It feels like this will be one of our last Chimney Swift updates for 2019 – but what a year it has been!
Here are some updates from around the province, proving there is still life in the old swift yet.
We begin with Selkirk:
On July 19, Robert and Donna, counted 15 swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and 2 in the infirmary;
On July 24, Robert and Donna, counted 34 swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, 4 in the yellow brick and 2 in the infirmary;
On July 24 and July 31, Ray and Sybil did not have any activity at the Merchant’s Hotel;
On August 2, Gerald counted 1 swift at Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
On August 5, Gerald counted 3 in one chimney, and 1 in the other chimney at St Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport;
On August 8, Gerald counted 2 in the chimney at Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
On August 13, Linda and Nia counted 28 swifts at the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, Robert and Donna counted 2 at a busy nest site at the yellow brick chimney and 2 in the infirmary;
On August 14, Ray and Sybil’s luck changed and they counted a net 10 at the 367 Main Street site and August 15 a total of 7;
On August 14, Gerald counted 2 in the chimney at Lower Fort Garry in the Fur Loft;
In Brandon, Margaret and Millie continue their vigilant watching. Here is their brief report from the 9th:
‘We decided to go earlier so this report includes daytime monitoring. We are concerned that our swifts arrived later and are at increased risk of nest failure. They are still feeding – we left feeling hopeful!’
Continuous feeding of young was going on. Jump to August 13, and the feeding was as busy as ever, 7 entries, 6 exits in 72 minutes. A similar rate was recorded on the 18th. Fledging must be close for this pair.
Speaking of fledging, Garry sent this report on the 13th:
‘20:24 – 1 swift circling, with low sweeps by chimney several times.
20:25 – same swift enters chimney, in a rather halting fashion.
20:33 – 1 swift circling chimney for almost 10 minutes. Making many wide circles and several low sweeps low to the chimney. Then it disappeared.
20:51 – 2 swifts circling chimney, keeping close company, some twittering with several low sweeps by chimney.
20:55 – the 2 swifts enter chimney, both in a halting manner.
21:03- 1 swift enters chimney. Came out of nowhere and dove in like a bullet. Adult I presume.
Waited until 21:19 but saw no other entry. There were distractions with cars pulling out from where I was parked so not impossible that I missed one more dive-bomb entry.
So … I would say at least 2 young have been reared in this chimney, maybe 3, judging by the somewhat careful entries of 3 swifts.’
Brilliant news from Watt Street in East Kildonan. Thanks Garry for watching and sharing. More success in Portage la Prairie where Cal sent this report:
‘This evening Gord and myself along with Janice Madill did
another swift watch. Gord covered the former Women’s Gail and had 3
rather late entries. Janice Madill and myself covered Trinity United
Church.
The following is a quick breakdown of events at
the church:
8:43 – a flyover flock of 16 swifts seen
8:48 – a flyover flock of 19 swifts seen
(a real surge in numbers over last week )
8:20 to 8:52 – several attempts at entry by an
obvious fledgling
8:58 – 2 quick entries
9:02 – 1 quick entry followed by (at last) the
rather clumsy entry by a fledgling
9:16 – another quick entry
Total 5 final entries for the evening all in the
south chimney. There is the possibility that more than one of these 5 entries
was a fledgling. We don’t really think so though as they were all
“smooth” entries with the one exception. Unless of course two more
fledglings “caught on” quicker on how to make more skillful entries!’
Back in Winnipeg, and it looks as though we had a fledged swift reported by Barbara and Phil:
‘Plenty of aerial CHSW activity (I counted 13, but there may have a couple more) over east Osborne Village. No entries into Royal Oak. There were some tantalizing low flyovers of the Clarke chimney, three failed entries (3 different birds, or just one who couldn’t get it right?). But only 3 entries in the end. Where did the other 10 go?’
Where indeed! Blair in St Boniface sent this:
‘My reports for this week. They cover two locations that had a pair of swifts all season. This week was a repeat of what I saw last week.
261 Youville – had swifts entering and exiting a couple of times, then two swifts went in for the night.
340 Provencher Blvd – had two swifts enter the chimney, 1 left 15 minutes later and then two returned 8 minutes later, for a total of 3 in the chimney.’
The suspicion here is that Provencher fledged one swift and Youville is still an ongoing nest attempt.
Randy from the Manitoba Museum sent an intriguing report on the 14th:
‘And, while having a coffee meeting with other curators at Joe and Lilly’s in Sports Manitoba, a swift entered the gray-painted NE chimney of Children’s House on Pacific. It entered about 10:40 and exited less than a minute later. I did not see another entry after about 20 minutes.’
A second report came 24 hours later from Randy.
