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!
While some swifts have left their summer nesting and roosting sites, we do have some spots where the swifts are still sticking around, or at least were still around as of our last reports! We still have Chimney Swift monitoring reports in Winnipeg, Brandon, Lower Fort Garry, Lockport and Selkirk.
Starting off with Winnipeg! I have a report from Blair Reid from the week before last that didn’t make it into the last blog. On August 18th he watched 690 St Joseph St for the roosting hour and had two entries that went straight down into the chimney. Both Blair and I were curious if there were young in the chimney or recently fledged young, so Blair next monitored the same location on August 24th during the afternoon and then also came back in the evening. During the day he had three swifts down the chimney at once point, with a total of four swifts accounted for in the chimney and in the air. Swifts went down the chimney at 2:17 pm, 2:41 pm and 3:20 pm, with only one exiting at 3:24 pm before he wrapped up the afternoon session at 3:30 pm. When Blair went back for the evening he had an entry, followed by a quick exit (7:51 pm and 7:52 pm) and then two swifts that flew directly into the chimney at 8:17 pm and 8:28 pm. So all in all, still a puzzle! The daytime activity (and extra swift) suggests possible fledged young, but this was not confirmed. We have seen at Lower Fort Garry (where there are confirmed fledglings) that the parents are roosting elsewhere, separate from the young. Perhaps that is the case at this site as well.
Also in Winnipeg, Frank and Jacquie Machovec monitored Transcona Collegiate on August 25th for the roosting hour. They had an interesting evening, different from what they had seen before. They write, “Unlike at other visits, approaches were all very awkward. In the past, entries were straight in from a high level.” MCSI volunteers have not visited Transcona Collegiate often enough to say that these awkward swifts are for sure young from the site. Because of the time of year, they could also be adult swifts who have come from elsewhere that are not quite used to, or practiced in going down a new chimney. Frank and Jacquie saw three entries. The first at 8:08 pm had a missed approach and then it entered successfully, the second entry was at 8:20 pm and had two missed approaches before it entered successfully and the last swift entered at 8:35 pm and had a slow, level approach and entry.
Louanne Reid and Glennis Lewis did their last monitoring session at the two chimneys at the Orange Block building in Brandon on August 25th. They successfully wrapped up the season there with no swifts seen, only a lone goose. A fitting fall migration send-off!
At Lower Fort Garry on August 25th Gerald Machnee still had two swifts using the chimney during the monitoring period. There were four entries and three exits from 8:06 pm until the last entry at 8:36 pm, about 10 minutes after sunset.
On August 25th Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski were at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance compound and saw both chimneys were still being used. There was one swift that roosted in the south chimney after having made several passes over the north chimney. There were also two birds that roosted in the north chimney for the night.
In Selkirk Ray Peebles and Sybil Finnson watched the St Merchants Hotel on August 25th but observed no activity this time. It appears the roost of nine birds from August 19th had to vacate their hotel “room” (the chimney)!
Last, but not least, we have our recap from the monitoring at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Tim Poole and I joined the folks from Selkirk for their weekly monitoring session on August 23rd for 90 minutes of monitoring starting in the daytime and going into the roost hour. Swift shenanigans were still occurring at one of the towers and the yellow brick chimney, which we were trying to get to the bottom of. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and the mystery continues, which you will see in our summary below.
I watched the east tower (2021-T2). It was a very quiet night for me. At 7:46 pm I had one swift flyover, and a flock of 100+ pigeons flew by east of me about half an hour later. Luckily, others had more action.
Tim was watching the large tower (furthest west; 2021-T1). He had no entries into the tower, but saw a lot of action in the air (almost constantly every couple of minutes) by one to two swifts up until 8:38 pm (monitored ended at 9:00 pm).
Robert and Donna Hempler were watching the infirmary building chimney. This site we know had successfully fledged at least one young swift. There was a lot of action with swifts flying overhead, largely going north-south (which fits in the direction of the other active chimney and tower). They did not have any action in their actual chimney until 8:29-8:40 pm when six swifts went down the chimney. Five of the swifts that entered had “fluttered entries”, while one more failed on the first entry attempt but made it into the chimney after flying around the chimney several times.
