Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

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

Announcing Dates For MCSI Monitoring in 2019!

We are now almost two months from the long-awaited arrival of our favourite chimney dwellers (Santa inclusive). There has been much happening behind the scenes with MCSI. Most importantly ahead of May, we wanted to make sure everyone has some important dates in their diaries for the coming season.

National Roost Monitoring Program

MCSI will once again be participating in this monitoring program with other provinces in Canada. There will be four nights, and monitoring begins one hour ahead of sundown, and ends 30 minutes after sundown. We will, in the coming weeks, produce a priority list of sites to cover, mainly to make sure all the larger roosts are counted each night. The dates selected for 2019 are:

• May 22
• May 26
• May 30
• June 3

MCSI Additional Roost Monitoring

As with previous years, we encourage everyone to start monitoring their chimney whenever they can. We have added two more official nights. The first is a bit unusual in that there is a choice of options. May 18 would be our first option. However, this is the Saturday of the long weekend, and people like to go away! So, if you are unable to monitor on May 18, but would still like to participate, we are encouraging you to go out on May 16 or 17.

The final MCSI extra night is four days after the NRMP on June 7. We will also do a final public roost gathering on June 11. This is usually at Assiniboine School, but we may do something different in 2019. Watch this space!

Wednesday Night is Swift Night!

Following the official roost nights, we had great success and support in 2018 from volunteers, mainly on the Wednesday night monitoring. We will continue this in 2019!

More Places to Find Swifts

In 2018, we found swifts in 7 new places in Manitoba. We need to follow up on some of these, as we found swifts but either only have one record of a swift entering a chimney, or in some cases, we have still to find an active nest or roost site. These places are:

• Baldur
• Birtle
• Dominion City (we had one confirmed site, but a spare pair of swifts in 2018)
• Emerson
• Eriksdale
• Neepawa
• Pilot Mound

We also have found swifts in a number of other places over the years, but we are looking information on whether there are swifts now. These places include:

• Manitou
• Powerview-Pine Falls
• St Anne

Finally, we have some strong possibilities, some visited in 2018 but with no swift sightings, but which we would like to follow-up, and some which were suggested by the original computer modelling which gave us some of the other places. These include:

• Vita
• Crystal City
• Dunrea
• Ninette
• Killarney
• Virden
• Gilbert Plains
• McCreary
• Swan River
• Gladstone
• Benito

This is just some thoughts of places to look, and we will be coming back to this asking whether there are volunteers willing to spend time watching for swifts. However, if you have other suggestions, we are all ears, and open to ideas!

Where are the swifts?

Lastly, a question came to us just two days ago about the latest swift comings and goings on eBird. The current year map is reproduced below for Chimney Swifts. As you can see, there was a record from Florida, this being of three birds on February 20^th. This looks as though it was a very early record and while we are not disputing this, it probably does not reflect the current state of migrating swifts. More pertinently, is the record of 30 birds on March 4^th, recorded at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Centre. From what we know of winter range, this suggests we have some larger groups of swifts on the move! A second record of 121 swifts was recorded on February 21 in Panama (the red flag below the highlighted one).

Following over 400 monitoring visits, we have uploaded the final summary results to the website. We can still update this with any further monitoring results – so please, send them in if you have them! Mistakes can be made with data entry, so please check your data to make sure it is properly represented.

Following the same pattern used in the past few years, we have produced two separate documents. The first of these is a summary of the National Roost Monitoring Program results from May and June. The summary statistics demonstrate that we reached more communities, more sites, and recruited more volunteers than ever before in 2018. Well done everyone!
https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/2014_18_database_2018.pdf

It would be impossible to watch over 150 chimneys during the NRMP period, even with the dedicated volunteers we have. Likewise though we were able to watch more chimneys than ever this summer, in more communities, with even more volunteers, a superb achievement. The roost and nesting database covers every chimney that was watched during the summer of 2018. We have added lines for towns where Chimney Swifts were seen, but no occupied site was identified, including Baldur, Birtle, Emerson and Pilot Mound. We added a site for Neepawa where we are pretty sure a breeding pair was resident, but we need confirmation. This is to say, we still need more sleuthing in 2019, to work out where these birds are breeding. Overall, there were 100 volunteers sending in data this year – another record!
https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/NRMP20132018.pdf

The final piece of the jigsaw for 2018 has already been publicised on our website, but for anyone who has not see the St Adolphe nesting summary, here it is again.
https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/stadolphe_2018.pdf

Finally, as we come close to the end of the year, a time when people begin to consider whether to donate to charities, we are asking for the first time, that people consider donating to MCSI. After over 10 years, we are currently in a funding squeeze, reaching the end of our current Environment and Climate Change grant in March 2019. We will continue to explore new avenues for grants, but in the meantime, we have added an option to the website (on the left sidebar or at the bottom of this page) to make a donation to MCSI.

If you click the donate button, you choose the amount of your donation. You do not need a PayPal account to use the donation feature. Any funds raised will go toward keeping the MCSI monitoring, outreach and restoration continuing in the future.

Tax receipts will be provided by Nature Manitoba, and “Nature Manitoba” will show up as the recipient of your credit card payment.

