This week, we are covering monitoring sessions that look place over our last two weeks of Chimney Swift monitoring. Our spring monitoring season officially ended June 22nd, so thank you to all of the volunteers who took part! That being said, we do continue monitoring through the nesting season. So if you’d like to continue monitoring your chimney, or check out a new chimney that didn’t get watched during the beginning part of our monitoring, we’d love to have you stay on!
The majority of our Chimney Swift reports in this blog come from communities outside of Winnipeg! We will stop in at Selkirk, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Lac du Bonnet, Souris, St Jean Baptiste, St Francois Xavier. And of course, we have Winnipeg as well.
We will start today off with a long look at the Selkirk Mental Health centre towers and chimney. The Province of Manitoba also does monitoring at this site – as the towers were put up in part to satisfy provincial requirements to mitigate impacts to the Chimney Swift (by providing habitat) when existing chimneys were removed last year.
On June 2nd Aditya Gandhi and Aynsly Woods were out monitoring from 8:30-10:00 pm. Aynsly watched the west tower but had no sightings of swifts using the tower or in the air. At the same time Aditya was watching the yellow brick chimney, the east tower and the stack replacement tower. There were also no sights or sounds of swifts here.
On June 6th Aditya and Aynsly were back at the Selkirk Mental Health Center again from 8:30-10:03pm. This time they had more luck! Aditya watched the west tower. For the majority of the event there were swifts flying around in varying numbers, from 2-8 individuals. At 9:40 pm two swifts entered the chimney and 10 minutes later one exited. So, one individual was left in the chimney. At the same time Aynsly was watched the attached tower and the Administration building chimney. She also just had swifts flying overhead until 9:30 pm when two swifts headed down the attached tower. She had no sightings after that.
On June 13th Tim Poole joined Aditya and Aynsly at the Selkirk Mental Health Center for a daytime monitoring session. First, we have Aynsly who monitored the stack replacement tower from 10:04-11:30 am. She had four swifts enter the tower, and no exits. This is unusual behavior for this number of Chimney Swifts to enter the tower during the day. Daytime entries are usually nesting birds, either a single bird or a pair.
At the same time Aditya was watching the east tower from 10:05 -11:05 am. There were four swifts flying around on a regular basis. At 11:15 two swifts entered the tower and did not exit until 11:45 am. After the pair had gone down the tower, the remain two swifts continued to fly overhead.
Tim had his hands full watching the Administration building chimney, the attached tower and the west tower (all close together) from 10:04-11:30 am. Shortly after Tim arrived there was an exit from the Administration building chimney. About 10 minutes later there were six swifts flying overhead. Tim noticed that these swifts looked like two sets of pairs (doing the “V” courtship display) and two other birds. At 10:20 am one swift went down the chimney and exited four minutes later. Then at 10:48 am a swift entered again and exited six minutes later. This pattern continued for two more sets of entries and exits of the Administration building chimney. So a total of 4 entries and 5 exits and 6 swifts (in three pairs) were observed. Other than the swifts overhead, there was no action around the west tower or the attached tower.
On June 8th Louanne Reid, and Gillian and Gwynn Richards monitored the north chimney on the Orange Block building in Brandon. At 9:30 pm they had one swift go down the chimney and a second swift flyby overhead, heading north. There was no other action from that point until they finished up at 10:17 pm.
On June 15th Glennis Lewis and Louanne Reid were out at the Orange Block in Brandon for a roosting session. Glennis had no entries or flybys at the west chimney. Louanne had a possible sighting of two exits at 9:23 pm and 9:24 pm, but this sighting was not for sure. Everyone has those moments where you look away for a second and boom – possible swift(s)! Louanne stayed until 10:08 pm but did not see the swifts again (so no entries). This would mark the first time there were two swifts at this chimney in 2022, as previous session just picked up one swift.
On June 22nd the most of the group (Louanne, Glennis and Gywnn) were watching the north chimney at the Orange Block building. Despite last week’s hopefulness of two swifts, there was only one entry at the chimney once again. Instead, similar to June 8th, a second swift flew by to the west.