Nia Massey, Linda Adie and Gerald Machnee watched the yellow brick chimney. They had a total of four birds in the chimney at the end of the night. Leading up to the end of the night there were eight entries and five exits spanning from just after they arrived at 7:20pm with the last entry just after sunset at 8:35 pm.
We continue to see a lot of entries at the stack replacement tower (2021-T4). There was a total of three swifts using the chimney (and staying in the chimney at the end of the monitoring period). The three swifts were very busy going in and out for the entirety of the 100-minute monitoring session. This included 15 entries and 14 exits which works out to visiting the tower 9 times/ hour, a high visitation rate. We are still not sure if this is swifts trying to raise young very late in the season or if young swifts fledged from other nests (infirmary and yellow brick chimneys) and are gathering here. We will have a better idea when the cleanouts of the artificial towers are opened after the swifts leave (mid September) to check for evidence such as fallen nests, eggshells, etc.
That is all for this week. Have a great long weekend and we will be back again next week for another monitoring report summary!
This week we have our normal look back at Chimney Swift monitoring from the last week. Chimneys were monitored in La Broquerie, Brandon, Lower Fort Garry, Lockport and Selkirk. We also have a season update from the folks who monitor for Chimney Swifts in Dauphin!
We will start off in La Broquerie where Frank and Jacquie Machovec monitored the St Joachim Church chimneys. The smaller chimney had no action. The larger chimney ended the night with five swifts in the chimney. Two of the entrances (possibly by the same swifts or possibly by two different swifts) either had a missed approach or a tentative/ halting entry. So, this is either a young swift(s), or perhaps an adult swift that has come from elsewhere and is not used to entering this specific chimney. Frank and Jacquie noted that this time they saw no duo or trio flying.
In Brandon we have Louanne Reid, and Gillian and Gwynn Richard’s report from the Orange Block building’s north chimney from August 11th, 2021. They watched the chimney from 7:17 pm to 9:35 pm for a total of 138 minutes. There was a lot of activity at the chimney on this night. This includes 8 entries and 11 exits with a total of five swifts using the chimney during the monitoring period. However, only two swifts were down the chimney at the end of the monitoring period. Remember, there is a second chimney on the building that the swifts could be using! As the two chimneys were monitored on different nights (Aug 11th for the north chimney and August 10th for the west chimney) we can’t fully put together the swift story for this one week but we have seen both chimneys used by swifts all season long.
Glennis Lewis monitored the west Chimney on the Orange Block building on August 18th for 60 minutes during the roosting period. She had two swifts using the chimney. They had entered and exited the chimney a couple of times (2 entries and 3 exits) before they settled in for the night.
Next, we have an update from Lower Fort Garry. Gerald monitored the Fort on August 15th and August 22nd. On August 15th he was there for both some daytime monitoring and roosting hour monitoring. He had two swifts using the chimney with five entries and five exits. However, the night ended with only one swift in the chimney. On August 22nd Gerald watched the chimney for 50 minutes during the roosting period. He had one entry at 8:23 pm but noted that due to the cloud and rain, other swifts may have entered the chimney earlier. This is confirmation though that at least one swift is still using the chimney.
Now we will move onto the St Andrews Lock and Dam chimneys. We also have two reports for these chimneys this week on August 18th and August 22nd. First up is the south chimney. On August 18th there were two entries. The first entry at 8:23 pm put on quite the show. It was pretty likely a young swift as it made attempts to enter the chimney for over two minutes before it finally made it into the chimney at 8:23 pm. The second swift made it into the chimney at 8:50 pm with less drama. The same evening there was also use of the north chimney. There was an entry and an exit earlier in the evening. After 8:15 pm all the activity was entries. Two swifts entered at 8:16 pm, one at 8:39 pm, two more at 8:46 pm and one final swift entered at 8:47 pm. A second swift attempted entry at 8:47 pm but gave up and later entered the south chimney. The swift that did successfully enter at 8:47 pm did need to make a second attempt before it successfully entered into the chimney.
On August 21st the south chimney at the maintenance building had three entries all within a 15-minute period staring at 8:35 pm. There was no indication of awkward or multiple entry attempts this time. All the swifts were also adept at entering the north chimney as well. There were three entries, one at 8:43 pm and two at 8:44 pm.
