Our first week of monitoring is in the bag! Based off of the reports I have received so far, it seems to me that not all of our Chimney Swifts have arrived back in Manitoba yet compared to numbers from past years. Perhaps they were/are delayed by the cool and wet weather that has dominated so far this spring.
That being said we did have swifts at a number of sites in Winnipeg and across Manitoba, and great weather for the first of our official monitoring nights. Read on below for details!
Frank and Jacquie Machovec visited Carmen on May 24th to watch the chimney on Carman Memorial Hall. Most importantly they reported that Carman now has a Tim Hortons to grab coffee from before swift monitoring! Second most importantly they had a trio of birds periodically circling overhead before two birds went down the chimney from a shallow angle about 20 minutes after sunset (just kidding Frank and Jacquie were very happy to see swifts in Carmen!). They are fairly certain the third bird entered as well, but they did not have a great view of the birds entering from their location – so hard to get the ideal view! Frank also spotted a group of five swifts to the southeast about an hour before sunset. We had “bonus” swifts in Carmen last year too, where we were unsure where they were roosting, so I am unsurprised that this mystery continues. On the same day I also had a report from Rhonda Smith in Carman, who was able to confirm that she also saw three swifts in the same vicinity as Frank and Jacquie.
Luc Blanchette was also out monitoring on May 24th but at the Church in St Jean Baptiste. He had up to six swifts overhead, and two swifts down the chimney both entering shortly after one another around sunset. We will have to keep our eyes and ears open to determine where the “bonus” swifts in St Jean Baptiste are headed as well! Luc was also keeping his eyes and ears attuned to migrating Common Nighthawks, another aerial insectivore (like the Chimney Swift). He observed 87 individuals passing him by on the 24th, impressive!
On May 25th Frank and Jacquie were out monitoring again, but this time without a local Timmies, at St Joachim Church in La Broquerie. Here they watched two chimneys. The small chimney on the church had a swift enter at 9:19 pm, before exiting at 9:27 pm and then heading in for the night at 9:32 pm. The larger chimney on the church had two swifts enter at 9:27 pm and then one more swift enter at 9:39 pm. However, Frank and Jacquie saw six swifts in total overhead, meaning that they could only account for four of the six swifts in the area in the two chimneys. Did the last two swifts enter after it was too dark to see properly? Or is there another site in the area? MCSI doesn’t know of another site in La Broquerie currently.
In Brandon Glennis Lewis monitored for Chimney Swifts at the west chimney on the Orange Block building on May 25th. She had no swifts seen or heard overhead or in the chimney – so likely no swifts in the north chimney on the building either. Crossing our fingers that migrating swifts just haven’t made it to Brandon yet this year – since both the Orange Block chimneys were very active last season!
In St Francois Xavier Michael and Michèle Tumber were back at their post at the Church in 2022 again. They had an interested evening with four swifts in the air, but only two down their chimney, so “bonus” swifts here too (bonus swifts for everyone this year!). Michèle mentioned that they know of one other chimney in town, so they are going to keep their eyes peeled for entries there.
The flood water had gone down enough for Barb and Rob Stewart to escape Isle Stewart during the day on May 25th and head into St Adolphe. Barb noted four swifts over St Adolphe, which is one more than I saw on May 12th. Barb noted that likely not all pairs have arrived back yet. There were no signs of daytime entries that would signal nesting building had started in any of the known sites in town.
The Dauphin crew were also out monitoring on May 25th. Ken Wainwright noted “Well, it got really overcast in Dauphin and the sky was almost black which made observations really hard but we managed to count 7 swifts go down the roost chimney. There was one bird that went in and out just at sunset until they decided to go down. There seemed to be at least 1 pair always flying together.” That one Chimney Swift just didn’t want you guys to get too bored watching the chimney! Similar to Luc’s sightings while monitoring in St Jean Baptiste, Common Nighthawks were also seen overhead in Dauphin.
Donna Milovitch is monitoring for us in both Winnipeg and Lac Du Bonnet, but we will start off with her adventures outside the city first. On May 26th Donna monitored Casey’s Inn and Gran’s Bakery buildings in Lac du Bonnet. This is the first time both buildings have been watched in several years. Unfortunately, no swifts showed up in daytime monitoring periods yet, but we will keep watch to see if anyone arrives.
Moving to Winnipeg now, Jon Benson monitored the Waldorf Apartments chimney at 634 Broadway. Jon had a great first night of monitoring with up to six swifts in the air, and two entries into the chimney seven minutes after sunset.