A Marathon Review of a Marathon Year for the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative

It cannot be stated enough times how astounding the efforts of MCSI’s volunteers are each year. Each year we are astounded by the continuing, and in many cases, increasing efforts to get out and watch chimneys, from The Pas to Emerson. A review such as this, will not catch the full magnitude of your achievements, but we will regardless try to capture a sense of what has been achieved over the past few months, from a May, through almost drought-like conditions, to the smoky August skies.

It goes without saying that the season appeared to struggle to get going. A late winter flourish, cool temperatures, and few swifts did not bode well for the season. However, things picked up quickly, swifts arrived, spread out across Manitoba, and even turned up in new places. Below, we summarise what was seen in each town and city.

Baldur
Cal saw a single swift on June 10th. He looked again later in the season, but alas, there were no swifts around. Maybe this was a non-breeder dispersing? Maybe there was a breeding attempt which failed early? We will never know, but thanks Cal for trying!

Brandon
Margaret and Millie continue to watch the breeding site on Princess Street, and continue to get some success. On August 13th, they confirmed breeding, with 2 fledglings in the air. Interestingly, there only ever seem to be two swifts in Brandon.

Birtle
A new town for swifts, Lynnea spotting four on July 20^th while waiting her truck to be repaired.

Carman
Matt confirmed earlier in June that the two sites were occupied. Frank, Jacquie and Lewis watched the chimneys on July 4^th. There were 8 swifts roosting for the night at the Memorial Hall, and 4 in the private residence. It was possible that the private residence was occupied by 2 adults with 2 helpers.

Clearwater
Frank and Jacquie did visit the two chimneys in Clearwater in May, but alas, there were no swifts around.

Dacotah
Funny one this! Barbara was visiting family in this area on September 8^th, and spotted 7-10 swifts in the air. Where they came from, where they went, is anybody’s guess, but still worth noting in-case it triggers a memory somewhere!

Darlingford
Paul watched the chimney at the school twice during the summer, a pair roosting in June, and entry-exits detected during the day in late July. This is a regular breeding site.

Dauphin
Ken and Jan have ploughed this lone furrow for years. One chimney, and one committed pair of swifters, watching this single site. Not in 2018! Two new sites were discovered, and a few new volunteers have come forward to help with monitoring. Brilliant news! The large roost peaked at 34 on the 25^th July, an odd date for a peak! The spring roost was slow to pick up, only one on the 31^st May, followed by 21 on the 4^th June.

Dominion City
Mid-July swift road trip. Tim driving, Chris in the passenger seat and Lynnea in the back. Enter Dominion City, an old town near the US border, and almost immediately a swift is spotted. A drive around the corner, and ‘BOOM’, the swift drops into a lovely old brick chimney on a charming old house. A second entered, and we had our nesting attempt. More swifts were in the air, at least one other pair seem to be in this town. Another one to return to in 2019.

Emerson
A night out in mid July, a single tantalizing glimpse of a swift, but no swifts diving into chimneys. Chris, Lynnea and Tim came close, but did not hit the chimney-entering jackpot. However, all is not lost. A visit in September found a number of possible sites, and we will be back in 2019 to finish the job. Maybe the swifts are in West Lynne east of the river? Maybe they are in Pembina south of the border (enter wall joke at this point), or maybe they are shaking hands in the Emerson Masons Lodge. This is not over!

Eriksdale
Ken was taking a lunchtime break on his farewell tour of Red-headed Woodpecker sites when he came across a wee church in Eriksdale, and a pair exhibiting breeding behaviour. Another new site, another new town, and another success for 2018!

La Broquerie
David, also known as the La Broquerie Bard for his odes to swifts, managed a very impressive 12 visits to the St Joachim Roman Catholic Church. That is a lot of swift data! His highest total was 19 swifts, 15 in the large chimney, 4 in the small, on July 23^rd. The church appeared to be used as a roost for migrating birds in the fall. In terms of breeding attempts, there was certainly attempts in both chimneys, and possible fledglings in the small chimney. La Broquerie was also the subject of some early season mystery, with additional birds in the air, but not in the chimney.

La Salle
2018’s greatest swift saga, the La Salle pair fought, argued and fell out throughout a summer of lovers tiffs. At least one helper was on site throughout the season, and Rob and Barb eventually confirmed a successful breeding attempt on August 1^st.

Lac du Bonnet
Diann and Cam watched the bakery and the Casey’s Inn chimneys. Another town with more swifts counted in the air than in chimneys. Both chimneys mentioned previously had swifts occupying them in 2018, but not necessarily on the same evening.

Lockport
Tim and Nicole were at an event launch one sunny afternoon in early June when they spotted swifts in the air over the St Andrews Dam. Eventually a swift was spotted through binoculars dropping into a chimney on the east side of the river. Gerald confirmed subsequently that two chimneys on this building were being used, and a breeding attempt was underway.

Lower Fort Garry
Two successful nests, nothing much else happened here. Nia, Linda, Gerald, Frank, Jacquie, Christian and the Parks Canada folk begged to differ.

