Perhaps the Friendly Giant was reminding us about the need to look way up to see the circling swifts!
The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative (MCSI) urges you to look up and help locate and monitor nesting and roosting sites in Manitoba during the coming season (May-September).
Volunteers are needed throughout the province, and they may choose a level of involvement based on their interest and availability:
- Hard core – Volunteers who will commit to monitoring a chimney for at least one hour every week throughout the summer in order to collect high quality data on breeding behaviour and breeding success.
- Nesters and roosters – Volunteers to monitor known roost or nest sites on at least six occasions during the roost hour (half hour before and after sunset).
- Rovers or dabblers – Volunteers who would like to help out on an occasional basis. These volunteers will be used as substitutes when “hard core” volunteers are unavailable or for monitoring at suspected sites.
For all of the atlassers out there, please report any chimney swift sightings, especially from rural areas. Remember to include date, time, location, and number of birds.
So far, our project has identified active sites in Brandon, Carman, Dauphin. La Broquerie, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, and Winnipeg.
There are historical reports of sightings in the following locations, and we would value current reports from those areas:: Altona, Balmoral, Bissett, Delta Marsh, East St. Paul, Falcon Lake, Gimli, Mafeking, Morden, Oak Hammock Marsh, Pinawa, Souris, St. Ambroise, Stonewall, Teulon, Victoria Beach, Waugh.
Last year, we received informal reports of sightings in the following locations, and we would welcome details about any new sightings in Shilo, Souris, The Pas, and Wasagaming.
This year we will complete another season of nest/roost monitoring using volunteers, and we will continue to monitor our five artificial nest structures. Other plans include a media outreach campaign to improve public awareness of swifts, encourage new volunteers, and help identify new nest/roost sites or other places visited by swifts.
Many references and forms for volunteers are available on the resources page of our website. Please take a look! There’s even a dashboard placard to identify you as a volunteer!
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch!
Thanks for your interest and support!
Frank Machovec
Project Coordinator, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative
mbchimneyswift@gmail.com – 204-798-6275