In Selkirk Ray Peebles and Sibyl Finnson watched the St Merchants Hotel on August 13th and August 19th. On August 13th they observed one entry and two exits but noted that they “likely started observing too late” (observed 9:00-10:00 pm with sunset at 8:51 pm). On August 19th they really caught the swifts! They had nine entries, which is quite a bit higher than any other count this year at the site. It would seem that either some other local swifts joined the roost at the chimney or swifts who have started their migration stopped for the night.
Also in Selkirk we have reports from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre for August 16th. Robert and Donna Hempler watched the Infirmary building chimney from 8:00-9:00pm. They observed a number of entries and exits from 8:00-8:40 pm, and ended the monitoring period with two swifts in the chimney. There were up to five swifts seen in the air.
The same night Nia Massey and Linda Adie watched the yellow brick chimney from 8:10 -9:15 pm. They had two swifts using the chimney. Both swifts entered and exited the chimney once, before staying in the chimney once they had entered at 9:00 pm and 9:04 pm respectively.
The last chimney watched for swifts on August 16th is the stack replacement tower. Gerald watched this tower from 8:15-9:15. To start with, there were two entry/ exit cycles at 8:32/8:33 pm and 8:43/8:44 pm. Then two swifts entered at 8:58 pm and 8:59 pm before one exited at 9:02 pm. The night finished with three swifts in the chimney by 9:11 pm. The entry/exit cycle pattern and timing might be familiar – it is ringing any bells? To us it sounds like it could nesting with non-brooded young. Another option could be that young from an already fledged chimney (perhaps the Infirmary building chimney or yellow brick chimney) may be using this chimney as a base to practice flying in and out of. We are not 100% sure yet – mainly because it would be a very late attempt to raise young, but the daytime activity is a puzzle otherwise. We are certainly keeping an eye on this chimney to see what happens here!
Last but not least, we have a recap of the events this summer in Dauphin. The crew in Dauphin saves up all of the datasheets and sends them to me as a package. This way we get to follow the patterns of chimney use at the different sites across the summer!
We will start off with the Watson Arts Centre. It was watched twice in July. On July 7th Pat Start watched the chimney during the roosting hour. Despite seeing a maximum of six swifts in the air, there were no entries into the chimney. Ken Wainwright watched the Centre on July 24th. He saw no signs of swifts during the 45-minute daytime monitoring session. He did have a good view of a Merlin that landed in the spruce tree adjacent to the chimney mentioning, “From its perch any swift leaving the chimney would likely be an easy catch!”. With no swifts about this site, it was not monitored any further this year.
Next, we have the Dauphin Roost site (site #600). Jan and Ken Wainwright started off monitoring the chimney on June 23rd during the daytime. There were no birds entering the chimney but they observed three swifts flying overhead. Ken was back on July 7th for a bit of daytime monitoring that led into roosting hour monitoring. In the earlier part of the monitoring period a maximum of 10 swifts were swirling overhead, and starting just after sunset a total of six birds entered the chimney before it was too dark to see. Ken next visited the roost site on July 30th for the roosting hour. From 9:34 pm to 9:40 pm between 10-12 swifts were circling the chimney. Starting at 9:41 pm there were a total of 13 entries in 15 minutes. There were still six swifts using the roosting chimney when Ken came back on August 11th. The last monitoring session Ken did at the Dauphin roost site was on August 17th during the roosting hour. He had one entry at 9:12 pm before it was too dark to see. He had seen four swifts in the air and thought that the others may have headed to site 2021-8 (Hong Kong Café) which had four birds in the chimney that same night.
Our next site to summarize in Dauphin is the Scott’s Hardware building. We start out with daytime monitoring on June 23rd by Jan and Ken again. This time there was action at the chimney with an entry and an exit (4:42 pm and 4:48 pm respectively). Then there were two entries, one at 5:19 pm and the other at 5:39 pm just before Jan and Ken finished their monitoring session. A total of five birds were seen in the air with two in the chimney. The next visit was by Ken on July 7th during the day. There were two (possibly three) fast exchanges in and out of the chimney in an hour, which looked promising for feeding young. There were a total of seven swifts seen in the air. The feeding exchanges continued on July 28th when Ken monitored the site in the daytime. He had three sets of entries and exits in an hour. This time there were three swifts seen in the air.