Manitou
‘tis a mystery Manitou. Seemingly swifts, but seemingly nowhere to be seen. A blitz evening in late June, with David, Lynnea, Frank and Jacquie, turned up zero swifts, although two monitors heard some distant chittering. Another attempt by Paul in late July also ended in a zero, although that was a daytime watch.

Melita
A quiet year in Melita, but Christian and Lynnea did confirm another breeding attempt at the Legion Hall on June 16^th.

Morden
What a successful year in Morden! David worked hard at it, and eventually he was rewarded with our first ever confirmed site. This was in Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant, and a breeding attempt was well underway in June and July. David also checked a couple of sites out, as did Paul. One of those sites, the Pembina Arts Centre, drew a number of blanks earlier in the season, until one evening in late June, 10 swifts entered. This is at a time during the season when we would expect non-breeders to begin dispersing to new areas.

Neepawa
Oh Neepawa, why do you tease us so? It was way back in May that Tim first spotted a pair of swifts over the hospital next to a fine specimen of a chimney. Surely they would enter? Well following a few visits by Rick, it was apparent they were going to tease us still. There always seemed to be a single swift in the air during visits, but the crafty swifts were not going to reward anyone with an entry. Oh, and Linda C also saw a pair of swifts in town in August, so they were there all breeding season. The teases….

Otterburne
Frank and Jacquie were joined by Lewis, Roberta, and Cathy, on occasion to watch the chimneys at Providence College. The maximum number of swifts on site were 5, spread between the three chimneys. A late monitoring trip in July suggested that only an adult pair and a helper remained on site, hopefully leading to a successful breeding attempt.

Pilot Mound
Another place we definitely had swifts (two confirmed sightings over the summer), but alas, we still do not know where they are hanging out. The first sighting was taken off eBird, the subsequent was from Katharine on June 16^th. Another one to go back to in 2019.

Portage la Prairie
Gord, with help from Cal and Janice, led efforts to monitor the suite of chimneys in Portage la Prairie again in 2018. Cal sent the following season summary:

‘The Chimney Swift season at Trinity United Church could be described as a bit of a roller coaster. It started out promising with four birds present on May 23 and then up to 11 birds seen on May 30 but with only 4 entries noted. However things settled down a bit with between four and eight birds being seen through most of June and only one pair regularly making same chimney entries. We couldn’t figure out where the two to four other birds were roosting. By mid July only the apparent nesting pair were present but that changed with 6 being seen on August 1 and up to an amazing (for us!) 17 birds the following week on August 8. The majority of these birds were obviously migrants but among them were two fledglings from the one nesting pair. Watching their chimney entry skills or rather the lack thereof definitely made the evening trip into town worthwhile! Maybe next year we’ll be fortunate enough to have another nesting pair.’

Swifts were also confirmed using the Rufus Prince Building, Victoria School, Portage Correctional Centre and the MTS Building.

Selkirk
The Selkirk Birdwatchers Club, brilliantly coordinated be Gerald have done it again! What a wonderful group. The peak count at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre was 23, on three different dates in spring and fall. On the same site, the Infirmary, and the Powerhouse were both occupied. 241 Manitoba Avenue was never occupied, but the Lord Selkirk Hotel, and the Main Street apartment both received visitors. The Merchant’s Hotel was also used, culminating in a count of 11 on August 15^th. Robert, Donna, Nia, Linda, Linda, Ray, Sybil, Winona, Cathy, Bonnie, and certainly a few others were involved in a brilliant effort.

Souris
10 chimneys were watched on 23^rd May by 5 volunteers, with 8 being occupied. The most swifts were counted into the United Church (5), the Murphy’s Pub (4), and the Corner Closet (4). A total of 19 swifts were counted, but there were certainly more than this. Katharine dropped by at the end of her Breeding Bird Survey, and confirmed breeding attempts in two chimneys. Lynnea, Christian, Sabina and Tim monitored with Katharine in May.

Southport
Gord managed to get out to Southport, and the aerodrome, twice. A May visit turned up 3 swifts, and a short visit in August determined that a breeding pair were active.

St Adolphe
Barb puts in an extraordinary effort, watching five chimneys from the early moments of nest building to the final throes of breeding. This year, two chimneys, the SE Club Amical, and Main Street, hosted fledglings. Nesting attempts were made in all 5 chimneys. The SE Club Amical fledging date, July 24th, was the earliest recorded since records began, and the Main Street date, July 28th, was tied second earliest. No swifts were in town on August 15th, again, very early.

Saint-François-Xavier
Mike and Michele watched this chimney throughout the summer,  and were rewarded with some excellent information. Breeding was confirmed in the church on August 1^st. Before this, the maximum number in the chimney, 5 swifts, suggested that there were helpers on site.

St Jean-Baptiste
Luc was confused early season by the disappearance of birds in the air while watching the church. A bit of sleuthing, and we had a new site, the school (also, I believe Luc’s employers). Luc checked the school again, but alas, they were only recorded on May 28^th using this chimney. The church however continues to be one of these regular swift sites, with the maximum of 5 swifts noted on June 6^th

Stonewall
Another success for the Breeding Bird Survey. Tim stopped off in town after a morning of bird monitoring, and spotted a swift in the air. Eventually he confirmed that a breeding attempt was ongoing in the chimney found by Ken in 2016.

