Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

Greetings fellow swift enthusiasts!

As April turns to May, all thoughts move away from the less important things in life (yes, I do mean hockey), and to the upcoming swift season. Firstly, a quick update on news from the past week:

1. The first Chimney Swift sighting in Manitoba was reported on the Manitoba Birds Yahoo Group by Paul Friesen on April 24^th, at Canadian Mennonite University on Shaftesbury Avenue in Winnipeg. Given the extreme early date, we probably should put this down to the ‘early bird’ rather than expect a mass of arriving swifts in April.
2. Further afield, Ontario SwiftWatch Facebook posted that Chimney Swifts were reported near St Catherines on April 25.

Now to important news, MCSI have updated our forms and guidance for 2018. Changes are minimal (roost monitoring is still one hour prior to sundown, and thirty minutes afterwards). Frank has, as ever, uploaded these documents to the website, and they can be downloaded at the following links:

Data Sheet

MCSI Monitoring Protocol

National Roost Monitoring Protocol

Now to a recap of our recent trail of emails. We are still looking to recruit volunteers for a number of different aspects of the monitoring program. In summary these are:

1. National Roost Monitoring Program: Dates for 2018 are:

May 23rd
May 27th
May 31st
June 4^th

 MCSI would also like to add a couple of extra monitoring dates if possible, one before the NRMP on May 19th, and one after on June 8th. We would finish the roost monitoring season as well with our annual Swift Night out at Assiniboine School on June 12th.

We are really keen to get new volunteers for a few roost sites. These are our priorities. It would be wonderful to find volunteers to cover the 4 nights for these sites!

Souris – Murphy’s: An Irish Legacy

Winnipeg (City Centre) – 442 William

Winnipeg (Fort Rouge) – 517 Beresford

Winnipeg (Fort Rouge) – 321 Stradbrook

Winnipeg (St James) – Moorgate Apartments, 2187 Portage

 Monitoring nesting and roosting chimneys outside the NRMP period: We may look to blitz one or two towns, Souris and Manitou for sure. We will send dates out ahead of time for these events. We are also keen to collect data from new sites, and breeding success data. We will send updates on these things throughout the season.

4. Monitoring New Projects @ Assiniboine Park and in Wolesley: We have a new tower going up imminently in the zoo (viewable from the parking lot), and a fake chimney at the Old Grace Hospital site in Wolesley. These projects both need volunteers, to try note the first ever swift entrances in artificial habitat in Manitoba. We are keen to recruit volunteers to spend some time with each one in mid to late May and throughout the season if possible.
5. Tracking Down Swifts in New Communities Across Manitoba: There are several towns in Manitoba with suitable chimneys, and potential habitat. It would be wonderful if we can find folk to look out for swifts in the places on the map below. Priority towns to check, with no dedicated volunteer currently are:
   1. Minnedosa
   2. Neepawa
   3. Erickson
   4. Baldur
   5. Benito
   6. Crystal City
   7. Emerson
   8. Dunrea
   9. Virden
   10. Ste Rose du Lac

Click here for a map of the sites.

Finally, we have some fantastic looking lanyards with MCSI Volunteer and business cards to hand out to any enquiring folk you may meet. This will mean that volunteers will now be ‘official’ when doing Chimney Swift monitoring. If you would like one, please drop us a line (email or phone).

As Barb Stewart says, ‘fasten your seatbelt’! It’s not going to be long now before Chimney Swifts begin returning to Manitoba.

For more information, or to volunteer for any of the above, please contact Tim Poole, mbchimneyswift@gmail.com or 204 943-9029

• Tim and Frank on behalf of the MCSI Committee (Ken De Smet, Christian Artuso, Ron Bazin, Lewis Cocks, Nicole Firlotte, Neil Butchard and Rob and Barb Stewart)

Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Monitoring 2018 – Part 4, Tracking Down Swifts in New Communities Across Manitoba

In 2017, Marshall Birch, a former summer student with the Manitoba IBA Program, completed a GIS project with MCSI. For anyone not familiar with GIS, it stands for Geographical Information Systems. These are incredibly powerful computer modelling programs, and among their many uses, can be used to map information and use that information to build predictive models based on the information provided. In this case, Marshall was able to create a predictive model for Chimney Swift habitat in Manitoba. As part of his model, he estimated, based habitat and land-use information, where we might find Chimney Swifts in the Province of Manitoba. If anyone is interested, his report is posted on our website at

Ahead of the new season, Lynnea Parker, who is now working as an intern on bird projects with Nature Manitoba, has looked over the list of possible sites, and tried to work out which ones have potential for swift habitat (suitable chimneys). Marshall’s model could predict whether towns and cities met certain criteria, such as proximity to certain habitats, age of settlement and even in some cases, spraying of insecticide, but it could not know whether a settlement had suitable chimneys. Lynnea based her search on a few resources such as the excellent Manitoba Historical Society website and Google Streetview. She came up with a rudimentary system of high likelihood (meaning there are a few good looking chimneys), through to very unlikely (meaning there were no obvious chimneys). You can see the list of towns in the attached – and by clicking  the link where we mapped them – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bgLd46-nzSCQYRH-V44QHLBWUH3I_RnT&usp=sharing 

