With the spring arrival of the Chimney Swifts approaching, MCSI presents our last (but certainly not least), Chimney Swift Champion of 2021-2022 – Shawn Charlebois!
Back in summer 2020 one of our Steering Committee members, Ken De Smet was in Swan River. While out and about on Main St, Ken just happened to see a Chimney Swift enter a chimney in a commercial building! This incidental sighting is the first sighting of Chimney Swifts we’ve had in Swan River, and the second most northern sighting in MCSI history (the other was in The Pas). We notice that the chimney could use some repair, so we went about tracking down the owner of the chimney who turned out to be Shawn.
Shawn was pleased to know that the chimney was supporting habitat for a threatened species and was enthusiastic that we could both repair the chimney and protect bird habitat at the same time! Since then, he has distributed various Chimney Swift factsheets for outreach around Swan River. Additionally, Shawn is the first recipient of our new outdoor Chimney Swift Champions sign. This sign is able to be mounted outside on buildings, both to highlight the work of our Chimney Swift Champions and provide a public outreach opportunity right at the site of chimney.
MCSI sends a big thank you to Shawn for providing Chimney Swift habitat and outreach opportunities in Swan River!
On Wednesday, March 23rd Amanda presented MCSI’s Chimney Swift Champion plaque to staff at the Smith Agency, a Winnipeg-based property management company. The plaque was to recognize their work in the conservation of Chimney Swift habitat on an apartment roof in downtown Winnipeg.
A new Swift Champion
Stuart Plant of the Smith Agency accepting the MCSI Chimney Swift Champion award.
The Smith Agency operates several buildings that are home to Chimney Swifts in Manitoba. Of particular interest in the summer of 2021 was the Scarsdale Apartments at 71 Kennedy Street. The chimney on this building has been on MCSI’s radar for Chimney Swifts for more than a decade.
In spring 2021 we a volunteer noted that that the chimney on the Scarsdale Apartments had a pest cage installed. Once the Smith Agency was contacted about a threatened species using that chimney, they acted very quickly to ensure habitat was available for the swifts! In many cases work such as capping or caging of chimneys happens with management and/or contractors simply not aware that swifts are using the chimney. Once notified Smith Agency were able to mitigate the impact to the Chimney Swifts by opening a second chimney on the building, which was previously inaccessible to the swifts due to a pest cage. MCSI monitored the site after the mitigation in June and swifts were seen entering and exiting the newly un-caged chimney during the day (possibly nesting), and also roosting at night. A great success story.
A big thank you the Smith Agency for their “swift” response and environmental stewardship for the Chimney Swift!
During our 2021 Chimney Swift monitoring season blog updates you may have been following the saga of the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower versus the Pileated Woodpecker(s).
This tower was originally erected in 2015 at the site of the Old Grace Hospital in Wolseley to mitigate the impact on swift habitat when the large chimney was removed. Once the Old Grace Housing Co-op was constructed (with a built-in artificial chimney) the tower was moved to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in 2018. Chimney Swifts seemed to be checking out the tower in the fall of 2019, and moved in the year after, with successful nesting each year since. It is the first successful artificial Chimney Swift tower in Manitoba.
However, we’ve also had a neighbouring bird using the artificial tower, one that the tower was not designed for. Large holes (fist-size or larger) were being pecked into the chimney by Pileated Woodpecker(s). The artificial chimney is a large, brown, hollow, wooden structure, so it is not surprising in hindsight that it was attractive to the woodpeckers. We are not sure if they use it as a good place for territorial drumming, are looking for food, or were using the site as a cavity (a woodpecker was seen exiting from a hole once by a Chimney Swift monitor in 2021) or a mixture of the above.
Caught in the act !
The culprit in action! Note the previously applied patch to a second hole just to the right of the Pileated Woodpecker and the current cavity. Photo by Evelien de Greef.
While we would love to provide habitat to all birds, the tower was not designed for this purpose, and the inside of the tower was not made to be exposed to the elements. Zoo staff tried repairing the holes with no success, as the woodpecker would just make new ones. At one point we were up to 4-5 large holes, with no end to the woodpecker’s interest! As anyone who has had woodpeckers interested in their house siding, fences, etc. can attest, there are no full proof deterrents.
Enter the artificial Chimney Swift towers that were built at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre as mitigation for removal of Chimney Swift habitat. These artificial towers were modeled after the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower, but clad in metal siding. Having seen the success of these new towers – an idea was formed to replace the wood siding of the Zoo tower, with this metal cladding!
