A new logo and some news

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!

Our new logo

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

Looking for a good home !

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.

From the side
Example of completed structure

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

David Dawson”

Swifts on the move !

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.

Chimney Swifts coming our way…

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

A new season begins (soon) !

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 20th. 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 4th, 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 a quiet winter, expect updates to begin mapping up in the coming weeks. The swift return cannot come soon enough!

–Tim Poole

Last blog post for 2018 !

Thank you on behalf of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative for another amazing year in 2018. During this past year over 90 volunteers donated over 942 hours to monitoring swifts in Manitoba. A magnificent achievement – well done to everyone!

There were a number of highlights, the monitoring ones being highlighted previously. However, here are a few outreach and stewardship highlights.


St Joachim Catholic Church, La Broquerie
Following many years of monitoring and outreach from local champion David Dawson, we were delighted to repair the chimneys at St Joachim Catholic Church this spring before the swifts returned. The chimneys were becoming degraded, masonry had fallen into one of them, and they needed some work. Thanks to a grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP), and the Winnipeg Foundation, we were able to do this work, with master mason, Ed Loewen taking charge. Both chimneys subsequently housed multitudes of swifts this summer.

John Howard Society
The chimney that was split in half, the federal Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP) and Winnipeg Foundation funds were certainly needed to fix this site, which was first discovered by another champion volunteer, John Hays in 2017. You can read the full story, plus see some rather scary photos in the Canstar Community News at https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/Chimney-Swift-Initiative-to-the-rescue-483372341.html.


Kowalchuk Funeral Home, Souris
MCSI were able to also fund the repairs to this chimney in fall 2018, thanks to funding from HSP. The work was carried out by a local builder, and we were extremely happy to fund stewardship work in one of Manitoba’s premier spots for swifts. Thanks to Dexter and Val Kowalchuk, the owners, and also our first Swift Champions in Souris.

St Norbert Behavioural Health Foundation
This summer, Tim Poole, our coordinator made a trip to talk about the swifts in the chimney to grade 1 students in the school on site. It was a fantastic opportunity to speak with the students and the dedicated staff. We were also delighted to present the St Norbert Behavioural Health Foundation with one of our champion plaques. Jean Doucha, Executive Director is photographed below with the plaque on behalf of the Foundation. Swifts were breeding in this chimney during July 2018.


St Mary’s Road United Church

In early fall, Tim Poole was delighted to speak to two Sunday morning services at St Mary’s Road United Church, and present them with a Swift Champion plaque. Church member, and local environmental champion, Pam Lucenkiw provided an excellent link with the church, and even came to one of our swift watch evenings. Thank you to the church members for giving us such a warm welcome!


Gord Ogilvie and Victoria School
This was publicised elsewhere, but worth highlighting the wonderful efforts in Portage la Prairie by Red River College, Victoria School campus, and the excellent Gord Ogilvie. Read https://www.portageonline.com/local/red-river-college-receives-award-for-bird-friendly-chimney.

John Hays
John has been an absolutely outstanding volunteer for MCSI in the last few years, always willing to monitor at short notice in Winnipeg, finding multiple new sites, watching chimneys in downtown Winnipeg where volunteers are scarce, and all in all, being a brilliant champion for Chimney Swifts in Winnipeg. His Champions plaque was well deserved!


David Dawson
Although David was extremely humble about receiving a plaque, we wanted to highlight his role for MCSI in La Broquerie. Always willing to get his hands dirty for swifts, David is best known for building towers, one of which ended up in St Vital this summer, and for managing to get the chimneys at the church cleaned and unblocked. David monitors the church chimneys alone, and has championed the cause of swift conservation in La Broquerie for a number of years. Thank you David!

Frank Machovec and Lewis Cocks
Frank and Lewis, both long-term servants of MCSI received the Ralph Bird Award from Nature Manitoba. Read more at https://www.naturemanitoba.ca/news-articles/2018-nm-award-recipients.

This is just a snippet of the achievements for 2018. We look forward to doing even more in 2019. Thank you to everyone who has made this year such a success, we look forward to the opportunities that 2019 will bring. Maybe a first nesting attempt in an artificial chimney structure in Manitoba? Certainly some new champions, and certainly some more fantastic stories to share.

Thank you to everyone on behalf of the MCSI Steering Committee, Tim, Frank, Rob, Barb, Christian, Ken, Nicole, Lewis, Neil and Lynnea

— Tim Poole

Monitoring results for the 2018 season

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.

Donate with PayPal

Swift counting exercise

Portland Oregon Vaux’s Swifts

According to YouTube, “Thousands of Vaux Swifts gather in Portland every September before migrating to Central America and Venezuela. For the past 30 years, they’ve decided to roost at night in the Chapman School chimney.”

The video is not the most current, but it is impressive. You can find it at:
Frank Machovec
for the MCSI

The Season In Review

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 20th 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 4th. 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 8th, 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 25th July, an odd date for a peak! The spring roost was slow to pick up, only one on the 31st May, followed by 21 on the 4th 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 23rd. 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 1st.

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 16th.

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 16th. 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 15th. 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 23rd 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 1st. 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 28th using this chimney. The church however continues to be one of these regular swift sites, with the maximum of 5 swifts noted on June 6th

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 25th.  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 6th. 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 31st. 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 8th.

