the 19^th, he did a second monitoring watch, and reported:

‘At 2100 hrs, I saw a single swift flying high, foraging over the town…no other activity until 2126 hrs. At this point a small swift madea fast dive into the chimney. A minute later a larger swift made a winnowing approach into the chimney. Probably the same pair as seen on Saturday night. ‘

Finally, on the 20^th, Matt went out again and reported two birds in the Memorial Hall, plus a further two birds in the skies. Numbers are obviously building in Carman.

On the 16^th, Irene and Scott made their ways for a first ever swift watch at La Salle. Unfortunately it was probably too early in the season for this site, no swifts were seen. Hopefully they will have more sightings next time. On the same evening, Rudolf spotted 10 swifts in East Kildonan. Bob and Valerie also lucked out at New Silver Heights in St James. Better luck was had by two other new volunteers, Colleen and Mark, ably assisted by Frank and Jacquie at Providence College in Otterburne. In total, 5 swifts were shared between 3 chimneys.

Marshall sent in his report, in typically humorous fashion:

‘I’m scoping out some sites in Osborne tonight. I found a good spot where I can watch 5 chimneys on 3 buildings at once and I saw two entries at St. Augustine’s Church, and there’s been no exits in 15 minutes since. I also saw 4 others circling chimneys on a building on Stradbrook. I’ve forgotten how much I feel like I’m lingering about in an alley to sell drugs when I do this, hah.’

On that note, if anyone would like an official MCSI lanyard, please let us know, and we will get one mailed to you as soon as possible.

Frank and Jacquie were first out the block on the 17^th. They watched the Moorgate and gave a classic MCSI report full of questions marks:

‘On Friday night ten CHSW were seen in the vicinity of the Moorgate around 20:00. There were six entries and three exits from the Moorgate chimney. Where did the other swifts spend the night? Why did some swifts choose to vacate the Moorgate?’

Barbara and Phil got off to a flying start on their Osborne Village swift adventures, recording 2 entries at a site on Clarke Street. There were 10 swifts in the air in this area, a busy highway for swifts.

Luc on the otherhand had a puzzling evening. The best chimney in St-Jean-Baptiste has always been the church. So when he saw 3 swifts in the air it must have felt that normal service had resumed. Unfortunately that was it, 3 in the air, none in the chimney. There were swifts observed in the school chimney in 2018, so we can only surmise they headed over there.

Onto the ‘official’ evening on the 18^th. St Norbert tied together nicely. Blaire reported:

‘Behavioural Health Foundation had 2 chimney swift entries tonight; one right after the other at 8:58 p.m. Didn’t see any other activity. The two swifts were seen individually off and on a couple of occasions before that but not together.’

Why did it tie together nicely? Well, because Rob and Barb and this to say:

‘Just home and trying to thaw – wow, what a cold wind tonight! We had a few sightings of a single swift and one brief sighting of what seemed to be 3 swifts. Generally a quiet night in the ‘hood. So we had a single fast entry at 9:16:31 PM – very low to the rim from the ESE; no vocalizations heard at all.’

Mike and Michelle continued where they left off watching the Saint Francois Xavier church:

‘They’re baaaack!! I do not have much activity to report but more than I expected this early on a chilly/windy day. One entry and three in the air is a very good start.’

Great news, although interestingly, we only have one chimney on the database here. There must be another chimney in the area…

David accounted for all his swifts in La Broquerie, a good sign following some fun and games from the swifts in 2018. Here is his report:

‘I saw three birds enter the chimneys though I thought I saw four at one point flying in the air. Surprisingly, as they cannot be nesting yet, 2 went in the small chimney and only one in the large chimney, the large chimney being higher, larger and presumably easier to enter and exit.’

Gerald and the Selkirk Birdwatchers sent an unofficial tally of 21 entries, 5 exits, net 16 in the chimney. Ken and Jan reporting in from Dauphin had a similar number:

‘We had a FROST WARNING for tonight so I was not surprised when neither of last years nesting chimneys (2018-14 & 15) observed any use by swifts. The roost chimney (#600) however had 16 swifts go down starting right at the assigned start time till sunset. Most birds were flying in close pairs but, there were 2 individual birds that showed up alone and went down alone. It felt like we should have on hat, mitts and parka, no shorts and flip-flops tonight for sure! There is talk on the weather network of rain for the next observation night.’