Pat Start monitored the Hong Kong chimney in Dauphin on June 15th. She saw two swifts enter the chimney for the night. This is a nesting chimney, so a pair makes sense! Pat then moved over to the roosting chimney in Dauphin at 10:16 pm and stayed until 10:28 pm. In that period, she counted 10 swifts down the roosting chimney.
The Dauphin crew was out monitoring on June 22nd. I’ll send it to Ken to give us the summary report, “Well, last night was a temperature-pleasant night for watching swifts in Dauphin and the thunderstorm cloud just missed us to the east. Estimating that our swifts might be sitting on eggs we’d figured on seeing a pair of swifts at each nesting chimney, one inside and one foraging outside with maybe a turn around just prior to sunset and that is what seems to have happened. Monitoring was being done on chimneys 2018-14 & 15 with incidental observations towards the roost chimney #600. Roost chimney activity showed there might be 5-6 swifts there for the evening. These observations may mean egg hatching close to the end of June/beginning of July, there will be lots of food by then for sure if what bothered us last night is any example!!”
Donna Milovitch monitored for chimney swifts in Lac du Bonnet on June 12th and 13th. On the 12th she watched at Casey’s Inn with no activity, and the same lack of swifts occurred the next day while she was watching the chimney on Gran’s Bakery.
On June 18th myself (Amanda) and Ariel (our summer student) were out in southwestern Manitoba to hold Manitoba IBA program activities. Luckily, we had time on the Saturday afternoon to monitor chimneys in Souris. I watched the Whistling Donkey chimney first. I had an entry at 12:34 pm, and an exit at 12:37 pm. I saw four additional swifts flying around while the one swift was down the chimney. Due to us trying to blitz many chimneys, I didn’t stick around longer! NEXT! I then moved to the Kowalchuk Funeral home. I watched this chimney for 62 minutes. There were up to six swifts flying overhead, but no interaction with the chimney for the longest time. About 40 minutes into the monitoring period one swift popped out of the chimney! I watched for 20 minutes longer, hoping to see a second swift use the chimney (to confirm nesting via behaviour) but no luck. NEXT! Then I moved to watch a residential property (known as the “White House”) for 30 minutes. Just three minutes after I arrived a had a possible exit. At first, I wasn’t sure if this was truly an exit I saw (similar to Louanne above), but upon reviewing my monitoring sheet, after my “exit” the number of swifts consistently overhead increased by one, so I determined it was likely truly an exit.
While I was doing this Ariel watched the Chocolate Shop chimney for 60 minutes and moved to the Lagasse shop chimney for 75 minutes, but with no chimney use at either. That is not to say there weren’t swifts around! 5-6 swifts were periodically flying very low over the chimney before veering off over the nearby river and park (likely feeding), and rocketing around in the wind. I joined Ariel here for 20 minutes. At 2:33 pm one swift hovered over the Chocolate Shop chimney, but no interest was shown in the chimney after that. It was an incredibly hot and windy day while we were watching, so that may have influenced the swifts’ behaviour.
We have several session’s worth of monitoring from Nelson Chubey next from the school in St Jean Baptiste! First we start on June 8th when Nelson watched from 8:26-8:44 pm. This quick monitoring session confirmed chimney use and netted Nelson one entry by a swift. Nelson was back the next Wednesday for a full monitoring period. He had one swift exit the chimney at 8:33 pm, just before a light rain started at 8:35 pm. After a period with no activity, he had a swift enter the chimney at 9:01 pm and then a second enter at 9:33pm. Shortly after that (9:39 pm) he noted that “two more swifts almost went down. [They] loudly hovered over chimney entrance for a couple seconds before flying off.” So that was two swifts in the chimney and two more overhead, that were also interested.
Luc Blanchette was also Chimney Swift monitoring in St Jean Baptist on June 15th, but at the church. He saw a maximum of three swifts in the air at 9:19 pm, before one swift entered the chimney. After that he only saw groups of two swifts, and then dropped down to a single swift after Nelson had his last entry for the night. So we had one swift on June 15th who must have either snuck in a chimney after monitoring was finished or found a different chimney in town to use.
One more week passes and Nelson is back at the chimney for June 22nd. This time there was even more activity! He noted two exits at 8:36 pm and 8:37 pm. Then an entry at 8:10 pm where the swift stayed in the chimney for 20 minutes before exiting again. Starting at 9:18 pm there were three entries. After all three swifts were down the chimney there were still three swifts in the air.