Through the MCSI’s Habitat Stewardship Program and Bluebird Fund and Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Fund we were able to come up with the funding to replace the siding this spring. With the Zoo managing the logistical side, snow was cleared away from the tower in the first week of March, with contractors removing the old wood cladding and replacing it with metal cladding in the last two weeks. The Chimney Swift home makeover is now complete and look at the difference! With this renovation we expect the tower to provide valuable nesting habitat for many years to come.
BeforeAfter
Assiniboine Park Zoo artificial chimney before (left) and after (right) recladding. Photos provided by Assiniboine Park Zoo.
We timed the construction to happen before the swifts came back, of course, but to also take place before the Pileated Woodpecker nesting season. With the abundance of trees available to them in Assiniboine Park, we are confident that they can find a new and improved home in the neighbourhood as well.
February 2nd, 2022 is World Wetlands Day! While wetlands are not our usual topic on the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative blog. I thought that this important habitat and food source for Chimney Swifts should get a little time in the spotlight.
We know that Chimney Swifts need their masonry chimneys for roosting and nesting, but another important requirement is the insects that form the diet of the Chimney Swift. Chimney Swifts are aerial insectivores, a group of birds that are classified together because they all catch and eat insects while on the wing. Other aerial insectivores include Purple Martins and other types of swallows.
Chimney Swift courtesy of Christian Artuso
While not all the insects that Chimney Swifts eat come from wetlands, many of the insects that fly as adults have aquatic larval stages. Most insects with aquatic larval stages want still, shallow, warm water. This can be as simple as an old tire in a yard that a mosquito lays eggs in, but other insects can use wetlands. Insects with aquatic larval stages that may be eaten by Swifts include the Dragonfly and Damselfly families (Spreadwings, Pond Damsels, Darners, Clubtails, Emeralds and Skimmers), Mosquitos, Midges, Mayflies, Caddisflies and Crane flies. Chimney Swifts also need a lot of this food, eating over 1,000 mosquitoes and other flying insects per day!
Wetlands come in a variety of forms and can be temporary (often from our spring snowmelt, drying up over the summer) or permanent. We have several urban wetlands in Manitoba that you may know including in Fort Whyte Alive, Assiniboine Forest, or Bois-des-Esprits in Winnipeg; the Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandon; or areas of Crescent Park in Portage la Prairie to name a few. Additionally, using naturalized wetlands is becoming more common in new residential developments, rather than the traditional retention pond surrounded by grass. Urban wetlands are often small and locally known – what urban wetlands are around you?
Insects that hatch in wetlands, or use water as part of their life stages, do not always have to stick near water as adults either! Home range studies of a variety of dragonflies showed travel distances from their natal sites to their adult home ranges between 481 -1196 meters, and home ranges of between 5-50 hectares (both measurements depend on the species with a lot of variation).
Working to monitor Chimneys Swifts, and to protect and repair chimneys is key for Swift populations – and gives us a really good target to work towards. However, like many other Species at Risk, Chimney Swifts are threatened due to a number of factors that are interrelated. By increasing our knowledge about and conserving wetlands, we can help our local Chimney Swifts have a successful nesting season with us!
The Winter Solstice is upon us. The longest night of the year will now give way to increasing daylight hours. From this turning point, we will eventually herald the spring arrival of our Chimney Swifts.
There is much to look forward to. We look forward to having you join us in 2022 for an action packed season of monitoring, outreach, habitat restoration, and research.
As you celebrate the festive season in your traditional way, all of us at MCSI wish you the best of health, happiness, and fellowship. Remember, “the only constant in life is change” (Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher)…so we will navigate the changes and challenges ahead, one brightening day at a time.
All the best from the MCSI team,
Christian Artuso (Co-Chair), Ron Bazin, Laura Burns, Neil Butchard, Lewis Cocks, Jack Dubois, Ken DeSmet, Nicole Firlotte, Frank Machovec (Webmaster), Tim Poole (Co-Chair), Amanda Shave (Co-ordinator), Barb Stewart, Rob Stewart, Joanne Tuckwell, Ashleigh Westphal.
As we head into the winter season in the northern hemisphere, the Chimney Swifts are miles away enjoying the Amazonian heat! A short tour around the Chimney Swift wintering range show temperatures of 31oC in Bogota, Columbia; 12oC in Quito, Ecuador; 21oC in Lima, Peru and 24oC in Manaus, Brazil!
But before we start pining for the warm temperatures that our “snow birds” are experiencing – the monitoring summaries for 2021 are now up on the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative webpage!