Steinbach
Keelie watched the chimney at the Bethesda Hospital four times, and counted a maximum of 3 swifts. Steinbach was another place where additional swifts remained unaccounted for.

The Pas
Joel watched a swift diving into the chimney at The Via Railway Station in The Pas on June 25^th.  A second swift was also in attendance.

Wasagaming
Chimney Swifts were back in Wasagaming in 2018. Tim and Sabina confirmed nest building, an entry-exit cycle being detected on June 6^th. Alex from the National Park later confirmed, from a couple of dead chicks in the bottom of the chimney, that the eggs had hatched. Interestingly, these nestlings were of distinctly different ages, the first being around 7-8 days old, and the second around 14 days. We will hopefully know if other chicks fledged when the whole nest falls.

Winnipeg – City Centre
Here is a hitherto unknown secret. Downtown Winnipeg provides homes for a lot of swifts! The high count, by John, at 303 Assiniboine was 55 on May 31^st. There were though plenty of swifts to go around. John found more sites again, a gospel church on William being his best find. There were also new sites on Edmonton, Kennedy, and in the Exchange, plus Ron confirmed that a pair were attempting to breed in a chimney behind VJ’s on Main, one which has been on the database for eons, with no recorded use.

Winnipeg – The Kildonans
East Kildonan is a happening place, swifts using more sites than previously recorded. Among the new sites were a church on Cobourg, watched by Pat and Dave, and a bowling alley, watched at different times by Meredith, Lynnea and Adam. Garry monitored the chimney on Watt until the brood fledged, and Rudolf finally confirmed use of chimneys on Brazier and Henderson. Further north, the first active site in North Kildonan was discovered by mishap (‘PUT THE SWIFTS BACK IN THE CHIMNEY’), and a site was found in West Kildonan, at the Kildonan United Church.

Winnipeg – Fort Garry
Little monitoring was done in Fort Garry in 2018. Lynnea watched both the Flag Shop and St John’s, and confirmed use in both. Tim also had an incidental exit from the Cambridge Hotel on Pembina.

Winnipeg – Fort Rouge
As with Fort Garry, efforts were switched elsewhere in 2018, following the bonanza of new sites in 2017. Tim found two new sites in chimneys which were meant to be screened on River and Clarke. Lynnea tried to find swifts from her balcony, but alas, no one took the plunge into the several chimneys which she could see. Patricia and Marie-Eve managed to get out a couple of times, and spot swifts into 424 River. Sabina confirmed that the Trinity Baptist Church is still occupied, and Lauren tried, but lucked out at the Fontana Apartments. In Corydon, Leah came in late in the season, and confirmed that the apartment at 915 Corydon were hosting a breeding pair.

Winnipeg – North End
The North End is not an area that many would think to look for swifts, but why not? There are swifts over the Red River in East Kildonan, and there are swifts just to the south in the downtown area. Tim found swifts on Main Street in July and August, and tracked down a late season breeding attempt at the Ukrainian National Federation. There were also some very nice chimneys east of Main Street in the neighbourhood. Well worth a look in future years!

Winnipeg – River Heights and Tuxedo
We tried, but the zoo tower remained unoccupied. The conservatory did host swifts until it met its demise. Kelly-Anne had a consistent pair in the Academy site. Katharine finally managed to confirm use of the Wilton Apartments on Grant, three years after her first, seemingly forlorn sighting!

Winnipeg – South Point Douglas
John was the hero, the only swifter out in South Point Douglas again. He confirmed use of 515 and 527 Waterfront, but also tried a number of other places, but to no avail.

Winnipeg – St Boniface and St Vital
A quiet year in both these areas, Jessica, Lynnea, Wendy, Justin, Anika, Ward and Marlene all checked some of these sites out during the National Roost Monitoring Program evenings, but, alas, not a swift was to be seen. Later in the season, Barbara and Phil, who were staying at a friends house, watched the chimney at 690 Rue St Joseph, and uncovered a nesting attempt with helpers. Blair stepped in, and confirmed fledging around August 8^th.

Winnipeg – St James
Starting with the Assiniboine School Monitors, Adolf, David, Anna, Jake, Don and Beth (plus helpers). Our maximum count in 2018 was 114 on May 19^th. As ever, there appeared to be two peaks, the second on June 4^th of 107. Always intriguing to see the data ebb and flow on this site. The King’s Theatre, Carillon Towers, Viscount Apartments and Marner Apartments were all occupied at some point in 2018. Jenny watched St Ann’s Church on Hampton in May and June, a pair settling in the repaired chimney. Rob would later confirm that this pair bred successfully.  Moving west, and the second centre of activity was around the Moorgate Apartments. This roost peaked in the fall, 12 birds entering on August 14^th. Bob and Valerie watched the pair in the New Silver Heights Apartment throughout the summer. A surprise occurrence on June 8^th, swifts were flying through holes in pest screens into the chimneys at the Thunderbird and Stanley Park Apartments, both on Portage opposite the Moorgate chimney. New occurrences were found in private houses on Moorgate Street and Traill Avenue, plus another new apartment on Traill, and the Foodfare on Portage. Other monitors in this area were Christian, Lynnea, Sabina, Lewis, Jacquie, Adam, Frank and Tim.