Ken and Jan tried to monitor on August 4th from 8:00-9:00pm but it was difficult due to the smoke and low cloud. They did see two swifts enter the chimney at 8:35 pm and 8:47 pm but noted that they would try again the next day. Good thing they did because they activity picked back up again in the daytime of August 5th. This time Ken saw 4-5 entry/ exit cycles in an hour. Ken monitored on August 11th and had three entry/exit cycles in 60 minutes. The last monitoring session at the site was on August 17th during the day by Ken. Unfortunately, he saw no swifts, but he did see the Merlin again! The outcome of the nesting attempt at this chimney is unknown.
I’ve been saving the most exciting site in Dauphin for last – our new site at the Hong Kong Café. During their first monitoring session at the café Jan and Ken wrote, “We were advised that swifts had been observed and heard in this location so we stopped to check”. The first monitoring session was on July 23rd during the daytime. It started off with an exit at 12:57 pm, followed by two birds entering at 1:10 pm and 1:11pm, and then exiting at 1:14 pm and 1:15 pm. So definitely two swifts attending the nest and likely already feeding non-brooded young.
The next day Pat Start went out to monitor the site for 50 minutes during the daytime and saw no sign of the swifts!! Not to be put off Pat tried again during the roosting time on the same day and ended up seeing lots of activity with seven entries and seven exits in an hour. The swifts were back to feeding young. Pat also saw an additional two swifts flyover towards downtown. What had happened in the afternoon when they were not feeding? We are not sure. There has been challenging weather this summer, so perhaps they were trying to keep cool in the chimney or had to forage further afield to find bugs. We do know that a nest of young can survive with a feeding rate of once per hour, so we are glad that this nest was able to hang on.
Pat and Marilyn Muller were back at the Hong Kong Café chimney on July 28th for a bit of daytime monitoring leading into monitoring during the roosting hour. They observed seven classic feeding entries and exits (where the swifts only stay in the chimney for a minute or two). They knew that two swifts were using the chimney as two exited right at the beginning of the monitoring period, although at the end of the monitoring period only one swift was in the chimney. However, this very high feeding rate began to suggest that there was perhaps a third, adult, “helper swift” on site.
Marilyn and Pat were back on August 4th for another monitoring session and had three swifts drop into the chimney between 8:25 am and 8:40 am but also mentioned that the weather was poor. Pat was back on August 5th during the daytime and saw three visits to the chimney within 15 minutes. At this point the Dauphin crew were pretty sure they had two parents and a helper swift at the site, due to how often the chimney was visited, and how close together those visits were.
On August 11 Marilyn and Pat were back for an hour morning monitoring. They had an entry at 7:53 am followed by two exits, one right away and one at 8:09 am. At 8:09 am there was also another entrance, with an exit at 8:10 am. Then there was another entry, followed directly by an exit both at 8:11 am. It gets confusing! But overall they still thought the swifts were feeding young.
And the last data sheet for the Hong Kong Café! This ended on the note that we all hope for. Marilyn and Pat were watching the chimney on the morning of August 17th. They had seen no activity for over an hour when all of a sudden, they had an entrance. The note on the data sheet read “Baby wobbled into the chimney.” And at 9:02, “Baby trying to make the [chimney] hole”. At 9:02 am the two adults showed the young ones how it was done with quick dives into the chimney one after the other. Then at 9:10 am the second young one finally did make it down into the chimney. What a great way to end the Dauphin monitoring!
The Chimney Swift season is starting to wind down…
We are back again with our weekly round-up of MCSI monitoring reports. The brief reprieve from the hot weather last week made it a much nicer time (in my eyes at least) to watch the swifts. I went for several evening walks to check on the swifts in my neighbourhood, but with no luck seeing them enter either known or some possible new chimneys, although they were out and about despite the light drizzle both nights.
And of course, I was not the only one out! This week we have reports from Selkirk, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry, Portage la Prairie, Brandon, Winnipeg, St Adolphe and Dauphin.
