Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

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 18^th 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 24^th 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 25^th 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 25^th. 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 25^th 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 25^th 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 23^rd 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!

-Amanda

Chimney Swifts plus a Bonus Dauphin 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 11^th, 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 11^th for the north chimney and August 10^th 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 18^th 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 15^th and August 22^nd. On August 15^th 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 22^nd 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 18^th and August 22^nd. First up is the south chimney. On August 18^th 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 21^st 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 13^th and August 19^th. On August 13^th 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 19^th 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 16^th. 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 16^th 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 7^th 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 24^th. 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 23^rd during the daytime. There were no birds entering the chimney but they observed three swifts flying overhead. Ken was back on July 7^th 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 30^th 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 11^th. The last monitoring session Ken did at the Dauphin roost site was on August 17^th 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 23^rd 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 7^th 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 28^th 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 4^th 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 5^th. This time Ken saw 4-5 entry/ exit cycles in an hour. Ken monitored on August 11^th and had three entry/exit cycles in 60 minutes. The last monitoring session at the site was on August 17^th 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 23^rd 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 28^th 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 4^th 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 5^th 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 17^th. 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!

— Amanda Shave

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 11^th 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 15^th, 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 17^th) 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 11^th. 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 13^th 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 9^th 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 11^th 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 10^th. 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 11^th 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 15^th 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 11^th. 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.

In Brandon, Glennis watched the west chimney of the Orange Block building on August 10^th 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 11^th), 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 10^th and August 11^th was almost identical. On August 10^th 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 11^th 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 4^th 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 10^th. 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 4^th 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 11^th 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 10^th 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 5^th 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 6^th Vicky was at the Holy Trinity Catholic Ukrainian Church in the late afternoon and also saw no swifts.

On August 9^th 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 10^th 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).

–Amanda Shave

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 4^th, 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 8^th. 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 8^th, 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 5^th) 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 6^th. 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 8^th 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 5^th. 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.

On August 4^th 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 1^st 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 4^th. 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 4^th 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 4^th 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 5^th. 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 8^th. 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.

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?

• Amanda

While figuring out anything to do with Chimney Swifts is difficult due to the hidden nature of their lives within the chimney, with careful watch (and investigation after the fact) we can sometimes determine when and if fledging of Chimney Swift young occurred. This year, we have our first two fledging events seen in St Adolphe by Barb Stewart. The first was at the Church chimney where the young left the chimney slightly early (day 27 as opposed to day 30) but Barb was able to see the young flying with at least one adult bird for comparison. The second nest in St Adolphe on Main St fledged on August 3rd! Our other way of determining nest success is to look in the chimney once the birds have left. Often the nest will fall as they are usually only used for a summer and then re-built the next year. In that fallen nest we can find clues such as unhatched eggs or eggshell fragments that we can use to piece together how many eggs were laid, how many chicks hatched, and how many chicks successfully fledged. All this to say, if you are watching a nesting chimney, keep your eyes peeled this week!

With that said, let’s move on to our monitoring recap of last week! We had volunteers out monitoring in Portage La Prairie, Brandon, Lower Fort Garry, Lockport, Selkirk, Dauphin, Souris and Winnipeg.

Gordon Oglivie and Janice Madill monitored the three chimneys on the Rufus Prince Building in Portage La Prairie on the evening of July 28^th from 9:00-10:00pm. They had 10 swifts go down the centre chimney, three swifts go down the north chimney and four swifts go down the south chimney. Gordon noted to me in an email that this is a higher-than-normal number of swifts for this site.

Also on July 28^th Louanne Reid and Glennis Lewis watched their normal chimneys on the Orange Block building in Brandon. Louanne was on the north chimney during the roosting period. There were two swifts that entered the chimney together, with one subsequent exit. There was a pause in observation for about five minutes, but as far as we know there was only one swift that was in the chimney for the night. The Peregrine Falcons continued to be out and about nearby at the site as well.