This year both the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) and Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative (MCSI) monitoring nights were held. Prior to 2020, all sites in Manitoba were monitored under NRMP only, and that data was then submitted to the Canadian Wildlife Service (in addition to be using in-house at MCSI). However, the “official” NRMP protocol only used the information on roost sites with more than three swifts.
The prevailing thought about Chimney Swift spring migration is that they return to large roost sites first before heading out to their nesting chimneys. From our monitoring over the years, we think that in Manitoba some swifts go to the big roost sites and then head to the nesting chimneys – but other swifts just head straight to the nesting chimneys. This may be because we are on the northern edge of the Chimney Swift breeding range, and so the breeding season is so short that Manitoba swifts need to hop right to it to be able to raise young in such a short time period!
As most of our sites historically have three or fewer birds, we decided to switch things up this year. The big roost sites (>3 birds) still ran the usual NRMP monitoring schedule, but our smaller roost sites/ nest sites were monitored once a week for a period of around 30 days. This longer monitoring window allowed us to see 1) if swifts were using a site and 2) if swifts looked like they were setting up for a nesting attempt. This was our first year running the dual monitoring programs and we think it went quite well!
We also had volunteers who continued monitoring throughout the nesting period. From their work we were able to determine nesting success at sites in St Adolphe, Selkirk, Winnipeg, Dauphin, La Broquerie, and Lockport! The most exciting success was the fledging of young at the Tower 4 (the stack replacement tower) at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre! So great to have this result in the first year of the tower’s operation!
This year we monitored at 170 sites in 23 communities. Some of these sites had no Chimney Swifts, some sites had Chimney Swifts using chimneys, while others still had Chimney Swifts around but more searching is required to find where in the neighbourhood they are nesting/ roosting. All of this is thanks to you, our volunteers – all 80+ of you!
As always, the MCSI Roost and Nest Site database is available on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website. This document summarizes the high counts of Chimneys Swifts at sites, if a site was used for nesting or roosting, and successes/ failures of nest (if known).
The MCSI Monitoring Nights and NRMP results are also available on the “Monitoring Results” page of the website. This table gives a snap-shot into Chimney Swift numbers at each site over an approximately 30-day period.
Chimney Swift Champion awards are given out each year by our partner program, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative. The awards recognize organizations, businesses or individuals who are working towards Chimney Swift conservation. This work can be done many different ways, from protecting Chimney Swift habitat to supporting education on swifts.
This year’s award recipients are:
Representatives from the Watson Art Centre
The Watson Art Centre in Dauphin, Manitoba – The centre has been an excellent host for nesting Chimney Swifts for many years. Our volunteers in Dauphin are able to work with centre staff to monitor the swifts each spring and summer as they use the chimney.
Amanda Shave (left) and Joanne Tuckwell
Joanne Tuckwell – Joanne works for Parks Canada and has been instrumental in our work with the Chimney Swifts at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site. This year Joanne took up the role as a volunteer chimney sweep and gave the chimney a good scrub to help remove the creosote buildup on the chimney that can cause the nests to detach from the wall and fall.
ST ADOLPHE 2021 NEST SITE SUMMARY & THE ALL-ON ACTIVITY OF THE MCSI “OFF” SEASON
Monday was a beautiful morning at the St Adolphe Church Tower site. Warm, gentle winds blew and just a few clouds punctuated the sunny sky. The blooming flowers in the planters were showing well. So, I ripped them all out. What’s wrong with this picture? Well, it was Monday October 18th. The predicted daily high of ~22 C was near to setting yet another heat record.
But Mother Nature is due to get back on track. The first frosts will descend Wednesday as temperatures yield to more seasonal values. It really was time to put the garden planters to rest for the winter.
Now the 2021 Chimney Swift season in St Adolphe has been put to rest too. Check out the yearly nest site summary at: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/stadolphe_2021.pdf This year played out in similar fashion to recent summer scenarios – feeding was challenged and soon after a successful fledging, unsuccessful breeders started to leave St Adolphe. Breeding swifts at two nest sites were successful in their attempts to raise and fledge young. The Main St pair fledged 5 juveniles which was 100% of their eggs laid; this was based on behaviour observations and observations of the physical evidence in the cleanout trap. The breeding pair at the Church was assisted all season long by a helper. Two fledglings launched from that nest site; as no cleanout trap is accessible, breeding outcomes are based entirely on behaviour observations.
St Adolph Church chimney
Back to the all-important helper at the Church…while helpers are often associated with nest sites, the confirmatory data collected this year was especially enlightening. Sometimes you have to break away from standard monitoring protocols and observe with “adaptive sampling” – increasing the length and frequency of sessions – to verify or discount your notions of the mysteries that may be playing out inside the chimney.