At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre the swifts continue to provide excitement and drama! First, we had nesting at the infirmary building chimney – pretty normal, right? Then, late into the summer we had a change in use pattern of the yellow brick chimney (see last week’s blog for a quick recap and possible fledging). Then, on August 11th myself, Gerald Machnee, Frank and Jacquie Machovec, Nia Massey and Linda Adie went to cover all the chimneys on the site. It was already an exiting night as it was interrupted partway through by a fast-moving storm, but it also got more exciting on a Chimney Swift front…
Gerald was watching the Stack Replacement Tower (T04) from 8:05 pm to 9:30 pm and he saw six entries and four exits in what certainly looks like the pattern of swifts feeding young. Back on July 15th, we did have a (seemingly) random daytime entry, as we had gathered talking after having watched the chimney for 90 minutes with no activity. So we have seen swifts use the tower earlier in the year, but definitely not this pattern of use! Gerald also drove by yesterday (August 17th) to do a quick daytime watch and saw an entry and exit within a couple of minutes of each other – is there perhaps a late season nest still active here that we only recently picked up on??
Speaking of those other nesting sites at the Centre – Frank and Jacquie Machovec were watching the infirmary chimney and the infirmary attached tower on August 11th. There was no activity in the attached tower, but four swifts were using the infirmary chimney, although only two stayed in the tower as the storm rolled through and for the end of the monitoring session. There were 11 entries and exits before that point. With four swifts – it now appears that fledging occurred!
Nia and Linda were watching the yellow brick chimney on the same evening. They also had a lot of activity. They had 10 entries and 8 exits. Three birds were using the chimney earlier in the monitoring period, however only two birds were in the chimney at the end of the monitoring session.
On the same night I was watching the west tower (T01) at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. I had a maximum of two birds overhead, but each time they looked like they were coming from the nearby infirmary chimney. No birds entered or exited the west tower.
On August 13th Robert Hempler was on a walk through the Centre grounds and noticed 3-4 swifts flying around awkwardly and subsequently entered the chimney. From the non-direct entry and awkward flight he believed they were fledged young – backing up what Frank and Jacquie had suggested a couple of days earlier.
On August 9th Winona Hook was at the Merchant Hotel for session that was half daytime monitoring and half roost monitoring – which got cut short with rain. She had eight entries and seven exits spread across two Chimney Swift individuals who both entered the chimney just as the rain started.
On August 11th Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski both watched the two St Andrew’s Lock and Dam maintenance compound chimneys. The south chimney was not used by the swifts. The north chimney had six entries and four exits by two Chimney Swifts. The two swifts entered around 8:50 pm just before the wind and rain began at 8:57 pm.
Next, we will move on to Lower Fort Garry, which was monitored several times last week. If you recall from last week, we have confirmed fledging of at least one bird on the site – as a full compliment of feathers (indicative of a young bird) was seen by Barb and Rob Stewart.
Gerald was there from 6:15-8:45 pm on August 10th. He had two swifts in the chimney with seven entries and seven exits over the monitoring period. The two swifts went down the chimney for the night at 8:20pm and 8:30pm.
On August 11th Rob and Barb were back at Lower Fort Garry for a morning monitoring session. Their goal this time was twofold – 1) to monitor the swifts and 2) to see if they could find any other chimneys in the vicinity of the fort that the swifts could be using. Although at least one fledgling had been confirmed, we have not seen the number of birds we expect (at least three – 1 young bird and two adults) since fledging. The adults and young will not necessarily stay in the chimney together, one or more individuals may move to different chimneys close by. This time Rob and Barb had three sets of entries/ exits in an hour. During their exploration for alternate chimneys, they found some good candidate chimneys, but more investigation is needed with Parks Canada staff to figure out if the chimneys run the length of the building or are closed on the inside.
Gerald was back to Lower Fort Garry on August 15th for an evening monitoring session from 7:15-9:10 pm. He had two swifts using the chimney.
In Portage la Prairie we had Gordon Ogilvie and Janice Madill watching the two chimneys on the Rufus Prince Building during the roosting hour on August 11th. There was only one entry a couple minutes after sunset in the middle chimney (2017-29.1). Most of the activity was happening in the south chimney (2017-29). There were three entries and exits by two Chimney Swifts before the two birds went down the chimney for the night around 9:00 pm.