‘Watched the Pacific Avenue chimney yesterday (Aug 15) for about 10 minutes in the morning, 8:15-8:25, and ten minutes in the afternoon, 4:45-4:55 with no observations.
Watched for 55 minutes this morning (Aug 16) with some activity:
8:14 – 1 leaving
8:14 – 1 leaving
8:15 – 1 leaving
8:30 – 1 entering (might have missed the exit?)
8:35 – 1 entering
8:37 – 1 exiting
8:56 – 1 flew over the chimney about 5 feet above, did not enter
9:06 – 1 entering
9:08 – 1 exiting
Chimney is in full sun by 8:10 or earlier. Birds exited towards the east or the southeast (towards the river) and returned from similar directions.’
New Silver Heights was very active on the 16th, watched by Bob and Valerie:
‘We went to look at the chimney at the Silver Heights apartments yesterday. Activity, but apparently no fledging yet.’
Katrina still had an entry at the zoo on the 15th. This tower has been a hive of activity in 2019!
Ken and Jan had a busy week in Dauphin starting on the 14th:
‘Started out being a great night to watch swifts but then rain clouds moved in about an hour before sunset and drowned us out at one chimney but cleared out by the time we move to the roost chimney. Chimney 2018-14 wasn’t observed this night as volunteers are now working with Elections Canada so we started with 2018-15. We immediately spotted swifts flying overhead, 5 became 8 then 11 and then 14 but all flying high overhead. There was one entry event with 2 swifts going down with the last one clearing having trouble and hovering over the chimney mouth before dropping in. I would suggest this chimney has now fledged and one adult and a YOY are using the chimney for roosting.
Moved on over to observe the roost chimney #600 and observed the larger flock from 2018-15 of over 14 swifts flying through the light rain. There was then a series of 5 entry/exits which correlates to last weeks observation that the roost has a nest inside with young still not fledged. As sunset came, individual swifts started to roost but the big flock number did not materialize so it might be a composite flock of fledglings, parents and migrants. The final estimate for swifts in the chimney was only 7 but the maximum seem flying at one time was 16. It seems likely that the rest of the flock split themselves into the two nesting chimneys.
A summary could look like this: 16 swifts minus 7 in roost = 9 with 2 in nest chimney = 11 minus 4 adults = 7 possible YOY fledged so far which is a really good number with the nest in the roost still to fledge (maybe I’m dreaming this success number!).’
The intrigue continued on the 17th at the large roost chimney:
‘Stopped by the Dauphin roost on our way home from a meal of Chinese food tonight and in less than 5 minutes saw an exit, entrance and exit so they are still not fledge yet.’
Finally, Barb has sent possibly her last report from St Adolphe for 2019:
‘Chimney Swift activity in St Adolphe was much reduced on Waning Wednesday, August 14. The aerial presence of the swifts along the north-south corridor was non-existent. At minute 50 of a one hour watch, a quick exit was made at the Main St. chimney. The departing swift was black and sleek, but was not presenting itself in a way to i.d., so it may have been a juvenile but that can’t be confirmed.
Over at the older residential area near the curling rink on Wednesday, up to 6 swifts could be seen flying low over the mature tree tops. They were feeding actively with Purple Martins. Watching the rim of the newly identified nest site yielded no entry/exit observations in 30 minutes. There was no need for concern though as fledging took place at this site Aug. 10-11. Fledglings could be seen flying near the nest chimney on Monday and again Wednesday, so flight training is well underway.
For other nest site monitors, it is fast approaching the cutoff date for successful fledging. In St Adolphe, August 16 is the latest known date for successful takeoff – and that was a Day 32 liftoff at the Brodeur Bros. site in 2010 (fledging was delayed by significant, prolonged wind activity). Watch for changes in activity patterns at your sites: an increase of activity by adults may signal drawing the young up to the chimney rim prior to fledging; an increase in activity by obviously flight-challenged swifts – including tentative entries – suggests fledglings are learning to navigate in the airspace. Once fledging takes place, the use of the natal site diminishes over 7-10 days and, yes, it can be variable between sites. This year the SE Club fledglings were in/out of the chimney often during the day for over a week while the Main St young were not using their chimney at all during a 90 minute watch 2 days post-fledging.
Margaret and Millie often have successful fledging at their site in Brandon at later dates in August. Tim has some good thoughts on this…’
In response to Barb’s last ‘poke’, Tim’s hypothesis is that swifts arrive back in Brandon later than the east. Maybe the season draws out longer in the southwest, stays warmer, and perhaps there is less insecticide spraying in the city. And that’s that!
And that is indeed our update. A plethora of great reports. Thank you everyone One more week to come, and possibly another week of great reports. We look forward to hearing from you.
Tim Poole