Glennis was on the west chimney on the same building (also for the roosting period). Her observations were more straightforward – still looking like the swifts are feeding the young. Her observations started off with a swift leaving the chimney almost right away, followed by another entry and exit, and then one more exit (so there were two swifts in the chimney when she started). After that there were three more entry/ exit pairs before she finished her 60-minute observation period with one swift down the chimney.

We had quite a bit of action in the nesting chimney at Lower Fort Garry last week! On Thursday (July 19^th), I had a phone call from Joanne Tuckwell at Parks Canada that staff had heard the young swifts calling from inside the chimney. In the past when staff heard the chicks, it has meant that the nest had fallen from the chimney wall. The staff were understandably worried again! Luckily, in a twist of fate Rob and Barb Stewart were at the Fort at the very same time monitoring the Chimney Swifts for our program! They were observing in real time, normal feeding cycles (three in 70 minutes), letting us know that despite the noise the young were doing fine (to the best of our knowledge). We think that the swifts had reached the point where they can leave the nest and move around the chimney (around 21 days old) and had simply moved down the chimney toward the (blocked) opening and were vigorous making noise in response to feeding.

Gerald Machnee was back at the chimney on July 27^th for a combination of daytime and roosting hour monitoring. He had two entries a couple minutes apart, followed by one exit a couple minutes after that, still showing that swifts were going into the chimney to (presumably) feed young.

On July 28^th Rob and Barb were back at the Fort for a morning monitoring period where they saw five sets of entries and exits in just under two hours.

On July 30^th Ariel watched the Fort chimney for 90 minutes during the morning and saw five feeding cycles in 90 minutes of monitoring.

Finally, Gerald was back on August 2nd from 1:10- 2:10 pm and saw one entry/ exit cycle. We continue to watch this site in hopes of having successful fledging this year out of this challenging chimney!

Gerald and Tim Verbiwski monitored the two chimneys on the St Andrews Lock and Dam maintenance compound building from 8:00- 10:00 pm. At the north chimney they had two entries at 8:18 pm, one exit at 8:36 pm, and then another two entries at 8:51 pm. They then had one exit at 8:52 pm and a final entry almost 30 minutes later (ending with three swifts in the chimney). At the south chimney they observed two entries around 8:45 pm, followed by another at 9:15 pm with a final quick entry and exit at 9:20 pm (ending with one swift in the chimney). This leaves us with four swifts using the building to roost.

In Selkirk Winona watched the St Merchants Hotel for an hour around noon on July 24th. She had five (assumed) feeding cycles in an hour. Glad to see them going strong. While we don’t know the timing for sure, this is a site to keep an eye on for fledging!

At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre monitoring took place on July 28^th. Robert Hempler watched the infirmary chimney from 9:00-9:45 pm and had a number of entries and exits with the last entry at 9:30 pm. Robert was also watching the artificial tower attached to the infirmary building and had one entry there at 9:30 pm as well.

Nia was watching the yellow brick chimney at the Centre on the same night. She had a surprising monitoring observation with four sets of entries and exits in 60 minutes, before two swifts went down the chimney for the night. If there was nesting in this chimney it likely would have had to start after July 15^th (all chimneys/ towers at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre were watched in a morning blitz and no activity was seen at the yellow brick chimney). If these are indeed late nesters, hopefully they make it to the finish line. Stay tuned for updates on this one!

Ken Wainright did a spot check on the Dauphin roosting chimney on July 30^th. His observations were, “There were no swifts until after sunset and then a flock of about 10 arrived. When I finished observing there was the odd swift flying around but not going down, however I had counted 13 that did go down. The sky was smoky and the sun was a red/orange colour which may have affected the birds’ return to the chimney.”

We also heard about Dauphin’s new nest site (discovered last week at the Hong Kong Café). Ken mentioned that they were seeing feeding rates of at least six times per hour!

