Apologies for the delayed weekly update. Tonight is another Wednesday and we would encourage you to get out and follow-up on any nesting in sites, as there may well be young swifts in the sky. Send us your reports and we will try to interpret what is happening for you.
The past week has generated much excitement in Manitoba’s Chimney Swift world. We had our first confirmed fledged chicks in St Adolphe for 2019, numerous active nest sites were observed and we even managed to find several new sites. Buckle down for a review of the past 10 days.
We begin in Osborne Village. We had ten chimneys watched on Wednesday evening, and lots of activity in some chimneys, less in others. Phil at the Royal Oak on River had an impressive 14 entries and 12 exits, with a very pair on this site. Barbara had 3 entries and 2 exits at the My Place Realty property at 105 Clark. Theses sites seem to be at very different points in the breeding cycle, the Royal Oak looking very close to fledging date. Phil and Barbara also managed to recruit Lisa and Peter to watch the new chimney on Scott. Although we are still waiting for the full report, we know that they had some good activity here as well. Blair took on the Biltmore, at 395 River and reported:
‘I saw a maximum of three swifts in the air at one time. There were 6 entries and exits at 1-2 minutes later during the evening. There at 9:31 and 9:33 two swifts entered for the night.’
Frank sent his report from three chimneys that he and Jacquie were watching:
‘I took up a position in the back lane for better line of sight to the 424 River location while still close to the Stradbrook sites. Up to six CHSW were in the vicinity in the earlier part of the monitoring period, but I couldn’t determine where these birds roosted. They were making a wide arc over the area, generally focused to the east of my location. Jacquie didn’t see the “group of six.”
There were a few VERY low passes by a very vocal trio of CHSW, but they didn’t appear to use ”our” chimneys.
During the fly-bys I shifted location to try to see where the swifts were going. One could almost reach up and touch them, or so it seemed.
So:
Augustine United Church: 1 CHSW
411 Stradbrook: 1 CHSW
424 River: 1 CHSW’
Sabina at 245 Bell, a new spring find, was out of luck:
‘I hope you and everyone had more success than I did at 245 Bell last night! However I know others must have had success because I saw swifts diving around River Ave and saw upwards to 15 swifts around. Just not a single entry/exit for me..’
Tim tried a new site on Harkness, saw 4 swifts fly over at sundown, and then nothing. Kelsey however did have a pair feeding young at 141 River.
Finally, Leah took on 549 Gertude:
‘So… last Wednesday was an odd evening at 549 Gertrude (2017-35). Heard and saw virtually no birds, which is odd as the previous week, from down the street, it sounded like there were all sorts of birds around this site! The good news is… two birds did go into the chimney at sunset. I also saw what I believe was a departure earlier on. And then a 3rd bird showed up almost a half hour after sunset…. made a few attempts at the church chimney, and then may have gone in a chimney in a house next door. It all happened very quickly and the light was going…’
Cal in Portage la Prairie sent the following:
‘Gord and I did a
watch on Wednesday evening with me manning Trinity United Church and Gord the
former Womens Jail. We had a total of 6 final entries for the evening, 3
for the Jail and 3 for Trinity so there were at least 6 individual birds
about.
My activity breakdown is as follows, all for the south chimney:
8:55 – 4 flying over the Church
9:04 – 1 exit
9:06 – 1 entry
9:13 – 1 entry
9:15 – 2 exits
9:34 – 2 entries
9:37 – 1 entry’
Moving to Morden, David has sent a promising update:
‘I had been away from my chimney for too long and didn’t know what to expect tonight. Luckily, all seems to be well in the Swift world. The pair was busy entering then exiting the chimney, their time inside varying between 33 seconds to 65 seconds. 8 different entry/exits were recorded during my session, followed by roosting entries for both birds.’
Brilliant news, and on the 28th, David sent a second update:
‘Very similar pattern to what I observed this past “Swift Wednesday”. 8 entry/exit cycles with 20-60 second stays in the chimney over the monitoring session. Also 2 roosting entries about 15 minutes after sunset. The only “different” behavior was that one bird made a single fly-by of the chimney before entering 30 seconds later the first time and 10 seconds later the second time.’
In other news, we have numerous reports from volunteers around the province. Blair checked a couple of his sites. At 188 St Mary’s, he had an entry and exit during the day on the 23rd and on the 22nd, he had 3 entries and 3 exits at 340 Provencher. Certainly a breeding attempt still going in the second of these chimneys.
Tim proved once again that he is better at finding swifts on his bike. On the 23rd, he spotted an exit from 71 Kennedy on his way home from work. This chimney has been on the database since the early days of MCSI, but has never been confirmed as an active site for swifts. On the 24th, he spotted a swift enter, and then exit a chimney on a private house on Balmoral. On the 25th, it was a third new site confirmed in 3 days, spotting a swift entering a chimney at the apartment at 555 Lanark, next to the swift playground that is Lanark Gardens. We also had a report of 2 swifts entering a chimney on Dorchester by Cam, another new site.
The Assiniboine Park Zoo is still active. Paulson was on site on the 19th and observed one exit. Kelsey also confirmed that there is still daytime activity on the 25th, with an early entry and exit.
We will have a proper update soon from Barb in St Adolphe, but we were delighted to hear that there was a fledging event at the Southeast Club Amical at the weekend. While Barb was away, Frank, Jacquie, Lewis, Roberta, Lynnea and Tim all took the trip down to the valley to make sure that we were able to catch the fledging event. On Monday, Frank and Jacquie recorded 13 entries and 11 exits. However, the total in the chimney was 4 during this session, and with no helpers on site, and the pattern of activity, we are confident that 2 swifts fledged.
Let’s keep those reports flowing in!
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
