CHIMNEY SWIFTS IN THE NEWS
Last week provincial Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh announed the development of a new strategy to better protect species at risk that will include new funding for population recovery projects and developing new habitat protection legislation.
Part of this startegy is the declaration of the chimney swifts as an endangered species in Manitoba.
For more information, check the press release at
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2012/06/2012-06-25-143500-14694.html
You might also want to check the Species At Risk page at http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/wildlife/sar/
THINGS ARE LOOKING UP — MONITORING NEWS
Two “new” active sites have been found and monitored. There are a pair of swifts in the chimney at the Lorette Catholic Church, and three chimneys at Otterburne’s Providence College are being shared by at least seven swifts.
Monitoring reports recently received confirm strong bird counts at Selkirk, Dauphin, and Saint Adolphe sites.
Take a look at http://bit.ly/MABro1 for the current monitoring summary.
Don’t forget to send me your monitoring reports, and be on the lookout for “new additions” at your sites!
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT – A SWIFT VIDEO
The clip was extracted from a 13 minute recording of a monitoring session at the Dauphin roost site (courtesy K. Wainwright).
How many swifts do you see?
VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED
We could still use volunteers to verify activity at several sites. If you’d like to help, please contact Frank at 204-798-6275 or send a note to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com
Thanks to our volunteers for taking the time to report the activities of our avian visitors!
Frank M