Katharine Shultz spent some time in Souris last week and kindly did some monitoring for us in town! She watched the chimney of the Whistling Donkey Pub on July 24^th and July 25^th for abbreviated monitoring sessions. I had watched this chimney when I was in Souris earlier this summer for grassland bird surveys – so it was a delight to see that the nesting swifts are still going strong. For her first 35-minute session Katharine observed a variety of entries and exits in the early part of the evening (approximately 9:30- 9:44 pm) which when counted up led to three swifts in and out of the chimney. After 9:45 more swifts headed down the chimney for a total of seven roosting for the night. Katharine also wrote, “I believe these earlier entry/ exits were still feeding runs that have been observed frequently ongoing earlier in the day and prior to formally beginning the monitoring session”. She also noted more swifts in the air further towards the west, where we do have more swift chimneys noted from past years. On July 25^th at the same chimney Katharine saw an entry/ exit cycle approximately every five minutes as she watched the chimney for 15 minutes.

On July 22nd Garry Budyk watched his local nesting site at 722 Watt St for a morning monitoring session. The swifts on site have been feeding young for multiple weeks now too, so keeping our fingers crossed for successful fledge soon! He continued to see feeding behavior. His session started with an exit at 9:30 am, then two entries at 10:04 am and 10:13 am. He then had an exit at 10:25 am, and entry at 10:28 am and ending with another exit at 10:40 am. It is interesting to note that one swift seemed to stay in the chimney for 15 minutes (and possibly longer since we can not differentiate between individuals).

Also on July 22^nd, Ariel monitored 71 Kennedy St (Scarsdale Apartments) for 90 minutes. Chimney Swifts had previously been observed here by Ariel and Tim Poole, but no swifts were seen this time. This is a difficult spot to monitor due to the viewing angles so hopefully the swifts were just coming and going in a way that is hard to see, or fledged, but we do not know for sure.

Tim Poole was out for a bike ride during the late afternoon of July 26th and caught a lucky entry at Clarence Court Apartments (526 Walker Ave). Or perhaps those swifts are just working hard to feed their young, as Vicky had a very active monitoring session there previously! Regardless, once Tim saw the entry, he waited to see the exit, which happened just one minute later.

Frank and Jacquie Machovec monitored two new chimneys for our program on July 28^th. Both chimneys were visible from the same spot. The first was at 217 Sherbrook St. No swifts were seen or heard in the vicinity of that chimney. The second chimney was at 198 Furby St. Tim Poole had been biking past here and thought he saw an exit (have you caught onto Tim’s pattern of biking and swifting?) so Frank and Jacquie took up the post and had two early entries for the night at 8:30 pm.

Blair watched the swifts at 690 St Joseph from 1:58 – 3:35 pm on July 28^th. Both Blair and the swifts were braving the afternoon heat. He saw four entry/ exit cycles in 35 minutes, so the swifts were busy feeding young despite the temperature. He also saw five swifts circling in the sky.

In Winnipeg, I checked out Nelson McIntyre Colligate with a friend on July 29th after seeing some swifts out and about during an evening BBQ a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, there were no swifts to be seen or heard.

On July 30^th I checked out the Marion Hotel, a historic site for our program that has not been watched yet this year, during the day. There were almost constantly 2-10 swifts overhead flying from northeast to southwest. None were low to the chimney though. My next thought was to follow the swifts! So I checked google maps on my phone and saw that another site (Springs Christian Academy) was nearby and headed over there. Earlier in the year Blair Reid had spotted two swifts using the site during the MCSI monitoring nights, but a subsequent monitoring session by Frank and Jacquie Machovec on July 7^th had not picked up on swifts. Despite the hot weather (by now it was around noon) I was able to watch a swift exit and enter the chimney for four feeding sessions in an hour. This accounts for two of the swifts I saw, but while monitoring I saw a maximum of 12 swifts. We are not sure right now where the other swifts belong. Perhaps at undiscovered sites? Perhaps they belong to the big roost on River Ave? This story is to be continued…

Vicky continued to do daytime Chimney Swift monitoring for some sites that do not have a monitor through the summer. Unfortunately, she ended up with no signs of swifts at several sites (303 Assiniboine Ave, 52 Donald St, 346 Broadway, 2415 Portage Ave, 3219 Portage, 155 Traill Ave and 239 Colony St). However, at the same time she noted some nearby chimneys that she thought could merit at watch next year including 219 Colony St, a private residence on Balmoral St and 165 Kennedy St. None of these sites had swifts this year (the residence on Balmoral had swifts overhead though), but you never know what next year will hold, so it is good to have a record of these additional candidate sites.