Winnipeg – St Norbert
Blaire had terrific successes during the NRMP period, starting with 6 entries at the Catholic Church on May 23^rd. Frank and Jacquie confirmed that a breeding attempt was well on its way at the Behavioural Foundation on July 18^th, a phenomenal 17 entries and 14 exits in 95 minutes of watching. Wow! On July 31^st, Barb confirmed that birds were still feeding young.

Winnipeg – West Broadway
Tim did some poking around in West Broadway, finally finding an apartment with a chimney, and a breeding pair. This was on July 27^th at 634 Broadway. There are a lot more swifts to be found in this area!

Winnipeg – West End
The inestimable John was front and foremost of all searching in the West End. It was a strange year, with occupied sites from 2017 being unoccupied in 2018. However, 486 Sherbrook was still active. Sherry lucked out though at the Foodfare in this area.

Winnipeg – Wolesley
Last, but by no means least, Wolesley. Nicole proved that capping a chimney is not the end, working with My Place Realty to unscreen another chimney at the Fleetwood. Champagne corks were popping when swifts were first observed entering the chimney on June 4^th. They were doubly popping, when during a plaque presentation, Nicole confirmed that nesting was ongoing on July 27^th. The Lothian Block was also occupied, but unfortunately, and despite the best efforts from Francene, Barbara, Phil and Christian, the Old Grace Housing Coop were not ready to welcome all their residents this summer….

Some Summary Stats

Following that marathon we thought we would finish with a few stats to demonstrate the lengths that volunteers went to in 2018.

Total number of communities monitored in 2018 = 26 (actual monitoring data submitted)

160 chimneys were checked

119 chimneys were occupied at least once in 2018

Total number of volunteer monitors in 2018 (est.) = 100

 New MCSI codes: 44

Occupied new sites: 34

• Eriksdale: 1
• Dauphin: 2
• Souris: 2
• Dominion City: 1
• Morden: 1
• St Jean Baptiste: 1
• Lockport: 2
• Winnipeg:
• City Centre, 6
• Fort Rouge, 3
• West Broadway, 2
• St James, 6
• East Kildonan, 2
• North Kildonan, 1
• Tuxedo, 1
• West Kildonan, 1
• North End, 1

In addition, 2 sites previously on database were confirmed as being used for first time, plus a second chimney on a building was used (La Salle RC Church).

Communities with Swifts which were not noted before 2018 (bold for those with confirmed sites):

• Baldur
• Birtle
• Neepawa
• Dominion City
• Eriksdale
• Emerson
• Lockport
• Pilot Mound

A number of volunteers checked additional towns including:

• • Little Britain
  • Rivers
  • Minnedosa
  • Erickson
  • Boissevain
  • Minto
  • Dunrea
  • Virden
  • Catwright
  • Crystal City
  • Miami
  • Treherne
  • St Claude
  • Oakville
  • Saint Rose Du Lac
  • Fork River
  • Valley River
  • Gilbert Plains
  • Grandview

If you still have some data for us, there is still time to submit it to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com. Please do – every little piece of data helps to draw a picture of the fascinating world of Manitoba’s Chimney Swifts.

Finally, on behalf of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Steering Committee, thank you to every single volunteer for your help and amazing contributions in 2018. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

— Tim Poole

The final week of monitoring appears to be with us – but these are swifts, so who knows if this really the end!

Following last weeks update, Rudolf in Winnipeg sent the following:

‘I saw 5+ swift over Fraser’s Grove Park around mid-day yesterday (28th)’

Ken and Jan did a final check in Dauphin on August 29th, and reported that:

‘This is to advise you that today we were able to watch 2 of the 3 chimneys in Dauphin and report ZERO counts at both and due to the proximity of the 3^rd chimney it would be appropriate to give it also a zero count. For anyone that does birding, around 8:24 PM there were 8+ night hawks flying over the main roost going SE to NW.’

Nothing left, but a fantastic year of monitoring in Dauphin again!

The busiest swifting has been again Lower Fort Garry and Selkirk. There will be more news from here in the coming days, but for now, we have some interesting updates.

On August 30th, Gerald sent the following:

‘No action at the Merchant’s Hotel in Selkirk this evening.’

The same evening, Nia sent the following:

‘Linda and I did the fort Aug 30. 8:05- 1 out, 8:15 – 1 in. Total in chimney = 1. Saw 3 flying at one point. Again we Lost birds.’

Again from Nia:

‘Linda and I did the fort last night (Sept 1) and had a confusing evening. What those swifts are up to we have no idea. We will monitor again on Monday. Here’s the results: Total entries – 6, Total exits – 2, Max in chimney – 4′

Gerald reported that:

‘No activity at the Lockport bridge Monday evening (3rd September).’  

On the same evening, Robert did not see a single swift at any of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre chimneys. Linda and Nia put in another heroic evening, counting 2 swifts in at the Fort.

I suspect this will be our final update, and we will soon have a full season summary available for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks you, thank you, thank you for an absolutely wonderful season. We can safely say that Manitoba’s Chimney Swift volunteers are absolutely brilliant!