On June 17 in Carman Rhonda Smith had an incidental sighting of six swifts flying in the vicinity of the two known Chimney Swift chimneys in town. Rhonda also mentioned “I’m suspecting there may be one or two more as there seems to be single swifts coming in from totally different flight lanes/ patterns than the larger groups of three or more. I call them “sneaky swifts” because they are always beelining from points afar and not swifting around in a bunch with the others.”
On June 16th Mike and Michele Tumber monitored the St Francois Xavier R.C. Church chimney during the afternoo, to see if they could see signs of a nesting attempt setting up. They saw a maximum of five swifts in the air (which is unusually high for their site), but had no use of the chimney. Mike was back for a daytime monitoring session on the afternoon of June 22nd. Shortly after arriving he saw two swifts in the air. For the last 30 minutes of the 90-minute monitoring session he moved over to watch a new chimney in town. Mike and Michele have in the past indicated that this new chimney is the only other appropriate chimney they know of in the area. Unfortunately, Mike had no better luck there either!
And the Chimney Swifts at Lower Fort Garry continue to get up to their mischievous ways. On June 16th Gerald arrived a bit late to his monitoring site at the Fur Loft at Lower Fort Garry. Before he could even make his way over there though he saw a swift diving into the chimney on the building by the bell tower. Swifts have used this chimney before, but not for a number of years. No other swifts were seen or head after that, although it sounds like the mosquitos enjoyed Gerald’s company!
Then on June 22nd we have this report from Gerald at Lower Fort Garry, “… as I approached the Fort I looked at the building on the left just inside the west gate. A swift flew out of the chimney did a loop or two and went back down. Holy Moly! That was at 9:00 PM. Then another Swift tried to go down. It flew around for about 8 minutes taking dives at that chimney. It finally went in at 9:09 PM. I was inside on the path that goes straight east to the Big House. I glanced over to the south to the other chimneys. Then as I looked back west a swift did a dive into that chimney by the gate. So that may have been Swift #3 unless I missed an exit. So the moral of the story is, we have a new chimney to watch. I do not know if this would be the same Swift that took a dive into the south side last week.”
Winona Hook was at Lower Fort Garry in that same afternoon, but did not see any swifts, only a few swallows.
Cal Cuthbert watched the Trinity United Church in Portage la Prairie on June 15th for an hour around sunset. He had two entries at the shorter “south” chimney on the west side of the church. No exits were seen.
Gordon Oglivie was able to keep an eye on two nearby sites at once on June 22nd for the evening roost period in Portage la Prairie. The first site was the Olina building, with no activity. The second site was the MTS building and here there was some activity. Shortly after Gordon arrived at 9:15 pm one swift exited the chimney, and then at 9:55 pm two individuals went down the chimney for the night. We don’t know quite what is happening in this chimney – but this observation allows us to determine that the site is occupied, which is critical to know from year to year.
Karla Guyn and Jim Devries watched the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance building chimneys in Lockport on June 22nd for 90 minutes in the evening. Both chimneys on the building were active. The north chimney had a set of entries and exits (a pair for each) starting at 9:10 pm before the pair headed down the chimney for the night at 9:45 pm. The swifts at the south chimney were exhibiting very similar behaviour. It started at 8:39 pm with two swifts exiting at the same time, before entering one at a time around 10-20 minutes later. At 9:23 pm once again the pair exited the chimney at the same time. The swifts entered the chimney for the night at 9:35 pm and 9:46 pm. There were two more swifts seen over the chimneys (so 6 swifts total), but these “extra” swifts did not use the chimneys on the building.
Next, we will fly on over to Winnipeg!
Donna was back in town on June 15th when she watched the chimney at the Old King’s Theatre building and the Viscount apartments in the afternoon. There was no activity at the Viscount Apartments, but she finally saw some action at the Old King’s Theatre! Two swifts exited the chimney about five minutes after she started watching. There was no other activity associated with the chimney after that, but there were two more swifts in the air, for a total of four swifts in the area.
