Post Canada Day greetings to all, and special thanks to the many volunteers who continue to brave the elements in search of sometimes elusive chimney swifts!
Recently we’ve had some interesting finds and some surprising absences involving our target species.
We will make sense of the many monitoring reports later, but the following are some highlights from recent observations. If I’ve neglected to mention your reports, sorry and we’ll get to you next time!
From Carman, Lewis, Frank, and Jacquie recently monitored the Memorial Hall chimney and a nearby residential chimney. There were several fly-bys by Swifts, and we observed at least eight CHSW in the Memorial Hall and four in the residential chimney.
From Barb Stewart:
“As of Tuesday, July 3rd the St Adolphe swifts were in various stages of progress and unfortunately, demise. The backstory to remember was a huge early morning thunder storm on Fri. June 29. Before then, incubation was underway at all 5 nest sites (checked Tues. – Thurs.) although with an extra helper on site at the SE Club chimney, the cadence of entries/exists was different.
As a reminder, the adult exchanges of 1 time per hour during incubation, shift subtly to about 2 times per hour when feeding begins. After hatching, the young need warming, or brooding, for 6-7 days. So one adult is usually in attendance at all times, covering the young after they are fed. Juveniles older than 6-7 days can regulate their own body temperature so they can be left uncovered i.e., non-brooded. Then both adults may leave the nest site to forage for those precious food morsels. Fledging – the first flight of juveniles outside of the natal chimney – takes place on Day 28–30.
Checking in on the birds starting Sat. June 30th, the daytime activity at the Brodeur Bros. and NE Club Amical sites had stopped. A nest slippage after the storm? Perhaps some negative outcome of “extra” swifts arriving in town?
On to better news…the Main St eggs hatched out during the time between the last Tues. monitoring session and the Friday storm day – on June 30th there were 2 entry/exit cycles in one hour. On Tues. July 3, both adults were out of the chimney together – both arriving over the rim but only one entered. So that was Day 6-7 which makes for an estimated fledging between July 24-27.
At the Church, hatching took place on July 2. That means the avian congregation should fledge July 29-31.
What about the SE Club Amical site? Well, with an extra bird on site and some complicated entry and exit activity, the site is active but the stage is not easy to identify.
Difficulty in interpretation spread to La Salle for the early evening monitoring on Wed. July 4th; the last check on June 10th had 3 consecutive entries into the West chimney in late morning. Arriving about 7:25 PM, Rob and I were treated to an exit from the West chimney shortly thereafter. Great – a nest site. Then an exit was seen from the East chimney. Oh boy, had an additional swift(s) arrived for a breeding attempt? By the end of a 90 session, 3 swifts were seen flying together, no other event occurred at the East chimney, and the pair had 2 entries and 1 exit at the West site. The couple moved together (typical of egg laying/incubation phase) which resulted in an unattended stretch of ½ hour (a long time for brooded young) and a short between-visit interval of ~5 minutes (not much time to collect insects to feed young).
What is happening in La Salle? Likely a single bird took a rest in the East site. A pair is attempting breeding in the West site. The stage of nesting isn’t obvious. What complicates the story is the early Wed. morning thunder storm which had significant winds and rain. A nest slippage is always possible under those conditions. Parroting a favourite swift saying, there is always reason for one more trip to the chimney side!
Best, Barb.”
- John has been observing a number of sites in the core area of Winnipeg, and he has reported activity at 513 Waterfron, 303 Assiniboine, and 41 Princess.
- Rick in Neepawa has observed swift activity in that location.
- David in Morden has seen swifts at Lucky’s .
- Margaret and Amelia in Brandon have noted consistent activity at the 1203 Princess site.
- Chimney Swifts have been reported in the vicinity of the bridge in Lockport
- David in La Broquerie has been observing consistent activity in both chimneys at the historic St Joachim Church on Main Street.
- Frank and Jacquie have noted swift activity at the Mulvey Avenue site near Confusion Corner in Winnipeg.
During a recent Swift Wednesday, Lynnea, David, Frank and Jacquie took a road trip to Manitou (after an obligatory visit to Tim Hortons in Morden) to check three likely sites in the Pembina Valley town. Four chimneys were observed during the roost hour, but no swifts were seen (although two of the group may have heard swift chittering).
Keep those monitoring reports coming in and feel free to assign yourself to a chimney of your choice on Swift Wednesdays!
— Frank Machovec