If you’ve wondered about how to track a helper at a nest site, or had the challenge of doing so already and want to compare experiences, here’s my “Diary of a Helper” …
The breeding pair at the Church started nest building on May 31. Incubation likely started ~June 17 (>50%attendance) and a classic incubation exchange was seen June 26. The predicted hatching date range was July 4-7 and actual hatching occurred July 5 (increase to 2 X hour entry/exit cycles). The predicted date range for transitioning from feeding brooded to non-brooded juveniles, at Day 6-7, was July 10-11.
On July 9, Day 5, a helper was on site as determined by a unique entry style. The helper at the Church made an unusually awkward entry – the bird approached low, from the notch between the eastern roof and chimney, fluttered repeatedly, “bunny hopped” over to the rim then dropped in. The breeding adult swifts at the Church typically had direct, fast entries – one swift usually has dropped or dove from height, the other swift usually has approached low to the rim, flared the wings up, then dropped quickly into the chimney. Of interest: the Brodeur Bros./Daycare nesting attempt failed on July 7.
On July 10, Day 6, a helper was onsite based on a unique entry style: a swift made ~3 loops around the chimney, with decreasing diameter, then flared its wings and relocated to the side, low to the rim, before dropping in. Behaviour observations indicated the juveniles were non-brooded: 5-8 swifts made repeated flyovers with movements characterized as: 1.) dive ‘n’ veer off; 2.) drop ‘n’ veer off; 3.) flyover with head movement over the rim; or 4.) drop, stall, peer ‘n’ veer off. The Kyle’s note that when non-brooded juveniles are exposed in the nest, other swifts in the area visit to see the new members of their community.
On July 14, another indication of a helper was seen by the pattern (sequence) and interval between entry/exits made at the Church. For the session starting at 10:38 AM:
10:53:10 Entry
10:53:53 Exit
10:53:54 Exit – one swift was in the chimney at the start of observations; possibly breeding pair moving together.
11:06:51 Entry – low approach then up to notch of roof/rim before entry; ~13 minute between-visit interval also suggests this bird was not one of previous two exiting swifts – it is a short time to feed and return as no swifts were seen feeding nearby.
Another indication of a helper onsite = greater feeding rates (frequency of entry events) at the Church compared to Main St site where 2 adults are feeding young of similar age. For example, Saturday July 17th, the feeding rate = 8 x hour at the Church vs. a feeding rate = 4 X hour at Main St.
On July 21, Day 17, an electrical storm descended on St Adolphe. From the safety of the parked truck, observations were made for 90 minutes; 2 entries were made from height and 2 entries were made lower to the chimney rim. A maximum of 2 swifts took refuge during the storm; 1 swift entered 45 minutes after light to heavy rain fell. As the storm ended “as the robins sang”, 2 swifts left together. So, there was no indication of the helper being present – either by unique entry style or head count.
On July 23, Day 19, 3 distinct entry styles were seen for swifts entering the Church in the morning; the feeding rate was ~6 X hour as compared to ~3X hour at Main St. The stage was set for a long evening monitoring session at the Church…
Sunset on July 23 was 9:25 PM. Daytime observations ran from 8:05-8:55 PM (50 minutes), then the roosting hour observations began and ran until 9:55 PM (60 minutes). Many times, during the daytime portion, 10 swifts were seen flying in formation around the Church – a great deal of social interaction took place! Frenzied, repeat flyovers of the rim and dropping ‘n’ veering off “snoop” behaviour was seen. Entry/exit styles and directions were affected by the melee. Feeding rates were 2 X hour as the adults were spending time interacting with each other.
Group sizes peaked at 8 swifts during the early part of the roosting hour, then decreased. Two consecutive entries to the Church were made by 9:25 PM. With ~ 15 minutes to curfew, a swift made a fast approach, veered away from the rim and circled back from the cemetery to enter quickly. With 3 consecutive entries, a helper was confirmed to be onsite! However, a quick exit was made and no further entries were made before the roosting hour observations were finished. Two roosting swifts spent the night at the Church.
SAT. JULY 31: Today is The Day, although it is a slightly early Day 27 fledging date, but no complaints here! Two fledglings (at least) were airborne from the St Adolphe Church chimney when I checked this morning. Will get eyes on it again earlier tomorrow morning to see if any other fledglings are up and out and about.