Over the Orange Block in Brandon (courtesy of Glennis Lewis)
In Brandon, Glennis watched the west chimney of the Orange Block building on August 10th during the roosting hour. She had seven entries and five exits – so a lot of activity. At the end of the night there were three birds in the chimney. She also had a lovely view of a double rainbow! A bit of an extra reward for the worthwhile monitoring of Chimney Swifts!
Gillian and Gwyn Richards watched the same chimney the next night (August 11th), also during the roosting hour. They saw 6 entries and four exits, and also had three swifts in the chimney at the end of the evening. Interestingly, at the end of the evening the timing of the swifts on both August 10th and August 11th was almost identical. On August 10th there were entries at 9:10 pm and 9:12 pm, an exit at 9:13 pm and then two entries at 9:21 pm and 9:23 pm respectively. On August 11th there were entries at 9:12 pm and 9:13 pm, and exit about 30 seconds later at 9:13 pm and then entries at 9:20 pm and 9:24 pm. These swifts certainly seem to have consistent bedtime routines!
Ariel Desrochers was out and about in Winnipeg monitoring at a couple of different sites. On August 4th she visited the Grant Arms Apartment for a morning monitoring session. Tim Poole had previously had an opportunistic sighting of a swift using the chimney, and I had seen swifts flying nearby, but Ariel had no luck that day seeing swifts at all. A bit later that same day Ariel tried out the Flag Shop chimney on Pembina Hwy, also with no luck.
After being in the St Boniface area earlier for non-Chimney Swift related reasons and seeing Chimney Swifts in the air Ariel decided to watch the St Boniface Cathedral chimney (2019-47) to see if the swifts were using the church chimney during a morning monitoring session on August 10th. She did see two swifts that were flying south and west of the church but no swifts entered the chimney she was watching.
We also have several observations from Blair Reid to report. Blair watched 261 Youville Street. On August 4th during a daytime monitoring session he saw three sets of entries and exits. In the first exchange two swifts entered and exited and the third time only one swift entered and exited. While only two swifts appeared to be using the chimney, up to four swifts were seen in the air. Blair was back at the site during the roosting hour on August 11th for 50 minutes. He wasn’t able to get in the best position to watch the chimney but saw two entries for sure, and maybe a third. Of the entries, the first bird went straight in, while during the second entry the bird was first flying around the chimney before hesitantly entering the chimney. While not confirmed, the second entry does seem like a fledgling swift. The last possible entry was blocked from view by a tree – a challenge many of us have faced when trying to monitor a chimney!
On August 10th Blair watched 690 St Joseph St for 30 minutes of daytime monitoring and an hour of roosting monitoring. He had two exits at 7:52 pm and 7:53 pm and then one bird entering for the night at 8:40 pm.
Vicky also did some Chimney Swift monitoring across Winnipeg since our last blog post. On August 5th she was at 24 Edmonton St for an hour. She saw a swift flying quite far away from the site twice, but no swifts using the chimney. She was also in the area monitoring during the last week in July and noted that there were noticeably fewer swifts in the area compared to the previous week. On August 6th Vicky was at the Holy Trinity Catholic Ukrainian Church in the late afternoon and also saw no swifts.
On August 9th Vicky watched the Lady Wentworth Apartments from 9:40-10:15am and had two swifts exit the chimney at 10:08am and saw a further two swifts in the air. She was stymied by an approaching storm and unfortunately had to cut the monitoring period short.
On August 10th Vicky did a blitz of Chimney Swift monitoring at several buildings in the Exchange District during the morning and early afternoon. She saw no signs of swifts around 91 Albert St or the 52 Albert St (Gregg Building). At her last stop of the day, she was able to watch two chimneys at once at 71 Princess St and 33 Princess St (Peck Building). There were two swifts flying around, and she was able to see one exit and then one entrance into the Peck Building chimney in the hour she was monitoring.
For her most recent monitoring she went out in the Corydon area. She saw no swifts at 481 Corydon (an Apartment building), but did see seven swifts flying over at 272 Cockburn St (King George Court Apartments).
This week we have reports from Selkirk, Lower Fort Garry, Lockport, Southport, Brandon, Otterburne, Dauphin and Winnipeg.
At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on August 4th, Nia Massey and Linda Adie had 8 entries and two exits at the yellow brick chimney. Based on the last few weeks there may have been feeding of young going on (although the timeline is a bit odd – but that ‘tis the swift mystery). If they were indeed feeding young, this could have been fledging!