— Tim Poole

It’s August 29th, and the swift reports continue to trickle in. We do intend to write a season ender summary report soon – but we cannot possibly embark on such a thing when a) people keep seeing swifts and; b) you guys keep obliging us with more reports! We are currently on the way to over 600 separate data lines on our database, significantly more than was reported in 2017, and that is all down to the remarkable efforts of you, our volunteers!

A weekly update is therefore needed, and let us start with the brilliant Selkirk Birdwatchers. At Lower Fort Garry, Linda and Nia monitored on August 19^th, recording a bizarre sequence of 11 entries and 11 exits. The final report read as follows:

‘We didn’t see any go into the chimney and stay. Maybe they entered for the night after we left when we could no longer see. 5 were flying at 6:44. ‘

Maybe the next report would clear things up. On August 21^st, Nia and Linda sent the following:

‘Linda and I monitored the fort last night and had good results. It looks like the nest has succeeded, and Ma and Pa and the three kids all went to bed for the night in the white chimney.’

Of course, things never seem as simple as they should be. On August 22^nd, again it was Nia and Linda:

‘Linda and I did the fort last night and didn’t get the results we hoped for. We hoped all would have left and gone to a roosting site. With only 2 entering the chimney and what we took as the family of 5 flying around tonight and last night we don’t know what is happening.’

Swifts eh, they usually leave us saying ‘we don’t know what is happening’. It’s good that most of us are in the same boat!

The next evening, Linda was joined by Linda E, to check again, and well, there was a brief entry and exit, but little more apart from 3 birds in the air early on. On the 25^th, Nia returned with Linda and had 3 entries, 2 exits, and 4 in the air.

Who knows what is going on here!

On a related subject, Gerald reports from Lockport on the 28^th August:

‘I spent a half hour at Lockport bridge this evening from 8:10 PM to 8:40 PM. I noted 2 entries at 8:19 PM and 3 entries at 8:21 PM. I did not see any exits. I did not see any flying around, just entries. Maybe this helps with some of the mystery.’

This probably means that they will all return to the Fort this evening!

In Selkirk itself, the group continued to watch at the Mental Health Centre. On the 20^th, Nia, Linda and Robert had 2 birds use the Infirmary chimney, and 6 enter the large stack. Robert returned on the 25^th, and saw 2 fly into the large stack and zero in the Infirmary. Linda and Nia continued with some major dedication to the cause, watching a single swift use the large stack. It looks as though Selkirk was all but finished for the season (although not Lockport or Lower Fort Garry).

A simpler picture from David in La Broquerie. He reported on the 22^nd:

‘A VERY successful watch.  The most I’ve ever seen in many years of viewing. 13 in the large chimney and 4 in the small chimney for a total of 17 (if my math is correct…..). No exits were observed.

Early in the watch period there were several birds that flew over ‘examining’ the chimneys to see which or what was better and then several that ‘fluttered’ in as if they were unfamiliar with the chimney.  Later the birds appeared out of nowhere and went straight down.  I wonder if there were some migrating birds roosting for a pause in their journey.’

Not so exciting for Gord in Portage on the 22^nd:

‘I was viewing at Trinity Church this evening. I had no entries this evening and only saw 1 Swift in the air. It looks like the season is coming to an end in Portage.’

In Dauphin, Ken and Jan watched the main roost chimney and reported, again from the 22^nd:

‘8:37 – Saw 1 swift flying by twice and on the second pass a swift came out of the chimney.

8:46 – sunset

About 9:04 – 4 swifts flew by going E to W.

9:08 – 2 went down

9:09 – a single went down

9:20 – too dark to see with one swift still unaccounted for (but there are 2 other chimneys it could use)’

Swifts in Dauphin, but as Margaret and Millie reported from Brandon following a zero count at their chimney:

‘It appears that the swifts have started their migration.’

Finally, to Winnipeg. Frank and Jacquie were the only guys to get out, this time in St James (having been doing this since the crack of dawn, I have an excuse). They reported back that:

‘Well, we went to Saint James from 19:50 to 21:05 (sunset 20:32).

28 degrees, 0% cloud cover, no precipitation, moderate breeze.

NO CHSW SEEN OVERHEAD OR NEAR THE CHIMNEYS.’

Tim did have a pair on the 24^th in the early evening over his house in Riverview, so they were certainly still around in Winnipeg.

And that it the update. Maybe there will be one more update – it is Wednesday after all!

Finally, if you are sitting on any data, please try to submit it as quickly as possible, we want to get the data summaries completed and posted for your interest as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed data this week!

—  Tim Poole

What a wonderful group of volunteers! We are so close now to the end of 2018 as far as swift watching goes, yet still you guys keep going! There are still some swifts around, so Wednesday this week, may well be our last night out. For some, it’s over already, they have recorded zeros, for others, maybe they still want to check.

Here is a reflection of some of the excellent monitoring we have seen since last we reported. It’s been a couple of weeks, so rather than report everything, we will give a flavour of all that has happened (please note that this is a summary, some of these volunteers have exceeded the number of visits described).

Brandon

​Margaret and Millie reported a fledging date of August 14th, with 2 young over the chimney! ​On August 18th they reported that:

‘Looks like we do have two fledglings. Lots of activity overhead last evening – young are now strong flyers with no difficulty entering the chimney.’