Usually, it is Day 28-30 when they fledge but there can be wobble in the dates. For example, if I saw no evidence of hatching one morning, and the eggs all hatched as I turned my back, that would introduce a one-day error if the next morning was designated hatching day. You know how these birds are. And sometimes, the young ones just get out flying earlier than others.
The two sleek, black fledglings seen today were very good fliers. The first glimpse I had of them was in a group of 5 but one adult, and what turned out to be the fledglings, were closer together – not trio flying but definitely grouped together, low ‘n’ slow. After some time without seeing swifts, the fledglings made entries one after the other without hesitation having arrived at the rim from low over my head. There was that perfect celestial orientation of good luck to i.d. the young ones!
MON. AUGUST 2: During a morning session, the 2 Church fledglings came in side by side for an entry; an adult entered shortly afterward. Then after crazy counting, I got 11 in the air during a local melee. So, 14 swifts were accounted for – again likely (2 adults X 6 nest sites) + 2 fledglings.
In the evening, Rob and I watched the Church for 1/2 hour then followed through with the roosting hour. Four consecutive entries were made – 2 of them were slower and flutterier. Then one fast entry and exit shortly afterward took place. We interpret this to be 2 adults + 2 fledglings roosting for the night with a quick checkup and departure by the helper. 10 days ago, 2 adults roosted and a similar entry-quick exit was made – we thought the helper made a quick pit stop and went to roost with its partner in whatever nest site they occupy (SE or NE Club or Brodeur Bros/Daycare or 2019-31).
As we drift into the late fall, then winter season, a whole lot of “helper” work will be done behind the scenes by the MCSI Steering Committee. Amanda will load the 2021 database with all of your wonderful monitoring data; Frank will update and refresh the website; manuscripts will be drafted and reviewed by many of us (yup, time to dig into the data archives); and special projects such as Rob’s Lower Fort Garry chimney inventory, and Tim ‘n’ Nicole’s installation of purpose-built towers at Selkirk Mental Health Centre, will continue. We are always looking for candidate chimneys to repair with our Habitat Stewardship Program funds. Unlike the Chimney Swifts, we don’t migrate, so be in touch if you have thoughts to share.
All the best for your dreaming-of-swifts season and we hope to see you by the chimney sides in 2022!
Barb Stewart for the MCSI Steering Committee team: Christian Artuso, Ron Bazin, Neil Butchard, Lewis Cocks, Ken DeSmet, Jack Dubois, Nicole Firlotte, Frank Machovec, Tim Poole, Amanda Shave, and Rob Stewart.
Inside the Chimneys at St Adolphe, Assiniboine Park Zoo and Selkirk
In last week’s blog (“That’s a wrap, Folks”) Amanda shared the news that “our last known Chimney Swifts have departed for the season!”. While that signals the end of Chimney Swift monitoring for the year, it also signals the start of another phase of work for us at MCSI – it’s chimney cleanout time. Glorious work it is!
At nest sites, the physical evidence observed at the bottom of the chimney reveals the story which unfolded in secrecy…all those entries and exits observed by our dedicated monitors, translated into breeding swifts moving through the various stages of nesting. By looking at the cleanout, we see tangible evidence of breeding attempts: twigs or nests; eggshells (whole or halves); sadly, some carcasses of the unfortunate young who didn’t make the journey up and out of the chimney; feathers shed by the swifts; and poop – the more swifts at a site, the more the poop piles up.
In St. Adolphe, two of the five nest site chimneys have cleanout traps. The Brodeur Bros/Daycare cleanout material indicated that 8 eggs were laid. One egg was intact which means no hatching took place. One egg held the remains of a chick which didn’t complete its hatch; the egg was totally pipped but the bottom half of the egg was still stuck to the wee chick. The six remaining eggs hatched successfully in early July when we were under the serious heat dome weather warning. Behaviour observations indicated that the adults quickly ran into trouble and all daytime activity at the site was done three days post-hatch. It is likely that there wasn’t enough food to feed the chicks and/or some temperature stress took place. No matter the outcome of the breeding attempt, the staff, families, and children of the daycare continue to be Chimney Swift fans. This new daycare features a “Chimney Swift hub” meeting place near the chimney side, so a new generation of environmentally conscious kids is being nurtured.