Donna was back at the monitoring on June 16th when she watched the Viscount Apartments during the roosting period. She saw the first two swifts of the season at this site! The two swifts went down the chimney at 9:40 pm and 9:45 pm respectively. Donna noted “[The] chimney is tall, straight up from the ground. I almost missed them but caught one and waited for another, which almost escaped me as well!”
Two days later Donna checked out the Marner Apartment. This time her luck didn’t hold. She saw two swifts fly in the vicinity of the nearby Ecole Assiniboine School, but no swifts using the chimney on her building.
Donna also had an incidental sighting of four Chimney Swifts circling over the Assiniboine Park Zoo Tower on June 19th.
On June 23rd we also had another volunteer at the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower. They saw an entry and an exit early on in their monitoring period. They had an entry for the night at 9:48 pm, but no other activity until the finished monitoring at 10:15 pm.
Blair Reid watched the chimney at 261 Youville St from 8:44-9:55 pm on June 15th. There was a lot of action at this chimney with an entry/exit cycle at 8:48/8:59 pm. Then a swift headed down the chimney at 9:07 pm, and a second entered at 9:20 pm. One swift then exited four minutes later, but then went down the chimney for the night at 9:36 pm. So a pair here!
Gary Franzmann and Marj Kendall were at 1181 Pembina Highway on June 15th. They had 2-3 chimney swifts pass by their chimney around five times but no use of the chimney. By 9:15 pm rain had started and they had no more sightings after that.
On June 19th Garry Budyk spend 86 minutes with the pair of swifts at 722 Watt St. As Garry mention, “The happy couple are busy busy!”. Between the pair, the swifts had three entries and two exits. Based on the fact that were significant periods of time where neither swift was in the chimney, the swifts at Garry’s chimney were probably either nest building or in the process of laying eggs (incubation doesn’t start until all eggs are laid). If the swifts were incubating eggs the swifts would have spent longer in the chimney overall.
On June 16th Ron Bazin watched at Marion Hotel in St Boniface. He had four Chimney Swifts flying overhead throughout the monitoring period. At 9:48 pm two Chimney Swifts came flying in quickly and quietly before heading down the chimney.
The next Wednesday (June 22nd) Ron headed over to the Archibald Storage building, also in St Boniface. The first entry was at 8:44 pm, followed by a second entry at 8:59 pm. At the same time (8:59 pm) there was also an exit. Then at 9:12pm there was a second exit. The swifts went into the chimney for the night at 9:23 pm and 9:48 pm. Ron noted that all birds were silent while arriving and leaving the site. Monitoring is so much easier when the swifts are still announcing their presence. However, this is a good reminder that close attention is needed when monitoring!!
I had two notable things happen this week. The first was a message passed onto me from Nature Manitoba that a house in Tuxedo had heard an “thump” and flapping in the bottom of their chimney. They thought a Chimney Swift adult and nest had possibly fallen down the chimney and gotten stuck at an angle between the damper and the chimney wall. I was able to stop by on the afternoon of June 21st and stick my arm up the fireplace. There was for sure a bird in there (confirmed by some feathers as I blindly stuck my phone camera up to take a photo), but it felt oddly large to be a Chimney Swift. Regardless of the type of bird, it was stuck and it needed to come out! Since it was quite large and the damper was quite small it took some manoeuvring to get it through the damper. To my surprise I had pulled out a female Bufflehead (duck). It was still uninjured and quite feisty after its ill-advised adventure, so it was released outside. Buffleheads are a cavity nesting duck, so perhaps it got a bit confused between a tree cavity and a chimney. Quite the adventure for the homeowners and myself!
On June 22nd I meet up with Josh Dewitt and five youth from Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Wild Outside program at the roost at 424 River Avenue. This program connects youth to nature and conservation opportunities both in and outside cities. While we were waiting for the Chimney Swift show to start I gave a brief presentation about the Chimney Swifts and got asked many excellent questions. The Chimney Swifts started entering the chimney at 9:57 pm, and entered in waves until the last few trickled in at 10:14 pm when it was too dark to see the chimney. Prior to the entries starting, we only saw a maximum of six swifts in the air, but we counted at total of 64 swifts down the chimney! As a bonus I also got to meet Pam and Marilyn, our volunteers who are usually at St Mary’s Road United Church, as they were there for the show as well.
That’s all for next week, I’ll be back next week for more swift findings!
-Amanda