Wonderful news!

Dauphin

On August 7^th, Ken and Jan reported that:

‘A report on #2 had birds continually circling overhead (10+) with only 2 going down and none seen to come out. The roost chimney (#1 chimney) immediately had an exit and another and an entry with immediate exit and then again 15 minutes later and entry and exit so it looks like we still have feeding going on in this chimney. By the end of the roosting hour it was dark but still birds flying very vocally with 25 entries, 4 exits wo about 21+ in chimney??’

La Broquerie

David reported on August 15^th that:

‘I did a watch on Wednesday but got there rather late (8.45) as I almost completely forgot! so I may have missed a few entrie

Anyway I saw 7 go down into the large chimney and 3 into the small chimney

Two things were interesting

1.  The birds were behaving totally differently to usual.  No flying around close to the chimney and chittering as they went.  They arrived from low down and went straight down in singles, never pairs.  Almost as if they had a mission ahead.

2.  At least some have not yet migrated.’

Lower Fort Garry

Lots of monitoring here following a late nesting attempt. Fingers crossed! The monitoring has primarily been from Linda, Nia and Gerald, plus a wee bit from Frank and Jacquie.

August 13^th:

‘LOTS of action in the white chimney, the West chimney on the east building.  I think we had 8 or 9 entries and 2 or 3 exits. We observed no action at all on the West chimney of the West building, the red chimney.’

August 17^th:

‘Max in chimney – 1  There may have already been one settled in for the night before we arrived because it was dark so early with the heavy smoke.

August 19^th – 11 entries, 11 exits, 1 left in the chimney(???). Nia added:

‘We didn’t see any go into the chimney and stay. Maybe they entered for the night after we left when we could no longer see. 5 were flying at 6:44

Portage la Prairie

On August 15^th, Gord reported as follows:

‘At the Trinity United Church Portage, we had a total of 10 entries into the south chimney and two birds that went elsewhere; there was 12 total.’

Saint François-Xavier

Michele and Mike have been out watching the church chimney a number of times this year. On August 15^th, they reported as follows:

‘Our last night of swift watching was both very exciting and somewhat disappointing at the same time. We definitely saw a max. of 4 chimney swifts foraging right above us for most of the night. They put on quite a show but unfortunately we only saw 1 enter the chimney before it got too dark to observe any longer.’

Selkirk

The Selkirk Birdwatchers are amazing!

August 12^th, Gerald reported:

‘I checked the Merchant’s Hotel from 8:35 PM to 8:45 PM. I thought a young one was trying to enter a chimney. I took some video of it flying around. Then at 8:43, 2 swifts entered the larger north chimney. I left at 8:45 PM. I then parked on the street to watch the Lord Selkirk Hotel and the building at 241 Manitoba Ave. I saw no entrances or exits. As it got dark at about 9:15 a Swift flew at low level over Main Street and Manitoba Ave, then disappeared. I am curious as to where it was going. Being too dark, I went home.’

August 14^th, Gerald was the bearer of more good news:

‘Large Stack Selkirk Mental Hospital: Donna and Robert Hempler and I checked Tuesday evening. We counted 20 entering the large stack and 3 entering the Infirmary chimney.’

August 15^th, Gerald sent us this email:

‘We had a WOW!! at the Merchant’s Hotel yesterday. Ray and Sybil reported 11 entries and no exits between 8:12 and 9:15 PM yesterday into the larger chimney.

August 20^th, Nia, Linda and Robert reported 6 in the main stack at the Mental Health Centre, and 2 in the Infirmary. Robert had 2 go into the infirmary

St Adolphe

Barb reported from August 16^th and 17^th: 

‘My last swift sightings of the year may will turn out to be in Orillia. Thursday over the noon hour, there were no swifts sighting in St A; did a multi-site look around. Friday AM, did a 90 minute session at the Club and then last night did a 70 minute roosting hour session. Not a swift in the sky!!! No Purple Martins about either. It was almost apocalyptic on Thursday, less so Friday, with the smoke filled sky. Kind of reminded me of the scene of the dinosaur march in Fantasia as the world ended.’

Winnipeg – Downtow

John  has been doing his usual magnificent rounds of swift monitoring. Here is a summary:

August 5^th – 520 William, 2 entries/2 exits

August 5^th – 303 Assiniboine, 10 entries

August 12^th – 303 Assiniboine, 2 entries

August 18^th – 303 Assiniboine, 0 entries

On August 14^th, John emailed the following:

‘I looked around the area of 303 Assiniboine between 8pm and 930pm tonight for swift activity hoping for another roost. At 8:58 I saw 6 CHSW flying in a group just west of the Donald bridge north of the river, for about four minutes. I got the impression they were not there to feed but to roost. I saw at least a couple dive down as if entering a chimney. No chimney was visible but they all seemed to disappear in the same spot. At least a couple more appeared and also disappeared in the same spot. I will go back and see if they show up tomorrow if I can and try to find the chimney.

On August 16^th, a new site is discovered at 348 Assiniboine:

‘This didn’t seem a likely chimney to see swifts enter. Swifts were entering both side, the screening on the left side didn’t appear open on top but is and the right side appears to have a glazed ceramic liner which I thought would make clinging difficult, maybe that is why they didn’t stay long.’