At the Main St site in St Adolphe last year, a breeding pair couldn’t get traction on a breeding attempt. They were likely first-time parents. But what a difference a year makes. The breeding pair returned this spring (the Kyles in Texas report that tagged adults do return to the same nest sites) and got down to nest building on June 3. Five eggs were then laid. All the eggs hatched and all the juveniles fledged successfully! On fledging day, I saw a follow-the-leader event where an adult made a slow, cautious drop entry into the chimney after leading the newly airborne youngster along the approach path. But the fledgling didn’t make a good entry – it missed the open chimney and tumbled down the east face of the chimney, disappearing briefly behind the roof. The fledgling recovered altitude and flew off for a try another time. It was likely heart stopping action for the fledgling. I know it was for me! Now the daytime behaviour observations I made picked up only one fledgling but the physical evidence revealed five fledglings were airborne. Behaviour observations may underestimate fledging success. Remember this when Amanda updates us with Tim’s big news on the Selkirk Mental Health Centre large stack replacement tower (Tower 4)!
Both the St Adolphe cleanouts had twigs and dropped nests (this is normal but we want the nests to fall after juveniles successfully transfer from the bowl of the nest to the chimney wall at 20-21 days of age). Feathers and guano (that glorious poop) were found in both cleanouts also. I’ll sign off and hand the blog update back to Amanda
– Barb Stewart
And now it is my turn for next updates! As Barb mentioned, ‘tis the time of year we can open up the chimneys to see if we can confirm the nesting events that we observed through the birds’ behavior earlier in the season. Or in some cases get an idea of what happened, when the Chimney Swift behavior went off the rails (I am looking at you Chimney Swifts of tower 4 at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre).
We will start off with our oldest of the Chimney Swift towers that gets used – the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower. Adam Grottoli has been our go-to contact for the Zoo this year and the two of us opened up the Zoo’s Chimney Swift tower on September 21st. The tower bottom looked quite clean when we opened it up. There was a hardened black mass in a corner opposite the nesting wall, likely a combination of decomposing leaf litter and Chimney Swift guano (poop), as well as decomposing leaf litter along the bottom of the tower. The nest was entirely intact, with just a few pieces of twigs separated here and there that seemed like they probably never made it into the nest in the first place.
Looking up at the AP Tower
Can you spot the nest on the wall of the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower? Look on the wall with the string running up the side!
We were able to find the eggshells of two hatched young. There were no intact eggs (so all the young hatched) and both hatched young made it to fledging, which matched MCSI’s and the zoo’s monitoring records! While Adam and I were talking to a passerby through the zoo fence about a drumming noise coming from the chimney, the noise suddenly started up! Sure enough, out flew the culprit, a Pileated Woodpecker who has called the chimney home over the summer, and apparently into the fall. The Pileated Woodpecker had no fear, as it moved to the side of the chimney just above our heads and hung out there for a bit before it flew off. The Zoo has patched three previous holes in the chimney, and it looks like there is a fourth hole to be patched now. The outside of the chimney is treated wood to make it withstand the elements, but it was not designed to have the inside exposed to the elements, nor to be a safe roosting site for woodpeckers! We will be working on how to remedy this situation going into the future. Until then, if you want a good look at a Pileated Woodpecker, go hang out by the Assiniboine Park Zoo Chimney Swift tower!
On September 23rd, Tim Poole, Rob and Barb Stewart, Joanne Tuckwell and myself went to check out the Chimney Swift Towers at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Tim and Gerald Machnee had opened up three of the four towers and the infirmary building chimney a week prior, but due to birds still using T4 that tower was left closed at the time. So we checked out T4 as well as a few of the other towers.
Our first stop is Tower 1 (tall tower at west end of site). The tower was occupied by a pair of Chimney Swifts in June however, they did not breed inside the tower. A single swift was seen using the tower in July.
Rob inside the tall tower (T1)
Next, we have tower 2 (eastern tower in the trees). This tower was the first to be used by swifts. A pair did use the tower in May and June. Photos taken by a camera trap that Tim Poole with province had set up inside the tower indicated that they mated. There was however, no material associated with breeding when Tim and Gerald opened it up. So, for some reason the birds did not stick with this tower
Tower 3 (tower attached to the old infirmary building) was rarely used early in the spring. However, a single bird was seen roosting in T3 in July. We believe this might have been what is known as a helper, a non-breeding adult assisting the successful breeding attempt in the chimney on the same building. The bird partially moulted inside and feathers were seen.
Looking into the tower attached to the infirmary building.
