Feeding is difficult if insect abundance is low and this results from cold temperatures (12 C is the threshold for mosquito activity and, ergo, aerial spraying programs) and sustained rains which wash out aerial plankton = Chimney Swift food. Over the last two weeks, short stretches of warm, sunny days were interrupted by weekend storm events which dumped huge amounts of water in many locations of Manitoba. In the St Adolphe area, over an inch of rain fell June 12; two inches poured down on June 18, then it was followed by another inch on Father’s Day – June 19; the last monsoon event followed with yet another inch of rain over the last weekend of June. Cold fronts with lows under 10 C at night punctuated high temperature/high humidity days.
Rain and cold can bother monitors too, but we have volunteers from hearty stock. Many of you have continued to observe roost and nest sites. New habitat has been identified. Here is an update for mid- to late June:
A special shoutout goes to Gord and Janice in Portage La Prairie. Their personal initiative promoted regional interest in Chimney Swifts as they hosted a Swift Watch which drew 7 new participants out on a lovely, calm evening. During the June 15 event, at the Trinity United Church, six swifts were visible in the air and 2 roosted in the main chimney.
On June 16, David and Adolf checked out St Anne’s Church on Hampton St, in Winnipeg. Another special thank you is sent to them for taking on this special assignment. Last fall, the chimneys were repaired and it was important to know if returning swifts found the sites appropriate for continued use. The answer was YES – “Our arrival at 8:20 was well-timed as we saw 2 exits before the car door had been closed. ”
Ken went out for the evening of June 20, which was a special night. The solstice and full moon coincided. What may have been a coincidental occurrence was the rule-breaking behaviour of the Dauphin Chimney Swifts. After an extra 15 minutes of viewing past the usual end of observation period (so that was 45 minutes after sunset), the 4-6 swifts were still flying about the area “…the swifts did not want to go down the chimney!”
Also on June 20, a group gathered at Assiniboine School, in St James, to share a lovely evening of swift watching and cookie munching. The rule-breaking behaviour theme continued as small numbers of swifts drifted into the chimney starting half-way through the roosting hour. As folks packed up and left 15+ minutes after the end of viewing, birds were still flying about the chimney top. Therefore, our counts of 71 roosting swifts for the night was a minimum. Thanks to Beth and Kathy for keeping their eyes glued to the rim the night of, and Rob for following up with counting swifts on the video footage he took.
Another solstice development took place as Marshall spotted 10 Chimney Swifts swooping around a site on Balmoral St, Winnipeg. Tim checked the site out the next day and identified the Granite Curling Club as active habitat (new site 2016-6) when a swift entered 1 of the 5 chimneys on the roof. Good news for all as this building is listed by the Manitoba Historical Society.
John enjoyed the “nest building, egg laying, incubation” blog which provided the explanation for a rare sighting he made while canoeing on the Seine River at Cabana Ave on June 14. “The swifts were hovering very briefly at the top of a tree with dead branches just as explained in the blog and shown in the photo.” Timing is everything and John was rewarded for being in the right place, at the right time, while watching for the signs!
Adolf, Anna, and Robb were outside Bethel Place, at the Carter and Stafford area of Winnipeg, on the evening of June 21. Distinctive swift vocalization was picked up by Robb’s “young” ears. The group of three observers saw a group of 3 Chimney Swifts in a “2+1” arrangement.
Another June 21 report winged in from Margaret and Millie. Their Brandon site continued to house 2 swifts for the night.
In Selkirk on June 21, the birders club went out to monitor the 6 known sites:
Winona saw 1 swift flying about the East Selkirk Hydro Stack; there were 0 entries/exits;
James, Dorothy, Gerald, and Robert monitored two sites simultaneously: at the Large Stack, 15 swifts were in the air and all 15 entered; viewing the Yellow Brick chimney yielded 0 entries;
Gerald, at the Merchants Hotel, had fewer swifts in the air – 5 flew about and 1 came in for the night;
Sharon and Carol, at the Manitoba Ave site, had 2 exits as their first event (10 min. after arriving). A lot of activity continued over the extended monitoring session (98 min in all) and two swifts roosted for the night;
Robert was kept busy at the Infirmary as over 10 entries and 10 exits took place.