A strange one here – 14 entries, 11 exits, and only 3 left in the chimney – which you can see here:

Two also entered, one in either flue on August 17

Winnipeg – East Kildonan

On August 7^th, Pat reported from Gordon King Memorial United Church

‘Went out Wednesday and managed to see one swift enter at about 9:2

Winnipeg – Fort Rouge

Story of the report comes from Katharine in Fort Rouge. In 2015, Katharine reported possibly seeing a swift drop into an apartment block on Grant from her seat on the bus into work (but was unable to confirm). Following reports of swifts being spied in this area in 2018, she returned to the scene, and reported the following:

‘On another note, I have been dying to tell you that on Friday late afternoon (this would have been late July), after having supper at Applebee’s in Grant Park, John offered to park and let me look at that infamous apartment block at 1055 Grant Ave. at Wilton.   Within less than 10 minutes, a CHSW actually emerged and flew off at 8:08 pm!  Then one entered the chimney at 8:15 pm and emerged again at 8:17 pm.  I have been watching from the bus every morning/afternoon with no luck, so this was the first time that, for absolute certainty, I saw activity in and out of that chimney.  Unfortunately, John did not have the patience to let me watch any longer, so I only have those observations for just under one half hour of watching (8:02 pm to 8:27 pm).  I’m also anxious to get back there soon to do a longer watch (although I’m hoping that the rain storms these past two evenings did not impact them.)’

Fantastic news, and we will confirm the original sighting as an entry in our databases three years later!

New volunteer, Leah, reported on August 9^th (with her friend Carol) from 915 Corydon:

‘Success!  Very cool to observe this site (4 entries, 2 exits) – wishing now that I had gotten involved a lot earlier…  ah well, next year!’

And with the bug catching, on August 15^th:

‘2 entries and several birds fly bys in the general vicinity (not around the chimney).  This included one individual that was flying very low, slow and with rapid wing beats..

Winnipeg – St Boniface

Another new volunteer, Blair, reported from 690 St Joseph on August 13th:

‘In summary, I arrived at the site at 8:53, just 6 minutes before sunset and as I was at the corner of the building before I could see the chimney, I heard and could see 8 swifts, circling the building. After getting into a position to view the chimney, I recorded seven entries, may have missed one.  I could not tell the age of the birds entering, new at this.  The entries occurred at the following times, 9:03.40, 9:12.24, 9:14.06, 9:18.32, 9:19.03, 9:25.06, and 9:25.21.  After another 10 minutes without any activity I called it a night.’

Another bug caught, Blair returned on August 14^th:

‘I arrived at 8:21 and observed until 9:28; sunset at 8:48.In summary, I saw at most 7 swifts flying around the building and in the end, seven entered the chimney to roost.’

Winnipeg – St James

Multiple attempts have been made to get a handle on these swifts, especially in an area from Deer Lodge to Moray

On August 5^th, Adam, Lynnea, Sabina, Tim and Christian did a multi-site check noting swifts into at least 6 chimneys, 2 of them previously unknown to MCSI.

On August 6^th, Frank and Jacquie sent the following:

‘On the way, Jacquie thought she saw an entry into the (apparently screened) chimney at the Thunderbird Apartments at 2150 Portage. There was a lot of activity at the Moorgate. We had 16 entries and 6 exits. Looks like 10 CHSW. in the chimney. THe maximum numbr of swifts we saw in the air was 8 at 21:08.’

On August 7^th, a multi-site survey was made:

Thunderbird – Christian counted 10, 9 in an open flue, one in a screened flue. 4 birds appeared to drop into an invisible chimney

Stanley – Christian counted 6 birds

Moorgate  – Jacquie counted 4 birds

Silver Heights – Frank counted 3 birds

Deer Lodge – Sabina counted 0 birds

Silver Heights west – Lewis counted 2 birds

Foodfare – Lewis counted 1 bird

New apartment – Tim counted 0 birds

Private House –  Tim counted 1 bird, but thought he could hear chicks from inside chimney near rim

30 swifts were counted in the air at one stage on this evening, mainly because they were chasing a Merlin!

On August 15^th, Frank and Jacquie reported as follows:

‘We staked out the Moorgate and Silver Heights tonight. The skies were virtually swift-less until 21:02 when eight CHSW appeared from the south. Before their arrival, we saw single birds at a distance until the odd chimney entry.

Moorgate: ten entries, 1 exit for 9 CHSW

Silver Heights: 2 entries, no exits.’

Winnipeg – Tuxedo

Paulson reports from Assiniboine Park on the 8^th, 9^th and 11^th August:

‘We did observations last week on the zoo chimney and the old conservatory chimney. Alas, we did not observe and roosting in the zoo chimney. But we did see roosting in the old conservatory chimney! I saw one entry mid-afternoon last week, so we put in a couple evening of observations. One night I saw 2 go in to roost, but on Saturday Stephen saw none.’

I apologise profusely if your report(s) have been missed. As you can see, there has been an absolutely astounding amount of data collected, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone involved.

— Tim Poole