Tower 4 was the exciting one that we got to look inside for the first time on September 23rd! Tim’s summary and results are as follows,
“Tower 4 (tower on site of old powerhouse building chimney) – The tower was completed around June 18th, 2021. Even before it was completed, I noted that swifts were already flying over top of the entrance. Swifts were roosting inside during the first roost monitoring session post-tower completion which was somewhat surprising. We wondered if they might be the birds photographed in tower 2. There was some use in July but activity picked up in August. There was some confusion at this point as the tower was completed too late for breeding swifts. The theory was that fledged birds from another chimney had moved into the tower. The pattern of behaviour which continued to be observed in August and early September increasingly resembled feeding of chicks and I noted behaviour consistent with fledged birds on September 9th. Today we opened it up and pulled out the fragments of 3-4 eggs. There were no chick carcasses, although the nest was still on the wall. This is by some way the latest ever recorded successful Chimney Swift nest in Manitoba. The nest was on the south wall about halfway up the tower and is already falling apart. Interestingly, many nests come down intact, so my guess is that we had inexperienced parents (this would also explain the late nesting attempt). The final score in the tower won’t be revealed until the nest falls, but our observations suggested a minimum of two fledged birds.”
Tower 4 attempts to absorb committee member
Tim entering into T4. He managed to get back out – minus a hat that was retrieved afterwards! This tower was built on the cement pad of the old big stack, you can see the outline of the old stack on the cement under Tim’s legs.
Nest in Tower 4 in Selkirk
The nest still up on the wall of T4. You can see that it is slowly coming apart. You can also see the light reflecting off the glue-like spit that the swifts use to hold their nests together, and hold the nest to the wall (in the right and left corners of the nest). Photo by T. Poole.
Tim sums this all up with “I would say that use of all towers and successful nesting is actually a big success for this year. The data suggests the birds found the towers and like what they found”. Of the non-tower sites at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, both the infirmary building chimney and the yellow brick chimney also both hosted successful nests.
And that about sums up our Chimney Swift monitoring for this year! You will still be hearing from us about Chimney Swifts periodically through the winter and fall. Now that we have all of our results, Barb and I will work on tallying and summarizing our monitoring results St Adolphe and the rest of the province for everyone to take a look at.
Amanda and Barb
P.S. Need a bigger Chimney Swift fix? We have come across several videos and resources that might interest you!
Georgean and Paul Kyle (of Chaetura Canyon Nature Centre) have been periodically livestreaming swifts entering chimneys in Texas. The livestreams don’t happen every night but the recordings are still available to view on Facebook afterwards! https://www.facebook.com/paul.kyle.16100
Our last known Chimney Swifts have departed for the season! I wanted to start out this blog by giving a huge thank you to all of our Chimney Swift monitors this year! Your work is so important to the swift population in Manitoba. With your help we are able to monitor swift populations, monitor the use of our new Chimney Swift artificial tower design in Manitoba, find active Chimney Swift chimneys that are in need of repair that we can use our funding to restore back into good shape, and to help further inform our own knowledge about Chimney Swifts!
Thanks to all our volunteers
That all being said, I have a few last monitoring results to report, and a hint of a few last Chimney Swift mysteries that we hope will be solved soon…
First a quick flight off to Souris from earlier in the season. Jeff Higdon was in Souris back on August 7th and had some pretty neat Chimney Swift sightings! Jeff was not in Souris to Chimney Swift watch – but he ended up getting quite a sight. While walking around town Jeff noted, “Over the hour or so that we were wandering around the swinging bridge and Victoria Park area my max counts went from 8, to 11, to 20-ish, to about 30… Lots of foraging in the area of the bridges and what seemed like some directed movements towards the north when we saw the largest numbers…”. Souris is an important site for Chimney Swifts in southwestern Manitoba as the number of chimneys compared to other towns of equivalent size and age is phenomenal.
A flock of swifts foraging up HIGH overhead! Photo by J. Higdon.
Next, we will head off to St Joachim Church La Broquerie for Frank and Jacquie Machovec’s monitoring session on the evening of September 1st. They saw no activity in the little chimney, but quite a bit in the large chimney! Two swifts were using the large chimney, with several entries and exits taking place over the course of about an hour before both of the swifts settled in for the night about 40 minutes before sunset.
At the St Andrew’s Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound Gerald Machnee watched the two chimneys on the evening of September 1st. Like Frank and Jacquie’s experience in La Broquerie, all of the action that Gerald saw was focused on the one chimney. Gerald describes the first bit of action at the south chimney as an “attempted entry, dove past the chimney awkwardly”. A minute later the swift appeared to actually make it into the chimney, and after four minutes left again. One swift was seen flying over the north chimney (which could have been the same swift as it was out of the south chimney at that point). In the end no swifts entered and stayed the night in either the north or south chimneys before it got too dark for Gerald to see, he had assumed the one swift went elsewhere to roost for the night.