Monitors Needed for New Habitat at Assiniboine Park Zoo and in the Wolseley area

The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative are delighted to be supporting two exciting new habitat projects in Winnipeg this summer. Both of these projects are rooted in the decision in 2014 to demolish the Old Grace Hospital and the large chimney, which was also habitat for Chimney Swifts. In the summer of 2015, a tower was placed on the old site, but unfortunately the tower was constructed late in the year and did not attract swifts.

In 2016 and 2017, the tower was moved as construction began on the Old Grace Housing Cooperative. As mitigation for the destruction of the original chimney, the Housing Coop have constructed a false chimney on the building and we need to monitor this site in 2018 for activities by swifts. This will be the first ever ‘faux’ chimney in Manitoba.

The original tower now resides at the Assiniboine Park Zoo and will be in position by the beginning of May, and ahead of the swifts returning. The tower can be seen from the parking lot by the old entrance.

Here is the crux – we need lots of help, as we would like to get as many days of monitoring covered on both these projects as possible. This would primarily be required during the roosting hour (half an hour either side of sundown). If you are able to help at any time from May 20th onwards, please contact Tim Poole at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com, indicating when you might be available. We will then set up a monitoring timetable for both these projects

–Tim Poole
Habitat Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator
Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative
mbchimneyswift.ca

Monitoring Blog Part 2 – Monitoring nesting and roosting chimneys outside the NRMP period

In part 2 of our series of blogs on monitoring opportunities with MCSI in 2018, we are going to give a bit more information on doing other monitoring that you can do outside of the NRMP nights.

For some, watching throughout the season has its reward when you see the signs of fledged swifts making their way in and out of the chimney. In 2017, Margaret and Millie recorded the latest known fledging date ever recorded in Manitoba, when their swifts were practicing entries and exits in late August. If you wish to know more about how to identify recently fledged swifts, then please let us know.

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 during the 30 minute period either side of sundown. 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 2018?

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 2018, these dates are set as:

May 23rd
May 27th
May 31st
June 4th

MCSI would also like to add a couple of extra monitoring dates if possible, one before the NRMP on May 19th, and one after on June 8th. We would finish the roost monitoring season as well with our annual Swift Night out at Assiniboine School on June 12th.

What happened in 2017?

In 2018, MCSI will continue to support this program. In 2017, we did so by monitoring 55 sites in 11 communities in Manitoba, a phenomenal effort! You can look at our results at  https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/NRMP20132017.pdf. For those interested in seeing how this fits in with the national picture, here are the results of the program, kindly provided by Céline Maurice at ECCC, and including results from BSC’s Maritime and Ontario Swiftwatch programs.

*: Data source: Bird Studies Canada, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative, Environment and Climate change Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service
Data cannot be published without the agreement of these three organizations involved in data collection
Maximum number of swifts counted
http://www.mbchimneyswift.ca/index.html
http://www.oiseauxcanada.org/volunteer/ai/chsw/?lang=EN&targetpg=chswhelp
http://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/ai/chsw/index.jsp?targetpg=chswabout

Data compiled by the Canadian Wildlife Service, Quebec Region, November 27, 2017

How and where can I get involved?

Turning to which roosts will need monitoring, we have 21 NRMP-qualified roosts on our databases. This means that 21 chimneys have previously supported 4 or more swifts during the NRMP survey. We have mapped them on Google, below, but for those who do not wish to work through that, here is a list of all the roosts, with the volunteer(s) we have assigned to this site in brackets. If you are unable to continue to monitor the chimney, if you let us know, we will endeavour to find a new volunteer to cover the site.

Here is the list:

Brandon – Orange Block (Margaret and Millie)
Dauphin – Main Street (Ken and Jan)
La Broquerie – Saint Joachim Church (David)
Otterburne – Providence (Frank and Jacquie, BUT, if any local volunteers can be found, please let us know)
Portage la Prairie – various, United Church and Victoria School (Gord)
Saint-Francois-Xavier – Michelle and Mike Tumber
Saint-Jean-Baptiste – Church (Luc)
Selkirk – Large stack (Selkirk Birdwatchers)
Souris – Murphy’s: An Irish Legacy (NO VOLUNTEER)
Steinbach – Bethesda Hospital (Keelie)
Winnipeg (City Centre) – 442 William (NO VOLUNTEER)
Winnipeg (City Centre) – 303 Assiniboine Avenue (John)
Winnipeg (Fort Garry) – Pembina Flag Shop (Badal)
Winnipeg (Fort Rouge) – 915 Corydon (Summer)
Winnipeg (Fort Rouge) – 517 Beresford (NO VOLUNTEER)
Winnipeg (Fort Rouge) – 321 Stradbrook (NO VOLUNTEER)
Winnipeg (River Heights) – 378 Academy (Kelly-Anne)
Winnipeg (St James) – Assiniboine School (Adolf, David, Jake, Anna, Beth)
Winnipeg (St James) – Moorgate Apartments, 2187 Portage (NO VOLUNTEER)
Winnipeg (St James) – Silver Heights Apartments, 2235 Portage (Valerie and Bob)
Winnipeg (St James) – St Ann’s Catholic Church, Hampton (Jenny)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11jFUfg00up7j883K3mEVHfOPrag&usp=sharing