Moving on to where Vicky did see swifts! She had two entries during a morning monitoring session at 348 Assiniboine Ave on July 23^rd and noted them as doing “super dives!”. She also spotted nine more swifts flying over the river southeast of her viewing spot.

On July 26^th she watched the chimney on St Paul the Apostle Parish in St James in the morning. She saw two feeding cycles (quick entries/ exits) before a second swift popped out of the chimney nearing the end of her monitoring period. This site has not been monitored before this session this year, so we don’t have an estimate fledging time, but it is good to know it is being used as nest site.

On July 27^th she had two sites with Chimney Swifts. The first one she watched was the Granite Curling Club. Here she saw one feeding exchange in the hour she watched. One feeding exchange an hour can be enough to sustain a nest, although we more often hope to see 2-4x an hour. Then from noon to 1:00pm she watched the Ladywood Apartments and saw one entry at 12:46pm. With no exit it may be that the Chimney Swift was taking refuge from the heat (30^oC at monitoring start).

Stay cool and keep your eyes on the skies for newly fledged Chimney Swifts!

• Amanda

Hello everyone, it is Amanda again! As of the time when I am writing this blog, we have gotten a bit more rain at various sites across Manitoba. While Chimney Swift monitoring in the rain is not possible, we know how important this rain is for Chimney Swifts, as well as the rest of nature in Manitoba this year! However, this blog is reporting on what we saw during the last week or so, so keep that in mind while reading.

Before we conduct our tour of various chimneys in Manitoba – I would first like to draw your attention to our newly updated car placard that you can use on your car when Chimney Swift monitoring. Frank has kindly made it available on our Resources and Links page (https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/placard.pdf)

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We have reports from Winnipeg, Brandon, Darlingford, Morden, La Broquerie, Portage La Prairie, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry and Selkirk this week.

On July 13^th in Winnipeg Ariel watched 690 Rue St Joseph in the St Boniface neighbourhood. She had no entries but up to 11 Swifts circling the building. On the same day, she also visited 80 Lombard Avenue. She did not see any Swifts and noted it was impossible to listen for them as the trains were making a ton of noise! In search of more Swifts, she then tried 54 Adelaide St but unfortunately was once again skunked (zero Swifts)!

Vicky watched the Lanark Tower Apartments in Winnipeg on July 14^th for a daytime monitoring session. She saw a total of five Chimney Swifts in the air at once, as well as seeing one quick entry and exit about midway through her monitoring period. While one entry/exit cycle per hour is low, according to the Kyle family (Chimney Swift experts in the United States) it can sustain a nest, so it is possible we have young in this chimney.

On the same day Vicky also watched several apartment buildings in the Osborne area. The first was an apartment building at 118 Scott St. About 30 minutes after she arrived there were four swifts seen in the air. At 7:15 AM one Swift exited the building (for a total of five swifts seen during the monitoring session). However, after that one Swift exited, only the one Swift hung around the chimney area until Vicky’s monitoring session was finished. The next stop on Vicky’s early morning monitoring blitz was 141 River Avenue in Winnipeg. She saw an exit at 8:10 AM and an entry at 8:18 AM, but no other activity. The last site was at 321 Stradbrook Avenue (Fontana Apartments). She saw no Chimney Swifts around this site.

Ariel was also out in Winnipeg on July 14^th, this time in the Kildonan area. She watched the chimney on the St John’s Anglican Cathedral. While she did not see any activity at the chimney itself, she did see between two and four Swifts periodically flying past. She was also able to have a chat with the groundkeepers about the Swifts! It is always great when we are able to mix monitoring and outreach opportunities – especially if the Swifts oblige with a nice flyby!

Ariel then tried out a new site at 1637 Main St, the Bleak House. It is a historic house in Winnipeg that has two chimneys. She could tell that the west chimney was capped, but could not tell if the east one was as well. Normally, our go-to in this situation is to look for a chimney (or a small black hole) in satellite imagery or Google Streetview, but unfortunately the images are too blurry and have too many trees to tell. Regardless, there were no Swifts seen during her monitoring session but a site to keep in mind to gather more information on in the future.

