A Friendly Wager
Early this week members of the Selkirk Bird Watchers and 21 observers in Saint Adolphe peered resolutely into the skies to see which group could see more swifts. The prize was a rare Chimney Swift Initiative mug. Everyone saw swifts, but, to make a long story short, the Selkirk folks won the mug and Saint Adolphe watchers got cookies and a chance to win door prizes.
Swift sightings: This week in review
The Selkirk crew had swifts at all four chimneys– including an impressive 47 birds at the large stack. The St. Adoplhe “group of ten” swifts maintained their presence at the 5 local chimneys.
Some initial reports of activity were received from Winnipeg sites– swifts were finally noted at an Academy Road apartment and at a well-known private school in Wildwood.
Interestingly, several reports indicated large numbers of swifts which didn’t seem to use the nearby “known” chimney. The most curious case came from Carman with 15-20 birds seen, but no apparent visitation to the roost chimney.
We also had some casual reports of sightings from Winkler, Lower Fort Garry, Main Street and Matheson, and Jubilee and Pembina.
The year-to-date viewing summary may be viewed as a GoogleDoc.
Life On The Edge: A Chimney Swift Webcam
If you’d like a glimpse of some south-of-the-border chimney swift action, or if you crave a break from the CBC Falcon Cams, you might want to check out Life on the Edge, a live swift feed from New York.
A Bit of Administrivia
I have stepped down as project coordinator, but will continue as a humble volunteer until the end of this season. So, please keep those reports coming in!
If you would like to volunteer to do some monitoring, there are many nice chimneys to be had!
Frank M.