The story continues at Selkirk as well. On August 30th Nia Massey, Linda Adie, Robert and Donna Hempler and Gerald Machnee camped out at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre once again. They found that the swifts had cleared out from the Yellow Brick Chimney and the Infirmary chimney (both of which we think successfully raised young based on monitor observations). However, the odd Chimney Swift behavior was still taking place at the stack replacement tower… eight entries and six exits in 90 minutes, with three swifts ending the monitoring session in the chimney. The mystery of possibly young swifts hatched late from that tower still continues….
Tim Poole was back to watch the stack replacement tower again on September 9th in the evening. The plan was to see if all the birds had left, and if so, to open up the chimney cleanouts (or access hatches as the towers are not real chimneys). By accessing the chimneys we can look up to see if there is a nest, or, if the nest has fallen naturally, we can collect unhatched eggs, fragments of eggshells, etc. to piece together what has occurred. Naturally though, we will not open the hatches to disturb birds if they are still around and using the tower. So Tim did his monitoring session and to his surprise there were still birds around the stack replacement tower! Five entries and two exits in 90 minutes this time, still by three birds.
Next Gerald came back to try his luck a couple of more times! On the evening of September 11th there was a change in the air. This time there were only two swifts, and they entered the tower at 7:20 pm and 7:24 pm and stayed there. Gerald then came was September 13th and he finally saw no swift activity! He did mention, “However, I would not say 100 % gone as there was intermittent light rain from about 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. There is a possibility they could have gone in and stayed.”
The next ones to try their luck Chimney Swift watching at the stack replacement tower were Rob and Barb Stewart on September 14th during the day. Once again, no swifts were seen. Gerald’s last trip to confirm the absence of swifts was on September 15th, and they are officially reported as left on migration now!
Last year the swifts cleared out of Selkirk on September 12th, so they were pretty bang on with their timing! Stay tuned for a future blog post when Tim finally gets to open up the tower and (maybe? hopefully?) solve the mystery!
Vigilant swift watchers
Quillaq, the Chimney Swift Questing Dog, has gamely volunteered with Rob and Barb Stewart a number of times this season. Here is Qilliaq and Barb at the best vantage point for the stack replacement tower at Selkirk Mental Health Centre.
Gerald Machnee was at Lower Fort Garry for the evening of August 31st for a monitoring session. He saw no swift activity. This zero-swift event was particularly exciting to us! Why? From following along in past blogs, you’ll know that the state of swift nesting has been precarious in past years at this location, with the nest tending to fall. This year we had installed a false chimney wall for the swifts to use to hopefully give them a rougher surface to build a nest on for increased grip. We were quite certain we had one successfully fledged young this year (Rob and Barb Stewart identified a young swift by its full set of wing feathers at a time when adult swifts were moulting) and thought we had two young based on observations by monitors. With Gerald’s sighting of no more swifts roosting at night it meant we could finally open the chimney and see what we could piece together of the Chimney Swift story in the chimney!
True dedication to the cause
Who appears in chimneys in September? Not old St Nick, but instead the intrepid Joanne Tuckwell! She took one for the team to try and see if she could figure out exactly where the Chimney Swifts nested in the chimney. Photo by A. Shave
So we gathered up our same crew that installed the false wall (Joanne Tuckwell from Parks Canada, Rob and Barb Stewart, and myself) along with some Parks Canada staff from Lower Fort Garry and headed out! The first thing we saw was that the nest had still fallen this year. From the pattern of poop on the false wall and real walls of the chimney, we could tell that they had nested above the false wall we installed. We found no intact eggs (so all eggs hatched). Right off the bat, we found three egg’s worth of eggshells (so three young hatched). Later on, while Barb continued to search through the debris from the bottom of the chimney, she found two more egg’s worth of eggshells. This leads us to five eggs hatched successfully.
What it looked like when we opened up the chimney at Lower Fort Garry. Photo by A. Shave
On a sadder note, we did find three deceased young. The young had passed away at at-least two different ages, so we are not sure what went wrong. We do know that Chimney Swift young do have quite a high mortality rate normally, and that this year was likely challenging for the swifts due to the prolonged hot and dry weather. However, on a positive note, it also means that the swift family was able to successfully raise two fledglings this year! This is a great feat for this site, the first success here in several years.
The eggshell fragments found in Lower Fort Garry. Photo by Rob and Barb Stewart.
So that wraps up the monitoring for the year, but as I mentioned, we certainly are still finishing up our detective work for the season. Tim Poole will be opening up the artificial chimney towers at Selkirk Mental Health Centre, and I will be heading to Assiniboine Park Zoo next week to open up that tower as well! So stay tuned!