In Winnipeg we have a report from Garry Budyk at 722 Watt St on July 18th. Garry mentioned that “I was expecting multiple visits with quick turnarounds per hour, but instead, 2 swifts seem to be spending more time together away from, and together in, the chimney”. He started off with one Swift already in the chimney when he arrived (as evidenced by its exit a couple minutes after his monitoring period started). Then there was another entry 10 minutes later. That Swift exited the chimney after 29 minutes. About half an hour later, those two Swifts approached together with one immediately entering the chimney and a second doing a circle before also entering. Both Swifts remained in the chimney until Garry left, about 12 minutes later. If you recall Garry’s last monitoring period on July 9th, he was seeing our typical twice an hour quick entry and exit pattern. The consensus for the current monitoring period is Swifts feeding non-brooded young (no adult Swift staying with the chicks in the nest) – but also taking a break from the hot weather by hanging out in the chimney!

On July 19^th Vicky checked out 526 Walker Avenue in Winnipeg – where there was lots of activity! In a 70-minute daytime monitoring session she had six entries and six exits! During one of the early entries two Chimney Swifts went in. One appeared to stay in the chimney for the duration of the monitoring period, while the other went in and out, almost once every 10 minutes. This certainly looks like the two Swifts are working hard to feed young. Next on July 19^th, Vicky took a short walk over to 625 Osborne St to monitor for an hour. No activity here though – even though when she was watching at the Walker Ave Apartments it looked like the swifts were flying in this direction.

Ariel was also out in Winnipeg on July 19^th at the Plaza Apartments (71 Kennedy St). She had two possible exits – but was having trouble seeing due to the height of the apartment building and chimney. There were up to 11 Swifts flying over, so she mentioned that she will be trying again soon, and will look for another vantage point.

In Brandon Glennis Lewis, Kathryn Hyndman, and Gillian Richards watched the west chimney on the Orange Block Building on July 14^th from 9:12-10:12 PM. They saw two sets of entries/ exits in the hour, before one bird entered the chimney at 9:55 PM.

We have two reports from Paul Goossen to report on. The first is at the Darlingford School Heritage Museum (in Darlingford). Paul monitored this site for just over an hour during the roosting hour. He had one entry and one exit in that time period. Paul also monitored the chimney on Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant in Morden on July 12^th for the roosting period. Here there was a lot of action! He saw six entry/ exit cycles in just under an hour!

Frank and Jacquie Machovec were back to watch the two chimneys at the St Joachim Church in La Broquerie on July 14^th for a 90-minute monitoring session in the evening. In the small chimney they observed an entry at 8:50 PM, followed two minutes later by an exit. Two Swifts ended the monitoring session in this chimney. The large chimney also had an earlier entry and exit (8:41 PM and 8:55 PM respectively), but ended the night with three Swifts heading down the chimney. There were up to eight Chimney Swifts seen flying in the area but only five Swifts between the two chimneys. So three unaccounted for Swifts were still around somewhere.

Gord Ogilvie watched the south chimney on the Trinity United Church in Portage la Prairie on the night of July 14^th. There were up to six Chimney Swifts seen in the air during the evening monitoring period, with two Swifts entering the chimney 12 minutes apart a little after sunset. There were no exits from the chimney.

We had Gerald Machnee monitoring at the southeast building (the Fur Loft) at Lower Fort Garry on July 13^th. There was no Chimney Swift action during the “daytime” part of the monitoring period (i.e. prior to a half-hour before sunset). However, there was an exit at 9:02 PM and then an entry approximately 20 minutes later. There were no other Chimney Swifts seen for the last 30 minutes of Gerald’s monitoring period.

Ariel also monitored at the southeast building at Lower Fort Garry, but on July 15^th. She had one entry in 90 minutes of monitoring. The many Barn Swallows at the site made monitoring here a bit trickier.

Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski monitored the two chimneys on the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound in Lockport on July 14^th. Their monitoring period included both daytime monitoring (8:00-9:00AM) as well as roosting period monitoring (9:00-10:05 PM). At the south chimney there was one exit at 8:21 PM (so likely a Swift in the chimney before they started monitoring), and one entry at 9:21 PM. At the north chimney there were entries at 8:34, 8:58 and 9:09 PM. These entries were followed by an exit at 9:11 PM and an entry again at 9:22 PM. Perhaps a Swift left for a quick snack before bed?

Ariel stopped by the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound after visiting Lower Fort Garry on July 15^th. She had one entry at the north chimney, but only stayed 30 minutes due to the heat!

The last part of our round up follows all of the monitoring that happened in Selkirk at the Mental Health Centre. On July 14^th Nia Massey and Linda Adie watched the powerhouse stack replacement tower and the yellow brick chimney for an hour and forty minutes. At the powerhouse stack replacement tower they had no entries or exits, but saw up to six Swifts flying around. The Swifts would periodically pass by starting at 8:48 PM. By the time of their last sighting (10:05 PM) only one Swift was seen overhead.

At the yellow brick chimney Nia and Linda also had the sighting of up to six Swifts flying around (not surprising as both the powerhouse stack replacement tower and the yellow brick chimney are in the same sightline, and not too far from each other). The yellow brick chimney had an exit at 9:40 PM, suggesting that a swift had been in the chimney since the monitoring period started at 8:00 PM. It then had two entries, one at 9:42 PM and one at 9:50 PM.

At the same time Winona Hook and Robert Hempler were watching the new Chimney Swift tower that is attached to the infirmary building (not to be confused with the infirmary building chimney itself). They also saw up to six Swifts flying overhead periodically. They did have one entry at 9:39 PM.

As the infirmary attached tower and the infirmary chimney are very close to each other, Winona and Robert were also watching the infirmary chimney as well. As expected, the number of Swifts seen in the air was the same as for the attached tower (six Swifts). However, there was a bit more action at the chimney, with an entry at 9:38 PM, followed by an exit five minutes later. The last Swift action here for the night was an entry at 9:51 PM.

Gerald covered the east and west artificial Chimney Swift towers, also on July 14^th. Similar to the others at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre that night, he saw a maximum of six Swifts passing periodically overhead. There were no entries into the east tower, but one entry in the west tower at 10:05 PM.

Overall, at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on July 14^th there were 6 swifts seen in the air and 5 swifts that went down the chimneys/ towers.

This is a map of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre Chimney Swift chimneys and artificial towers. 1 is the west artificial tower (the tallest). 2 is the powerhouse stack replacement tower (former site of the roosting chimney). 3 and 4 are the infirmary artificial tower and infirmary chimney respectively. 5 is the yellow brick chimney and 6 is the east artificial tower. All of the artificial/ replacement towers are free-standing except the infirmary artificial tower which is attached to the building.

Myself, Vicky, Tim Poole, and Barb and Rob Stewart did a daytime monitoring blitz on July 15^th at Selkirk Mental Health Centre as well. Taking a page from how the Selkirk Birders set themselves up for Chimney Swift monitoring, we had Barb watching the infirmary chimney and the attached artificial tower at the infirmary building and Rob at the west artificial Chimney Swift tower. Vicky watched the powerhouse stack replacement tower, I watched the yellow brick chimney and Tim watched the east artificial Chimney Swift tower. We all watched for 90 minutes.

Barb had by far the most activity, but only at the infirmary chimney. There were two birds with distinct chimney exit styles entering and exiting the chimney. One would exit down the north face of the chimney at a lower height and turn west, while the other would also come out of the chimney to the north, but would stay higher in the air. In total there were four entry/ exit events in two hours of monitoring. Barb’s summary notes state, “The frequency of entry/ exit events indicates feeding juveniles is taking place. Brooding vs non- brooding cannot be determined definitely, but the current activity at the Main St site in St Adolphe [which Barb watches closely], which is at the non-brooding stage, is comparable to this site.” The brooding stage is when there is still a parent on the nest with the chicks. Once the chicks at around 6-7 days old, they are able to self-regulated their temperature and the adult is no longer needed on the nest during the day, so brooding is not needed. Feeding rates usually go up in the non-brooded stage as the nestlings need more food and both parents are free to forage now that they are not consistently needed at the nest.