Swifts obviously didn’t get the message that it was counting time in Lac du Bonnet, Diann and Cam had zero activity in town, and very little bird activity in general. To add to this list, Kirsten had no luck at the Flag Shop on Pembina, Lynnea and Adam watched a colossal chimney in South Point Douglas to no avail, and Peter hit a zero at the church on Hampton Street in St James. Gary at St John’s Ravenscourt was more in luck, a first ever watch, and one swift in for the night. Blair at 690 St Joseph Street in St Boniface also counted 2 entries. Debby and Carl were also out of luck, zero swifts seen at the Old Grace Housing Coop.

Finally, Tim finally made it out on the 19^th following a weekend of IBA activities elsewhere in Manitoba. Tasked with counting the large roost in downtown Winnipeg, he sent the following report to Frank, Rob and Barb:

‘Well that was bizarre. Nowt, zero, empty. A roost which hit the heights of 50+ swifts in 2018 wasn’t used tonight.’

Guess even those expecting a large number of swifts can be left puzzled by these birds!

Barb is also keeping us updated on progress in St Adolphe. On Monday the 20^th, she reported that there were 5 swifts in town during the day, 2 are nest building in the church, 2 are in the southeast Club Amical, and 1 is, well, a spare swift for now.

If you have swift reports and have not been able to submit them yet, no worries, we take them at any time, and endeavour to add them to the next update.

Our first National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) evening starts tomorrow, Wednesday 22^nd. Official counting starts one hour before sundown. That will obviously vary around the province. We are looking forward to hearing about your findings.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted reports so far – and happy swifting everyone!

Tim Poole
Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

The swifts are well and truly back. Gord has seen two in Portage la Prairie, and Blaire two in St Norbert. There have also been swifts in St-Jean-Baptiste reported by Luc on eBird.
This segues nicely to the first monitoring night of 2019. This is our MCSI early season roost count. It is officially happening on Saturday May 18th, although due to the long weekend, we have suggested a bit of flexibility, and you can also go out on the 16th or 17th to get that first monitoring point. As ever, try to begin one hour before sunset, and end thirty minutes after sunset. For example, Winnipeg sunset is 9:12 on the 18th. So start time will be 8:12pm, and end time at 9:42. This first watch can be hit and miss, but by the time we get to nights 2 and 3 of the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP), you should be hoping to see swifts enter the chimney.

Once you have your datasheets completed, send them to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com. We also love to hear of any anecdotes you have as we try to get a report out on this website before the first NRMP night on May 22nd.
For those who have not seen them yet, here are the protocols for 2019, and here is the Word version of the datasheet.

Good luck swifting!.

— Tim Poole

Further to the last blog, Matt in Carman emailed us to report:
‘On Thursday, May 9th at about 1045 hrs, while I was at the Carman Post Office  I heard  then saw two Chimney Swifts circling about 100 feet overhead They drifted  back towards the Memorial Hall site. However,  I did not see them again even though I stopped at the Memorial Hall for about ten minutes to see if they were using the chimney> I suspect they were transient birds as the weather was quite cold and windy, though sunny.’

Jump forward and Barb was back in St Adolphe on Sunday the 12th. She reported with great excitement:
‘First sighting of the season ~3:11 PM = 3 swifts over the Church. A short time later, 2 swifts were seen flying close together over Main St – both with the classic “V” displays.’Back in St Adolphe on lucky Monday the 13th, Barb and Tim watched a swift drop into the chimney on the church at around 2pm, and exit a few minutes later. There were still 3 swifts in town.

All this is gearing us up for the weekends first big roost count. Saturday 18th is number 1, but if you are unable to do it, we would be very happy for any data coming two days either side of it. This will give us an early season idea of where the first swifts are coming to.

–Tim Poole

Sounds like we have a couple of swifts back in Manitoba!