Winona Hook was back at the Mental Health Centre’s yellow brick chimney on August 8th. She saw a lot of activity. There was a period of activity with an exit, entry and exit again from 8:30 – 8:33pm. After a brief break there was another period of activity with two entry/ exit cycles from 8:56 – 9:02 pm. She then observed three entries between 9:17 pm and 9:24 pm with one additional swift still flying overhead after the last entry
Also on August 8th, Gerald Machnee was at the Infirmary building chimney (at the Health Centre). He saw pretty consistent entry/ exit cycles from 8:35 pm to 9:07 pm (5 cycles) before two swifts ended up in the chimney at the end, with one additional swift still flying around after the two swifts had entered the chimney for the night. It still seems like the swifts are feeding young in this chimney.
On August 4th Gerald was at Lower Fort Garry. He had two exits and two entries at the Fort between 8:40 pm and 9:03 pm.
The next morning (August 5th) Rob and Barb Stewart ventured over to Lower Fort Garry for a 135-minute monitoring session in the morning. They saw two entries in which two swifts spent a long time in the chimney – approximately an hour and 15 minutes and 45 minutes (and the swifts were still in the chimney when Rob and Barb left). While Rob and Barb saw no definitive proof of fledged birds (no increase in swift numbers or ID through the flight feathers) this was certainly a change in behaviour compared to the quick feeding entry and exit pattern that was previously seen. Barb says, “Rests in the chimney are typical juvenile events; the activity decreases at a site within the first week post-fledging as adults don’t need to feed the young every morsel. It may be that fledging took place between Sunday to Monday. Time will tell…”.
Vicky was on Chimney Swift duty at the Fort for the roosting hour on August 6th. She had a lot of activity. She had five sets of entries and exits with no one in the chimney at the end of her monitoring period. Is there perhaps another chimney nearby that the swifts are using? Were the young in the chimney the entire time with an adult feeding them? Questions remained…
Moving on to August 8th at Lower Fort Garry, Barb and Rob were back for 40 minutes of daytime monitoring and then 70 minutes of roosting monitoring. This was quite the exciting session! Almost as soon as they arrived Barb and Rob saw a swift make two attempts to enter the chimney before a successful, fluttery entry. While the bird was making several loops around during the entry attempts, they were able to get a look at the wing margins – which were fully intact – so a fledgling confirmed! Shortly after entering the chimney the bird left again. Two more sets of entries and exits occurred during the daytime monitoring period. During the roost monitoring period there were two more sets of entries and exits. Eventually two swifts went down the chimney at 9:03 pm and 9:11 pm. Barb noted, “Entries tonight all involved circling of the building or reorientation around the faces of the chimney prior to entry. Entries seen previously in July involved direct approaches and entries – no circling/ reorientation was observed.” So, it seems to the best of our knowledge these were two fledglings using the chimney, and we know that adults sometimes relocate after fledgling. Now the next action item is to search for nearby candidate chimneys!
Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski monitored the St Andrews Lock and Dam maintenance compound on August 5th. The south chimney had no activity, but the north chimney had three swifts using it. The typical feeding entry/ exit style pattern occurred twice from 8:32 pm to 8:40 pm. Then at 8:44 pm and 8:56 pm there were two entries, followed by an exit also at 8:56pm, and then two entries. This ended the session with three birds in the chimney.
Keep on watching!
On August 4th Gordon Ogilvie and Janice Madill ventured out to Southport to monitor the Mynarski House for the roosting period. They saw one Chimney Swift using the chimney with an entry at 9:08 pm, an exit one minute later, and then entering the chimney for the final time at 9:19 pm.
On August 1st Millie and Margaret were walking past the Orange Block building in Brandon and stopped in for 10 minutes. Just enough time to see a Chimney Swift exit the west chimney!
Both chimneys on the Orange Block building in Brandon were monitored on August 4th. Gillian and Gwyn Richards watched the north chimney. They had two birds leave the chimney at 8:53 pm and 9:10 pm respectively and then one bird go down for the night at 9:26 pm. Glennis Lewis took up her usual post on the west chimney. She had three swifts using the chimney for the night – possibly fledging or was there an extra swift at the chimney? It is hard to definitively tell at this site because two groups of swifts are using chimneys and possibly moving between them. Let’s see what is found out next week!