While nearby to Barb, Rob had no entries or exits at the west artificial tower. He had 2-3 Swifts flying over the field just west of the tower and had one instance of a Swift flying over the tower, but no daytime activity associated with the tower itself. The west tower is the tallest of the replacement towers build as mitigation when the majority of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre chimneys needed to come down (for safety reasons). It was built to provide a tall tower for roosting, but could also be used for nesting. However, there was no sign of nesting (i.e. no daytime Swift activity) on July 15^th.

The tower near to the old powerhouse stack that Vicky was watching, and the yellow brick chimney that I was watching were near to each other. During our monitoring period, neither of us saw any entries or exits, but periodically had 2-3 swifts flying overhead. There was a good-sized flock of pigeons that seemed to be trying their best to be distracting though! After all of our monitoring sessions had concluded and we were debriefing, I saw an entry into the powerhouse stack replacement tower – just by chance! The Swift was still in their as far as we know when we left. Unfortunately, we had not been watching that tower closely at that point.

Tim at the east artificial Chimney Swift tower had a similar experience to Vicky and myself during the monitoring period, with Chimney Swifts periodically flying over, but no entries or exits.

Thank you to everyone who is providing our riveting chimney swift updates and stay tuned for more!

• Amanda

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Note: Scroll down for an updated version of last week’s report. (FJM)

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Middle of Summer Swift-watching

Salutations dear volunteers! I hope you have been keeping count, because it is now our 7^th week as Swift-seeking opportunists in Manitoba. As we fast approach the middle of summer, the season for Swift feeding and meteor showers arrives. I recommend trying to catch the meteor shower that will start to be visible on the 17^th. May the lucky few make a wish upon a star to see Swifts properly nesting in their chimneys. With Swifts being more active in the daytime (if they are nesting), that means there will be more action to look forward too! Let us move right along into the data!

This week, we have news from Winnipeg, Dauphin, Selkirk, Lockport, Brandon and Erickson!

First, we have Breanne who has watched the Foodfare Chimney on Maryland. Starting from June 9, the 3^rd MCSI night, she confirmed two Swifts in the chimney. There were also many other guests, such as pigeons, gulls and eight nighthawks! For the 4^th MCSI on the 16^th, it was again a single pair that entered the chimney. For the last MCSI night on the 23^rd, it was again a pair that entered. All entries were made after 9 pm.

I think this is the first time I have gotten data from Erickson, Manitoba! I have Marissa to thank. Marissa originally saw swifts in the sky while walking around Erikson, but saw no obvious chimney that they were using. So, she picked a candidate chimney to watch on the night of June 22^nd. The chimney is situated on 49 Main St. Unfortunately, no swifts were seen flying overhead or using the chimney. We do not have any confirmed chimney use in Erikson, despite occasional Chimney Swift reports over the years. MCSI does have a list of possible candidate chimneys though, so if you are ever in the area with no evening plans, send us an email and we can send you some Chimney Swift monitoring options!

On June 26 back in Winnipeg, Barb and Rob observed the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower in the morning. There were no entries or exits at the chimney, however, three were seen in the air west of the tower. I wonder if the hole made by the Pileated Woodpecker is influencing the Swifts, it is a new situation for our program (and likely the Swifts) to be in!

Now we hear from the Selkirk gang! Let us start at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. On the 27^th, Linda and Winona watched the yellow-brick chimney. There were two entries at 9:55 PM, and nothing more. About one to six Swifts were always flying above. The stack tower (which replaced the large pumphouse stack chimney) also had two entries at 9:54 PM. Jumping to July 7, we have Gerald, who watched multiple chimneys. One entry each was observed in the infirmary building chimney and in the attached new Chimney Swift tower also on the infirmary building. Both entries were made close together, around 9:52 PM. The west and east free-standing Chimney Swift towers had no entries.