Barbara Barnett reported seeing swifts in Winnipeg on the 9th May. Her report came as the following:
 ‘I am almost certain that I have just watched two Chimney Swifts swooping over the River between the  Osborne Bridge and our condo building for 5 minutes.’  

Ryon Johnson also reported seeing a couple of swifts on Wellington Crescent the previous week. We will keep you posted on more sightings, but now is the time to begin watching the skies, and the chimney tops for the coming swifts!

–Tim Poole

We are going to be hiring a summer student to help out with our programs. The position will be based at the Nature Manitoba office in Winnipeg for 300 hours from May to August and help with our programs (IBA and Chimney Swift).

You can see more details on the IBA website at https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2019/04/30/we-are-hiring-for-a-summer-student/ and feel free to pass it on to anyone who might be interested and post to social media, etc

Thanks!

Tim Poole

Frank has updated the website with the 2019 National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) Protocols and our new 2019 datasheets. Here are the direct links:

NRMP protocol https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/NRMP2019.pdf

Monitoring report sheet pdf version https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/datasheet.pdf

Monitoring report sheet Word version https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/datasheet.doc

Ahead of the weekend, here is the latest eBird update. There is certainly a shift on the western edge of Lake Michigan, with more swifts being spotted north of Green Bay. Closer and closer they come!

— Tim Poole

A New Logo

The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative is delighted with our new logo. The design, by Manitoba graphic designer Richard Cain, who also designed our factsheets, will be used on all our outreach materials in the future. Thank you to Richard for coming up with this fantastic design!

Monitoring Update – volunteers still needed

We still have a few gaps on our NRMP monitoring priority list. if you are interested in helping out in Winnipeg (St James, South Osborne, Osborne Village, River Heights, Fort Garry, various in downtown), Neepawa, Souris and Melita, we would love to hear from you. We have some new volunteers lined up in places we have never formally monitored before, so this already promises to be a very exciting year!

We would also love to find some daytime watchers for the new tower in Assiniboine Park. Let us know if you are interested in helping out!

Where are the swifts?

The latest check on eBird has revealed that the swifts are still fast approaching. The latest update from eBird is that the furthest north a swift has been spotted is Montreal, and they have now been spotted in Toronto, Hamilton and Missisauga. Probably of more relevance to us here in Manitoba are the birds in Minnesota. Judging by the number of sightings, swifts are turning up in good numbers in Madison and Milwaukee. 

We are probably about two to three weeks away from seeing swifts in the skies over Manitoba. We cannot wait!

And finally….the tower

It looks like the tower donated in a blog a couple of weeks ago by David Dawson is being rehomed soon. Once it has been taken to its new home, and standing proudly in place, we will update folks on where it is. Thanks to everyone who expressed an interest, and of course to David for donating his handiwork.

Tim Poole

The following is an offer from a long-time chimney observer.

“Hello to fellow Chimney Swift watchers,

My name is David Dawson and I have been checking on the Chimney Swifts in La Broquerie for quite a few years already.  In the early days there were attempts to attract the Chimney Swifts to artificial chimneys, but without success.  I am sure that the reason for the lack of success was that we didn’t understand the mentality of the birds.  I am now convinced that Chimney Swifts are more or less genetically programmed to human habitations, because as they expanded their range over the prairies the only hollow structures were chimneys.  I’m sure the idea that they lived in hollow trees is wrong.  How many hollow trees are you familiar with on the bald prairie?

Over time I have made two artificial chimneys, both unsuccessful, because neither was attached to a building.  I couldn’t find anyone in the town of La Broquerie willing to have a chimney attached to their shed for example, and the school wasn’t interested in having one on their roof.  The nearest place I could find was in the corner of a farmer’s field about a mile from the town that with my new understanding was a totally inappropriate place.  I have given that chimney to Linnea (Tim Poole’s assistant last year) and she has it in Winnipeg attached to a shed.  I’m hopeful of success.

Here’s the thing: I have another chimney half made that I would be willing to give to anyone prepared to finish making it and attach it to a shed or garage in a known Chimney Swift area, such as Winnipeg.  It is 12 feet tall so would need a truck with an 8 foot box to transport it.  On 6 foot legs it would stand 18 feet high, hopefully high enough to attract the birds.  There is a man in Minnesota who has several artificial chimneys and all are occupied.  His first one was attached to his shed, after which his subsequent ones are close by in his yard.