Frank and Jacquie Machovec watched the three chimneys on the Otterburne Providence College on August 4th for the roosting period. They did not see the swifts using chimneys 550 and 551. Instead, all the action was in the skinny chimney (552) with five entries. The first was early at 8:30 pm, followed by a swift entering every couple of minutes from 9:04-9:11 pm.
Also on August 4th Ken Wainright in Dauphin reports that despite the smoke haze and light drizzle, the Dauphin group went out but with no swifts seen. They tried again with better weather on August 5th. Ken reports “The new chimney 2021-08 (Hong Kong Café) was watched for a half hour and had 2 parents with a helper come and go, while the nesting chimney 2018-15 was watched for an hour and had 6 in/out cycles in an hour, so active feeding at both locations is very evident. Still lots of bugs, no snow or frost in the forecast so there is still time before migration from here anyways.”
Garry Budyk spent 67 minutes monitoring at 722 Watt St on August 8th. He had only one entry at 9:00 pm, mentioning that the approach was very different than what he had seen previously this year. Garry said, “The approach was from a lower angle and involved a very brief stall above the rim and then down the chimney. The entries I’ve witnessed before this have been from a high angle and straight in. This entry looked exactly like the juvies I’ve seen going down in previous years … so where was the rest of the family?” A good question indeed Garry! He thought that perhaps they may have been in the chimney before he arrived due to the high temperature and humidity that evening. Another possibility is that the rest of the family was roosting in a nearby chimney, which does sometimes happen after fledging is complete.
On July 29th Vicky was joined by Stephanie Bahamon and Teegan Gillich in watching the chimney at Chief Peguis Junior High for an evening monitoring session. The week before I had watched this chimney and had two entries, however on the 29th the only swift sighted was one flying over. They did hear constant chittering east of the school, but did not see any other swifts nearby.
With the (comparably) cooler weather on August 4th Vicky decided to do a blitz of various chimneys in the Fort Rouge and Osborne neighbourhoods with mixed results. She started her morning with a brief stop at 245 Bell Street but found that the chimney had collapsed sometime between last year and this year. Needless to say, this was a quick stop and the chimney will be on our list of chimneys that could use repair.
The next stop was already better in that it had an intact chimney! She watched 351 River Ave for just under an hour and saw between 1-10 swifts periodically overhead before two swifts exited the chimney just before her monitoring time was finished.
As she was making her way to her next site, she didn’t get very far at all when suddenly she saw a swift fly out of 350 River Ave! A new site! So of course she stopped to watch this site. Vicky writes, “I was surprised this was a nesting chimney since the hole is so small! I wouldn’t have watched it if I didn’t see that first entry when I was passing by”. Over the course of an hour Vicky saw four quick ins n’ outs. Then saw an extra swift come out of the chimney, before a swift went down at the end of her session. As this chimney has not been monitored previously, we are not sure what stage the nesting is at (although it certainly looks like nesting from the number and timing of visits) so I cannot speculate on whether the exit by the additional bird was a parent in the chimney or a fledged nesting.
After that excitement Vicky moved on to her planned next site which was 395 River Ave. She saw no chimney use but did see between 1-7 swifts in the air over 60 minutes. Unfortunately, that set the tone for the rest of her day.
At 94 Roslyn Road and Augustine Church she saw two swifts in the air and none using the chimney. At 415 Stradbrook Ave she saw 3- 7 swifts in the air and none using the chimney. At 411 and 375 Stradbrook she saw between 3-19 swifts in the air but none using the chimney.
Just hanging out
Lastly, I had an interesting report come in through our online Chimney Swift reporting form. Sister Peters reported that a Chimney Swift was previously hanging onto her window screen on Furby St. Of course, I emailed her back as this is quite the unusual event! She had been reading and heard a gentle “thump”, looked over and there was a swift! Her screens are on the outside of the window, and her best guess is that the swift hit the window (slightly cushioned by the bounce of the screen) and held on for a rest before flying off again. I am not sure what a swift was doing down so low. Perhaps it was a fledgling still learning the ropes?