Continuing through Selkirk (still on July 7), we have 367 Main St. Ray and Sybil watched for the night and caught two entries. Winona was over at the Merchants Hotel during daytime on July 8th, and had a Swift coming in and out over the monitoring period. On average, the Swift went out for 20 minutes before coming back and switching with its mate. The switching occurred within a minute of the other coming back. This time interval and switching is an indicator of hatched eggs in the chimney!

Glennis and Louanne went downtown to the Orange Block building’s chimneys in Brandon. For the night of the 30^th, we had one exit at the beginning, and two entries at the end in the north chimney. Jumping to July 8, we had three Swifts seen coming into the north chimney by Louanne, but unfortunately no entries in the west chimney by Glennis.

Gerald went out to Lower Fort Garry on the 5^th of July in the evening. Unfortunately, no Swifts were seen. It may have been because of the chilly weather in the evening. Amanda made a trip to Lower Fort Garry on June 9th in the morning. There was no activity in the brick chimney on the red-roofed building, but over on the limestone chimney on the southeast building there were two sets of entries/ exits about an hour apart. Gerald was back there on the evening of the 9^th, there was one entry and exit in the evening on the southeast building chimney though! Both sightings seemed like incubation exchanges. Really hoping this nest is a success!

Back to the 8^th, Gerald and Tim V. went to Lockport to check on the Lock and Dam Maintenance compound. The north chimney had one entry, followed by an exit soon after. While, over in the south chimney, there were two entries around 9:17 PM.

On July 7, Lynnea tried watching the Church at 939 Main St in Winnipeg. No Swifts were entering or exiting the chimney that evening, but there were a few fly overs! 

In Winnipeg, on July 6, we got a general sighting of two Swifts flying overhead by a private residence on Ruttan Bay in the Fort Garry neighbourhood. We have “bwmoons” (taken from email) to thank for the info. This is nearby to several known Chimney Swift Chimneys on Pembina Highway, but it is also near residential chimneys that swifts could be using. If you are ever in the neighbourhood, keep an eye out!

Frank and Jacquie watched the Springs Christian Academy at 261 Youville St in Winnipeg on July 7 for the evening. There were no sightings of Swifts. However, Blair decided to check out the site a 261 Youville on the 9th in the daytime. There were, for sure, exchanges going on according to the data. Evidence that this chimney is likely a nesting chimney. Not sure where the swifts went when Frank and Jacquie were monitoring… perhaps the swifts prefer Starbucks over Timmies and so took off!

Over in Dauphin, we hear from Ken. The following observations were all made on July 7. Over at Scott’s Hardware, there was a pair cycling in and out, likely nesting! The Watson’s Art Centre did not have any Swifts, it seems. The roosting chimney was busy, as pairs went down to roost for the night. There may have been 10 in total in the roosting chimney. In conclusion, one nesting chimney over in Dauphin.

Garry watched the Pro-Tac Roofing building chimney in Winnipeg on July 9 for the morning. There was a total of two entries and a display of nesting behaviour. That is another likely nest in the bag!

The 424 River Ave roost site in Winnipeg is still going strong! This week, the visible chimney was watched by Ryon and Hazel on July 9 in the evening. The first entry was at 9:44 PM, but by around 10 PM 111 Swifts were counted still using the roost.

Amanda had told me that she saw Swifts by St Andrews River Heights Church in Winnipeg earlier in the spring while getting her car repaired, so I decided to check it out on the 12^th. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing in sight or anything to hear. The church’s chimney also looked capped up close. It started to rain halfway through the hour, so I decided to call it quits, and walk back home. That is when I saw six Swifts flying above me, about 8 blocks east of the Church. I tried to follow them, thinking they would return to their chimneys, but it seems like the rain did not bother them, as they continued to fly in circles. I returned the next day and could not find them anymore.

That is all for this week’s blog. I am excited to discover more nesting sites next week! Keep them coming everyone! Until then, have a good week!

• Vicky
• (updated July 21)

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P.S. There’s an updated dashboard placard to identify you as a dedicated swift-watching volunteer on our website. Find it here if you’re so inclined.