We have officially reached mid-August – time is really flying by. Before we know it, the swifts will be departing. There’s lots of great monitoring still happening – thank you as always to our incredible volunteers!
If you want to get another monitoring session or two in before the end of the season, I recommend looking at our priority list (at the end of this blog post) and checking out one of these sites during the roosting hour! If there isn’t a site on this list that works for you to monitor, send us a message and we can give you some more options of other sites that haven’t been watched yet this year and that would be worth checking for occupancy.
Let’s get right into the monitoring updates.
Darlingford
On August 13, Frank drove out to Darlingford for a roost hour watch of the Darlingford School Heritage Museum, from 8:20pm-9:30pm. He saw two swifts enter the chimney at 8:41pm, and 1 more entry at 8:59pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney).
Darlingford School Heritage Museum (rear view). Photo by Frank Machovec.
Portage la Prairie
On August 13, Jana watched the Mynarski House in Southport and saw 2 entries at 8:27pm, 2 entries at 8:36pm, and 1 entry at 8:41pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On August 14, Gordon watched the Trinity United Church from 8:28pm-9:15pm. He saw 2 entries at 8:39pm, 1 entry at 8:57pm, and 1 entry at 9:02pm (4 swifts roosting in the chimney).
The Pas
Joel has been regularly monitoring the Lorraine Apartments in The Pas. On July 25 he monitored from 8:44am-9:14am and did not see any activity. On July 13, he monitored from 9:21am-9:51am and saw 1 entry/exit at 9:29pm. On August 8th, he monitored from 2:13pm-2:30pm and noticed at least 2 adult swifts (possibly 3) silently entering and exiting the chimney every few minutes. On August 16th, he monitored from 9:43am-9:55am and saw 1 entry at 9:54am, and 2 exits at 9:55am.
St Adolphe
Barb and Rob did a roosting hour watch at the Church on August 11 and counted 19 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour, which is 2 down from their roosting hour count on August 7.
Lower Fort Garry
On August 14, Gerald did two monitoring sessions at Lower Fort Garry – one during the daytime (11:45am-12:30pm) and one during the roosting hour (8:00pm-9:12pm). During the daytime at the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry at 12:26pm and 1 exit at 12:26pm. At the Men’s House, there were 2 entries at 12:13pm and 1 exit at 12:22pm. During the roosting hour at the Fur Loft, there was 1 entry/exit around 8:05pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:14pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:26pm, 1 entry at 8:45pm and 1 entry at 8:46pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). At the Men’s House, there was 1 entry/exit around 8:00pm, 2 entries at 8:15pm, 2 probable entries at 8:18pm (Gerald briefly had to look at the camera to change the battery), 1 exit at 8:19pm, 2 entries at 8:37pm, and 1 entry at 8:43pm (at least 4 swifts roosting in the chimney, but possibly 6 swifts roosting in the chimney).
It seems feeding is ongoing at the Fur Loft, and there are fledglings at the Men’s House.
Selkirk Mental Health Centre
On August 9, Evan monitored T03 and the Infirmary chimney from 8:25pm-9:30pm. Once again, there was lots of activity at both these sites! During the 65-minute session, there were up to 21 swifts seen flying overhead. At the Infirmary, there were a total of 18 entries and 15 exits, with up to 4 swifts in the chimney at once but only 3 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour. At T03, there were 15 entries and 14 exits, with only 1 swift confirmed in the chimney at once and 1 swift in the tower at the end of the roosting hour – that’s a lot of ins and outs!
On August 12, Patti and Dennis monitored T02 from 8:08pm-9:24pm. Between 8:57pm and 9:19pm, they saw 13 entries and 4 exits, with 9 swifts in the chimney at the end of the roosting hour!
On August 13, Fred and Nettie monitored T01 from 7:40pm-9:25pm. They saw 1 exit at 7:54pm, 1 exit at 8:15pm, 1 entry at 8:29pm, 1 exit at 8:30pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm, and 1 entry at 9:06pm (2 swifts roosting in the chimney). Nia and Linda monitored the Yellow Brick chimney from 8:28pm-9:28pm, and saw 2 entries at 8:50pm, 1 entry at 8:52pm, 1 entry at 8:53pm, and 1 exit at 9:01pm (3 swifts roosting in the chimney). At T04, Linda and Nia saw 1 entry at 8:40pm, 2 entries at 8:45pm, 1 entry at 9:00pm, 1 entry at 9:09pm, 2 exits at 9:10pm, 3 entries at 9:15pm, 1 exit at 9:15pm, 1 exit at 9:16pm, and 1 entry at 9:16pm (5 swifts roosting in the chimney).