Of course there may be new roosts out there. We had a new fall roost in Winnipeg in 2017, which has been added to the list above. We aim to begin monitoring this site earlier than the set dates in 2018, to see if this is also a spring roost. I also have a suspicion about a site in the Wildwood area of Winnipeg if anyone is interested!

It would be amazing if we can keep the level of monitoring up in 2017. 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

Monitoring Chimney Swifts in Manitoba in 2018

As the warm brightness of March fades away, to be replaced by the cold starkness of April, I am sure that very few of us are thinking about Chimney Swifts! However, this is the perfect time to prepare for the arrival of our feathered friends, with just a month to go before the season kicks into gear.

Finally, we have just checked the current migration status of Chimney Swift on eBird. Sightings are pretty widespread across the southeastern USA. The most northern record is in Ohio, and most northwesterly is in Arizona. However, and to no ones surprise, indications are that migration is currently in a ‘frozen‘ state, due to this unseasonably cold weather. We still however expect to see our first swifts in early to mid-May.

Environment and Climate Change Canada in Quebec have released the dates for the National Roost Monitoring Program in the past few days.

The dates as released are:

May 23rd
May 27th
May 31st
June 4th

MCSI will follow-up in the coming months with our own plans for 2018 – watch this space!

In the meantime, reports on eBird are showing that Chimney Swifts have recently been recorded in two separate areas of South and Central America. The first is in the traditional wintering grounds of the Upper Amazon in a place called the Centro de Investigación y Capacitación Rio Los Amigos in Peru. The other sighting is from the Parque de Piedra in Costa Rica form January 3rd – maybe a sign that a few swifts are already on the move!

You can look at all the latest sightings on eBird by clicking this link – http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/map/chiswi?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=cur.

or use the following shortened hyperlink. http://bit.ly/1SGKXYv

We at MCSI believe it is important to keep our volunteers and supporters informed in relation to the latest research and information from elsewhere in the Chimney Swift (and wider swift) world. Here are a couple of interesting tidbits that have come to our attention recently.

We begin around a slightly older story from 2012 that came up again in recent conversation – and if you haven’t seen it yet is worth the look. Soil scientists can find out about the history of an area by studying the structures and chemistry of soil taken from a borehole. In the same way, a biologist can learn a lot about Chimney Swifts from studying guano (or swift poop) remaining in the bottom of a chimney. In one particular study from Ontario (dated 2012), we learn about changes in diet over time linked to the spread of DDE in the wider environment. It appeared that the number of beetles in the diet of Chimney Swifts declined as levels of DDE (a chemical that comes from the pesticide DDT) increased. Beetles were replaced in the diet of swifts by less nutritious ‘true bugs’. There is also an interesting comment about the need for conserving chimney habitats in the final paragraph – we certainly support this view! If you haven’t seen this story before then please look at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/04/clues-species-decline-buried-pile-bird-excrement.

This segues nicely into some news from London Ontario. We are delighted to share a few articles from Winifred Wake. Winifred has long provided MCSI with advice and assistance and carries a huge wealth of experience. She has published a couple of papers, one in The Cardinal and the other in Ontario Birds and we are delighted to have permission to publish these on our resources page. The Cardinal article analyses chimney loss in London, painting a similar picture to that MCSI published in the Blue Jay. You can read this excellent piece at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/Wake2016_cardinal.pdf. The piece in Ontario Birds provides an overview of conservation efforts in London between 2004 and 2015. This is extremely relevant to us here in Manitoba as so many of the issues do overlap and this exchange of experiences going forward will only benefit each organisation as we strive to conserve this species. You can read the piece at
https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/Wake2017_ONbirds.pdf.

Finally, this segues nicely into news from CBC Manitoba! Winifred was the rehab specialist responsible for the final preparation and release of the Manitoba Chimney Swift chicks (take a look here). These birds were released around a roost in London Ontario. A neat segue then as we move onto a nice profile of Tiffany Lui, the Manitoban rehabber who painstakingly cared for the chicks here in Manitoba. You can read more about Tiffany at
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cool-jobs-tiffany-lui-wildlife-rehabilitation-1.4367869.

Tim Poole
MCSI Coordinator