The birds have flown: Season wrap-up
September is right around the corner, and the end of the 2023 Chimney Swift monitoring season in Manitoba has officially arrived. We want to send out a massive massive THANK YOU to everyone who engaged in Chimney Swift conservation this season, in one way or another. MCSI relies heavily on our citizen scientists to help us gather important data on roosting activities, breeding behaviour, arrival/departure dates, chimney use, etc. An important part of what MCSI does is clean and repair swift chimneys. This monitoring data really helps inform these habitat protection and restoration activities. On that note, if you have noticed any swift chimneys that could use some TLC, we’d love to hear about it. Please remember to send us any remaining datasheets you may have!
We do have a few monitoring updates from this past week, which all confirm the departure of the swifts from the province.
Jennifer happened to see two swifts enter the chimney at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre (340 Provencher Blvd) on August 21st, showing that they were still around last week. Jennifer monitored 100 Adelaide Street (one of our priority sites) on the evening of August 24th, but did not see any swift activity.
Blair checked out 261 Youville Street on August 25th and 1310 Archibald Street on August 26th. Both these chimneys had feeding activity earlier in August, but by this week, the swifts were gone.
Christie who had swifts in her home chimney in Tuxedo, reports that throughout the summer she was seeing numerous entries and exits. During the last few weeks, she often saw up to a dozen swifts flying in the airspace above her house. By August 25th, she had not seen any swifts for a few days.
Glennis and Louanne monitored the Orange Block Building in Brandon on August 30th, and saw no swift activity there either.
Thank you all again for a successful 2023 season. We’re already looking forward to next year!
If there are any topics you’d be interested in learning about in winter blog posts, let me know.
Thanks 😊
-Marissa