On August 15, Winona monitored the Infirmary and T03 during the evening. At the Infirmary chimney, she saw 11 entries and 6 exits, with 5 swifts roosting in the chimney. At T03, she saw 5 entries and 3 exits, with 2 swifts roosting in the chimney.
Selkirk
Winona monitored the Merchant’s Hotel on August 9 from 8:30pm-9:15pm but did not see any activity.
Gerald monitored the Main St apartment building on August 9 from 8:25pm-10:20pm. He saw 1 entry at 8:47pm and 1 entry at 8:56pm.
Winnipeg
John monitored the CMU chimney during the daytime on August 10, from 2:53pm-4:01pm. There was not much activity – only 1 brief swift fly-by at 4:01pm (no entries or exits). John returned to monitor the chimney on August 11, this time in the evening from 7:59pm-9:23pm, to see if there were any swifts roosting in the chimney. He saw 1 entry at 8:42pm ,1 slow fluttering entry at 8:50pm, 2 entries at 8:59pm (one of which was a slow fluttering entry), 1 entry at 9:09pm, and 1 entry at 9:16pm. That’s a total of 6 swifts roosting in the chimney! The slow fluttering entries and high swift counts could indicate the presence of fledglings, and supports a successful nesting attempt at this site! On August 12, Graham did a roosting hour monitoring session at the chimney, from 8:16pm-9:20pm. He saw 1 entry at 8:15pm, 1 entry at 8:25pm, 1 entry at 8:50pm, 1 entry at 8:54pm, 1 entry at 9:02pm, and 1 entry at 9:06pm (6 swifts roosting in the chimney once again). Graham noted that he thinks the last swift that entered was definitely a fledgling because it spent a few minutes circling the chimney before finally attempting to enter.
Aynsley monitored the tower at the Assiniboine Park Zoo on August 13 during the roosting hour. She observed up to 3 swifts using the tower, with 1 swift in the tower at the end of the roosting hour.
Jennifer watched the chimney at 340 Provencher Blvd (CCFM) on August 9, for approx. 30 minutes just after sunset. She saw 2 entries within a few minutes of each other. The next day on August 10, she watched the chimney again for 25 minutes during the roosting hour. There was 1 entry at 8:48pm, 1 exit followed by 1 entry at 8:51pm, 1 exit at 8:54pm, 1 entry at 9:01pm and 1 entry at 9:02pm.
Updated Priority Site List (August 16):
| Community | Neighbourhood | Address | Site | Observer |
| Eriksdale | – | 16 Railway Ave | St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum | |
| Ron B. | ||||
| Marvin & Evelyn K. | ||||
| Swan River | – | 518 Main St | Commercial building | |
| capped | ||||
| Wasagaming | – | 106 Buffalo Dr | Dragonfly Delights Tea Room | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 100 Adelaide St | Immigrant Centre Building | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 172 Edmonton | Ladywood Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 222 York Ave | Brink’s Canada | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 91 Albert St | The Old Market Autonomous Zone | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Garry | 1022 Pembina Hwy | Cambridge Hotel | |
| Ron B. | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 141 River Ave | Ludlow Court Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 245 Bell Ave | Children’s Education Funds Inc | |
| Tim P. | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 272 Cockburn St | King George Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 280 River Ave | Moxam Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 411 Stradbrook Ave | Lancaster Apartment | |
| Tim P. | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 834 Grosvenor Ave | Eugene Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 444 River Ave | Augustine United Church | |
| Meredith S. | ||||
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 25 Valhalla Dr | Valhalla Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 415 Edison Ave | L&B Towers | |
| Ron B. | ||||
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465A Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465D Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Cam T. | ||||
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 394 Academy Rd | Uptown Lofts | |
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 780 Elizabeth Rd | Arundel Apartments | |
| Frank M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 99 Birchdale Ave | Nordale School | |
| Blair R. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St James | 2285 Portage Ave | Foodfare | |
| Donna M., Eugenia G. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St James | 2415 Portage Ave | Essex House (broken pest cage) | |
| Ron B. | ||||
| Winnipeg | West Broadway | 39 Balmoral St | Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | West End | 318 Home St | Mennonite Church | |
| Jeff H. | ||||
| Winnipeg | West Kildonan | 31 McBeth St | McBeth House (A) east chimney |
– Marissa