If you are interested, please phone me at 1 204 424 5042

David Dawson”

A quick update on the coming wave of swifts. The latest eBird report has a swift being spotted in Frankin County, Ohio earlier today. Brave bird! Most recent reports do seem to still be concentrated along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, with some early birds also reaching Arkansas and Kentucky.

Monitoring Priorities – the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP)

What is the NRMP?

Since 2013, our core volunteer monitoring participatory program has been via the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP). The NRMP was initiated by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in Quebec. The idea is that volunteers operate across provinces, monitoring roost chimneys on 4 set dates.

According to the methodology, a roost is 4 or more swifts recorded entering a chimney between one hour before sundown, and 30 minutes afterwards. We report these results to ECCC. Although many of our chimneys do not support a roost of 4 swifts, we still encourage volunteers to monitor as their chimneys during this period. The information we are generating from all our chimneys is building up an impressive picture of Chimney Swift distribution and behaviour in Manitoba. This IS critical information, so even if your chimney does not support larger numbers of swifts, your data is still very useful and very, very appreciated by MCSI.

When is it taking place in 2019?

Each monitoring period begins one hour before sundown and end usually 30 minutes afterwards, unless in those rare cases, the swifts remain outside the chimney after this period. In 2019, these dates are set as:

• May 22
• May 26
• May 30
• June 3

As mentioned in our previous blog, MCSI would also like to add a couple of extra monitoring dates if possible, one before the NRMP and one after. Due to the long weekend, our first date would normally be May 18, but we are encouraging flexibility, and for those unable to go out on the weekend, we are saying May 16 or 17. The final MCSI extra night is four days after the NRMP on June 7.

Priority Sites for 2019

We are trying to encourage as much participation in the program as possible. Therefore, we have selected a list of priority sites across towns and cities in Manitoba. Our aim is, to within reason, to encourage monitoring at these sites on all 4 evenings. Obviously in some places, Melita and Souris stand out, we might not be able to do this, but we are ambitious to try! In the list below, those sites underlined and italicised did not receive regular NRMP monitoring in 2018. Our aim is to get someone to fill these gaps. For those who volunteered in 2018, our sincere thanks, and we will be in touch soon about prospects for 2019. In the meantime, if you are looking for a roost site to monitor, then take a look below. If you do not live near one of these sites, contact us, and we will identify a site for you to monitor.

Brandon
Orange Block

Carman
Carman Memorial Hall

Dauphin
213 Main Street

La Broquerie
Paroisse Saint Joachim

Otterburne
Providence College

Melita
Antler Historical Museum

Morden
Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant

Portage la Prairie
Trinity United Church

Selkirk
Mental Health Centre, large stack

Souris
Murphy’s: An Irish Legacy (94 1st Street South)
St Paul’s United Church

St Francois Xavier
St Francois Xavier Catholic Church

St Jean-Baptiste
Paroisse Catholique St-J-B

Steinbach
Bethesda Hospital

Stonewall
Main Street Site

Wasagaming
RMNP Visitor Centre

Winnipeg – Downtown
303 Assiniboine Avenue

Winnipeg – Fort Garry
Pembina Flag Shop

Winnipeg – Fort Rouge
915 Corydon

Winnipeg – River Heights
378 Academy

Winnipeg – St Boniface
690 St Joseph Street

Winnipeg – St James
Assiniboine School
Moorgate Apartments, 2187 Portage Avenue
New Silver Heights, Portage Avenue
St Ann’s Church, Hampton Street

Winnipeg – St Norbert
St Norbert Catholic Church
St Norbert Behavioural Health Centre

What happened in 2018?

In 2019, MCSI will continue to support this program. In 2018, we did so by monitoring 68 sites in 16 communities in Manitoba, a phenomenal effort! You can look at our results at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/NRMP20132018.pdf.

It would be amazing if we can keep the level of monitoring up in 2019. So please let us know if you are willing to take on a new site, and we will find a suitable site for you!

— Tim Poole