On May 25th Rudolf Koes monitored for Chimney Swifts at two sites near the Northdale Mall. At the Curtis Hotel chimney, he observed two swifts enter the chimney at 9:15 pm and just two minutes later two swifts went down the chimney at 1010 Brazier St. Earlier in the night Rudolf had seen eight swifts flying overhead, so he continued to watch past the two sets of entries. Good thing he did, as seven more swifts flew overhead at 9:28 pm heading east. The only site we know of east of Rudolf’s sites is Chief Peguis School – so if anyone wants to go check it out, you may find a roost of seven birds! If not, we have some unknown sites in the area.
Next, we move back to Donna’s daytime monitoring in Winnipeg. On May 18th she observed the Carillon Apartments and the Marner Apartments in the St James neighbourhood. No swifts were seen or heard. Unfortunately, the no-swifts streak continued with her monitoring efforts on May 25th with no swifts seen or heard at the Carillion Apartments, Marner Apartments, King’s Theatre/ Latinos Market and the Viscount Apartments. In an “average” year the Chimney Swifts have the possibility of nest building in this time period, so daytime activity is possible, but perhaps not yet with our weather this spring. It will be interesting at the end of this year to look back at the timings of each stage of the nesting process that we can glean from everyone’s monitoring efforts. Will they be comparable to the “average”? Or will nesting stages be pushed back later into the year?
Ariel Desrochers (our summer assistant, back for another round with us in 2022) watched the Roxy Lanes chimneys on the evening of May 25th. No activity was seen in the white brick chimney on the side of the building, but three swifts entered the red brick chimney. Each swift entered the chimney almost 10 minutes apart with the first entry at 9:05 pm and the last entry at 9:27 pm, just after sunset.
Peter Douglas monitored at the St Anne’s RC Church on May 25th. He had a single Chimney Swift fly over at 8:31 pm, but no sightings after that.
Blair Reid was also out on our first monitoring night. He was at 690 St Joseph St and had three swifts overhead, but only one entry into the chimney which occurred eight minutes after sunset.
I was watching the eastern-most chimney at the Silver Heights Apartments in St James on May 25th. I had four swifts that were constantly swooping in and out of view from 8:12 pm to 9:10 pm. I thought they might all end up going down the Moorgate Apartment chimney (two apartments east from me) from their flight trajectories. After 9:10 pm activity really quieted down, but suddenly at 9:18 pm I had one swift enter my chimney fast, and another swift swoop down, but fly past the chimney. The other three swifts were not seen again.
Jo Swartz and Betsy Thorsteinson monitored the freshly renovated Assiniboine Park Zoo tower on Wednesday. They had three swifts periodically flying overhead, and a couple minutes before sunset two of the swifts entered the tower, while the third swift left and was not seen again. Jo mentioned she saw the Pileated Woodpecker – but thankfully not near the tower! Lots of other trees for it to choose from, rather than the Chimney Swift tower!
A great group of residents at the Old Grace Housing Co-op in Wolseley continue to work with Provincial Species at Risk Biologist Tim Poole this year to monitor for Chimney Swifts at that site. The Housing Co-op has a built-in Chimney Swift tower, but has not had swifts using it since it was built. This year they noted six swifts overhead (two sets seemingly paired up). Despite some swooping low down to the tower, they had no entries on May 25th.
Jeope Wolfe possibly solved where one of the Wolseley pairs of swifts went. He saw four of the swifts (in two pairs) plus a fifth swift (seen only once) flying overhead on May 25th. Two of the swifts ended up down the chimney he was watching at the Lothian Apartments (very close to the Housing Co-op). I wonder if the others are using the Fleetwood Apartment chimney in the neighbourhood? To be investigated!
Blaire Barta was watching the chimney at the Behavioral Health Foundation in St Norbert. She observed six swifts flying around all afternoon and evening but saw no entries or attempted entries into the chimney. Of the six swifts, there seemed to be two paired up. All swifts left the area around 9:30 pm. Our other known Chimney Swift site in St Norbert is the St Norbert Parish Church. This site does not currently have a monitor this year, so if anyone would like to drop by during the roosting hour, there may be action there and we’d love to know about it!
And that is it for our first monitoring round-up of the season! As I mentioned we have a few Chimney Swift mysteries forming at unmonitored chimneys, as well as some priority chimneys that still need a volunteer monitor! So, if you or someone you know would like to watch a chimney mentioned above or in a chimney in Winnipeg-City Centre, Winnipeg- South Point Douglas, Winnipeg- St James, or Stonewall, Manitou or Portage la Prairie send me an email at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com.
Otherwise, the upcoming monitoring schedule is:
Happy switch-watching!
NRMP Night #2 (monitors who watch the big roosts): Sunday, May 29th
MCSI Night #2 (all other monitors): Wednesday, June 1st
NRMP Night #3: Thursday, June 2nd
- Amanda