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 19th. As ever, there appeared to be two peaks, the second on June 4th 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 14th. Bob and Valerie watched the pair in the New Silver Heights Apartment throughout the summer. A surprise occurrence on June 8th, 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 23rd. Frank and Jacquie confirmed that a breeding attempt was well on its way at the Behavioural Foundation on July 18th, a phenomenal 17 entries and 14 exits in 95 minutes of watching. Wow! On July 31st, 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 27th 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 4th. They were doubly popping, when during a plaque presentation, Nicole confirmed that nesting was ongoing on July 27th. 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

Parks Canada and the Manitoba Chimney Swift in Swift Rescue

Parks Canada and the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative were delighted last week to announce that a brood of swifts at the Lower Fort Garry Historic Site successfully fledged from the chimney having fallen twice from their nest into the fireplace. The story was originally posted on the Parks Canada Winnipeg Facebook page For those who do access to the Facebook account, here is the text of the post:
‘The threatened Chimney Swift has nested at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site once again! Parks Canada staff recently discovered two swift family nests, including one fallen nest with four baby chicks found in a chimney hearth of the historic Fur Loft building. The bird’s nest of twigs glued to the side of the chimney had collapsed and the chicks were at risk of not being fed by their parents. But with the quick response of Parks Canada staff and Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative volunteers, the chicks were placed in an artificial nest back inside the chimney where their parents continued to feed them. The chicks from both nests have now successfully fledged and are currently improving their flying skills before they embark on their upcoming migration to South America! The Chimney Swift originally nested in old growth tree trunks and caves, but with the arrival of European settlers and the clearing of forests, these clever little birds transitioned to nesting in chimneys – which is how they got their name. Chimney Swift populations have been declining for the past 50 years, and with the removal of older chimneys, their nesting habitat is disappearing. They are currently listed as a threatened species and are protected by Species at Risk Act in Canada. If you want to help this bird population thrive – don’t cap your chimneys and clean them only in fall to early spring to avoid interfering with any potential nests!’
We love a story on this blog, and we are just not programmed to leave things there! We thought that you, our volunteers and supporters, would appreciate a few more details. 
 
On August 9th, MCSI received a phone call from Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre at around 4pm. Staff at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site had discovered Chimney Swift chicks in a fireplace in the fur loft. This was the same chimney where a brood of swifts had fallen in 2017, culminating in them being raised in (another) rehab, and released in London, Ontario, by volunteers from SwiftCare Ontario. The nest had fallen off the wall of the chimney, and the swifts were now extremely vulnerable. This left us with a decision to make, rehab or return? We would always prefer the latter, and operation ‘save those swifts’ was implemented. A call was made to Stephanie at the Fort, and she agreed to wait for someone to cone from Winnipeg, with the intention of returning the swifts to the chimney. Christian Artuso took on the challenge, taking with him an artificial nest built by Rob Stewart. Arriving at the site, Christian and Stephanie managed to place the chicks, which were around 12 days old, back into the chimney in the artificial nest. Phase one was a success, we had swifts in the chimney, and now to phase two – would the parents return?
 
The Selkirk Birdwatchers Club are an extremely committed group, and it was no surprise that they rose to the challenge of watching the chimney. Gerald took the first, critical, watch that evening. Everyone waited in trepidation. Would the parents return, or would we have to face failure? Needless to say, mum and dad were back on site that evening, and everyone let out a huge sigh of relief. Frank and Jacquie drove up from Winnipeg the following morning for a daytime check – and it looked good, the parents continued their feeding ritual. After this, one of the most committed group of watchers MCSI has ever seen kicked in. This was primarily led by Nia and Linda, with help from Gerald and Linda, friend of Linda. The dedication of these volunteers was incredible.
 
During this episode, another pair of swifts continued to feed their brood in a second chimney. On August 10th, this nest fledged. On August 13th, something odd happened. While watching the chimney with the rescued chicks, Linda and Nia counted more swifts entering the chimney. A total of 7 entries would tally with the parent swifts, plus two parents and three fledglings from the second chimney. This behaviour is not unknown for Chimney Swifts, and indeed it was even seen this summer, as fledglings from the Club Amical in St Adolphe roosted in Brodeurs Brothers a few buildings along, rather than the natal chimney. 
 
This would not have mattered, except for a call that came in the following morning from Parks Canada. Disaster! The chicks were back in the bottom of the fireplace. It is likely that the clumsy fledglings from the other nest knocked the chicks back out of the nest. Still, they were alive, and Christian was back on the road from Winnipeg, this time armed with a wicker basket. Staff from Parks Canada helped Christian place the chicks in the basket, and then insert them back into the chimney in a box, padding the sides to make sure it was sealed. This would ensure that no one would fall into the fireplace again this year.
 
Again, it was a question of waiting, and again our volunteers really stepped up to the plate. It was around the 21st that Nia and Linda reported fledglings make their baby flights above the chimney. Success! What’s more, success which came about three or four days ahead of our scheduled fledging date. Trust these birds to manage to pull off a successful breeding attempt in record time! Gerald, Nia and Linda continued to monitor, and continued to see swifts on site into September. Christian then returned to retrieve his basket, and check to make sure all our swifts had fledged, and no one was left inside the chimney. He pulled the box back out. It was empty apart from the basket – everyone had fledged!

Is this the end?

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 3rd 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