A happy belated Canada Day to all of you! I hope everyone is recovering from our recent spree of severe weather. All of our best wishes here at MCSI to our volunteers who were impacted, especially in southwestern Manitoba. While our spring monitoring finished last week, we now are entering the time when Chimney Swifts are working on incubation and starting to feed nestlings! We encourage you to continue monitoring during this period, as knowing which sites are used to nest (as opposed to just roost) is important. As well, data collected during this period helps to inform us on timing of different nest stages in Manitoba, and if we are lucky, how many young fledge from a nest. Monitoring during this period can be done both during the day, or in the evening, as once the young hatch they need to be fed throughout the day.
The same monitoring reports are used as in the Wednesday monitoring nights and can continue to be sent to mbchimneyswift@gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support in monitoring our swifts.
Now, on to some updates!
From Barb in St Adolphe we have “As of mid-afternoon Friday July 3, the 5 “old faithful” nest sites are active. That is good news after the deluge on Tuesday night through Canada Day morning. Incubation continues at the SE and NE Club Amical sites along with the Church and Main St chimneys. Today is HATCHING day at Brodeur Bros./Daycare site, so we welcome St Adolphe’s newest avian residents!”
Garry spend part of his Canada Day afternoon monitoring Chimney Swifts for us at a site on 722 Watt Street. He observed two daytime entries, with quick entry/ exit turn around times, about an hour apart. This pattern is a strong indicator that Chimney Swifts are likely nesting in this location, as they have in the past.
Margaret and Amelia also spent part of their Canada Day monitoring in Brandon and ended up with two roosting Chimney Swifts at the end of their observation period at the Orange Block building.
Also on July 1st in Selkirk, Nia and Linda watched the chimneys at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre with three Chimney Swifts in the smaller chimney and 10 in the larger chimney. Gerald was out watching the chimneys at the St Andrews Lock and Dam complex and had one bird in the first chimney, and one bird in the other chimney. Previously there had been a second bird in one of the Lock and Dam complex chimneys – Gerald’s hypothesis is that the second bird may have already been in the chimney during the monitoring period incubating eggs. Winona monitored at the Merchant’s Hotel on Eveline St and observed two swifts roosting for the night, with another two swifts that flew off without roosting in the chimney she was watching. On July 2nd Gerald also watched the chimneys at Lower Fort Garry Historical site. One chimney had no entries or exits, while the other had one swift roost for the night (down from the previous two roosting in earlier weeks – perhaps another possible bird on the nest incubating? Hopefully time will tell!).
Nicole was out and about in Osborne Village and remarked “I was in Osbourne Village for a bike ride and there were so many swifts in the air. It was close to 10pm so we swung by the Biltmore and watched the chimney. We saw 3-5 swifts in the air. We had 2 enter the chimney at the Biltmore Apartment at 10:10pm Saturday night, June 27, 2020”.
We also have a new possible site identified by Dominique, in North Kildonan. She sent us “Yesterday and today there were six birds flying very low – at times just above the treetops. At one point I am quite certain I saw a bird drop into a chimney. This house is at XXX Kildonan Dr. The home has a tall brick chimney with no visible insert or other barrier to the swifts getting in there.”
Luc over in St Jean Baptiste was monitoring at the church where three birds had 8 entries and 6 exits in 60 minutes. This is certainly a lot of activity at the chimney!
At the St Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Parish chimney Michelle and Mike had the same numbers to report this week as last week, with three swifts seen, but only two roosting at the Parish.
In Portage la Prairie at the Woman’s Correctional Facility last week, Louise and Gordon also saw three swifts, with only two entering the chimney to roost.
Frank and Jacquie headed out to the Roman Catholic Church in La Broquerie last week and had a very busy time watching the 19 entries and 10 exits made by nine birds in the large chimney, while the smaller chimney hosted one Chimney Swift.
Deborah and Carl monitored the Old Grace Housing Co-op for us last week. Unfortunately, they got skunked (0 swifts), however zero data is important data! It helps to inform us on Chimney Swift movement (within years and between years) and habitat preferences.
Myself and one of our summer students, Nate, were in southwestern Manitoba for two weeks doing early morning grassland bird surveys. This meant we also had evenings free to do some Chimney Swift monitoring as well. I watched the Antler River Historical Society Museum in Melita for an evening monitoring period and had two go down right at the end of the observation time. They made MANY aborted entries before actually going in – to the point where I actually let out a cheer when they did finally enter!
I also watched the Legion in Melita. I arrived just before sunset. One swift was already in the chimney and popped up, and near the end of the monitoring session 2 swifts went down. This time there were a max of 7 swifts in the air. If we assume 2 roost at the Legion, and 2 roost at the Museum that leaves us with 3 bonus swifts. There are 3 other sites we know of from past years – so likely somewhere else is being used.
After fieldwork one day, Nate and I drove out to Pierson and Lyleton to scout out potential chimneys. No swifts were seen in Lyleton, but we saw 3 circling around Pierson. We watched an abandoned blue house for 25 minutes and saw what looked like an aborted entry. There are other appropriate chimney options in Pierson so they may be nesting/roosting elsewhere, but 2 of the 3 were circling low in the area. This is the first time MCSI has observed Chimney Swifts in Pierson, MB.
— Amanda Shave