On June 22, Frank & Jacquie went questing swifts again. They scouted out Zhoda then did a roosting hour monitoring session at Woodridge Church. No swifts were in either community. We do value those “0” data points, so thanks for taking to the roads again.
An opportunistic glance to the sky on June 23 led Ryan, Red, and Ken to identify another new site in Souris. The Rock Shop hosted 2 swifts which entered in the morning, so a nest site is suggested. Well done gents! We connected with this news after receiving another new site update (see David’s report below from June 25), so this site was designated 2016-8.
Frank found e-bird news about a sighting in Morden on June 24. Ruth posted “I just saw two Chimney Swifts. The location is just south of the 5th St and South Railway intersection in Morden. For those familiar with Morden, I was at the Western School Division bus compound on South Railway and the birds were flying west.”
Now comes BIG news from one of our big-three roost sites. On June 25, David “…monitored the Assiniboine chimney today for an hour or so. Approx. from 11:30 to 12:30. At 11:45 3 swifts appeared and 1 entered. At 12:01 one swift exited. On 2 more occasions I saw a pair fly over the chimney and even make a bit of a dive towards it but no entry. On one occasion there were 3 swifts flying over the chimney.” On the basis of continued daytime activity, which was first seen by David in late May, Assiniboine School is now classified as a COMBINED NEST AND ROOST SITE = the first in Manitoba. Congratulations David on making the all-important daytime sightings to confirm this status!
By way of explanation, the Kyle’s (the Texan experts) do offer that a nesting pair may take up residence in a chimney that is used at night by roosting swifts. However, you never get more than one breeding pair in any given structure = only 1 nest per chimney.
Yet another new site was identified by David acting on an observation made by Jake (he is the new site magnet of our organization). There is a Portage Ave apartment block, immediately to the east of the Carillon which has a rooftop chimney used by swifts, that has a mostly hidden chimney. David staked out 1780 Portage on the evening of June 25 and saw an entry trajectory for Site No. 2016-7.
Our on-the-road-rovers, Jacquie & Frank, went back to Otterburne for the evening of June 28. There were fewer swifts in the air and more exits this time around. The observations were: Chimney Near the Bell Tower – 1 entry, 1 exit, and 0 roosting; Fat Chimney – 2 entries, 0 exits, 2 roosting; and Skinny Chimney 1 entry, 2 exits, 0 roosting.
David, Adolf, Jake, and Don were out in St James for the night on June 28. At the Assiniboine School, the number of roosting swifts had dropped down to 56; they noted an entry at the Carillon; at new site 1780 Portage, one early entry came in at 8:40 PM.
Margaret and Millie continued to track activity at their site in Brandon. On June 28, 2 swifts arrived mid-way through the roosting hour. It will be interesting to see if nesting activity ramps up or if this pair continue to stake out the territory.
In St Adolphe, pairs were at all 5 nest sites at the end of June. The onset of incubation was staggered: Church – June 19-20; NE Club – June 21-23; pairs settled at both the SE Club and Brodeur Bros. sites June 24-28; and finally, the Main St couple tucked onto their eggs June 28-29.
Two backtracking items close out the June report…
First, Jake has been continuing to check in on the sites he discovered last year. The chimney at 100 Roslyn Rd remains active: June 7 – 2 entries at 9:30; June 9 – 1 exit at 8:50 and 1 entry at 9:00 with 6 swifts in the vicinity; June 10 – 1 entry at 9:30 and 1 entry at 9:31. Unfortunately, activity was not seen at 94 Roslyn Rd on June 8 and 16.
Second, we were fortunate to have the Burrowing Owl team on Chimney Swift duty in Melita for NRMP-4. Cassidy staked out the Legion where 1 swift entered; Aidan saw 2 entries at the Museum; and Jessica recorded 3 entries at the Health Centre. We appreciate Alex, and her team, for taking precious time to help us enumerate Chimney Swifts on June 2 and June 6!
It is time to look ahead to Chimney Swift activities in July. While some birds at roost sites have dispersed – more so in Dauphin than further south in Selkirk and Assiniboine School – many will remain through to the month’s end. Eggs will hatch at nest sites – then the activity intensifies during the day as hungry mouths are filled. Send news of your swifts and we’ll keep in touch as the summer unfolds.