News and posts

Another week of interesting swift reports has arrived in our in-trays. This week we have another new site, this time in St Francois Xavier, reports demonstrating that our swift parents are now 100% focused on feeding non-brooded chicks, and some mixed news from St Adolphe.

First to St Francois Xavier though, and Mike and Michele:

‘Great news to report from St Francois Xavier!! We can now positively confirm that chimney swifts were seen entering a second chimney, not too far from the church. We’ve always had an eye on a couple of potential chimneys but never spent enough time at that location to see if they were actually being visited.

Wed night, we decided to split up since I was going to be late arriving at the church anyway (just like our wedding day…lol) By the time I arrived, Mike had already witnessed 2 entries at the new location and he couldn’t wait to tell me about it. A bit later on I saw a total of 5 swifts in the air, harassing a crow.’

Congratulations both!

Frank, Rhonda, Jacquie, Lewis and Lynnea hit the town in Carman for an evening to try work out what is happening. Frank reported on last Wednesdays shenanigans:

‘Lynnea, Lewis, Jacquie and I drove out to Carman last night, and we met up with Rhonda at the Memorial Hall. We devised a clever plan to monitor five sites with a designated local scout (Rhonda).

Lewis took the Memorial Hall where he had four entries and one exit.

Jacquie took the residence down the street and had two entries, no exits.

Both locations saw fly-bys of swifts, up to three near the Hall and up to 7 over the residence.

The rest of us took up positions to the south:

• Lynnea took the relocated tower at the Elementary School—no entries/exits.

• I checked the two residences across from the School: 163 2^nd St SW with two chimneys (one capped, the other possibly available) and 151 2^nd St SW (brick chimney with insert). No entries or exits.

• Rhonda monitored the general area near the intersection of 2^nd St SW and 4^th Ave SW where several fly-bys of up about six CHSW were noted. Lynnea and I had the occasional fly-by by up to 4 CHSW. Rhonda did a reconnaissance trip to try to find alternative destinations for the “missing” birds.

Unfortunately, we didn’t link up for a post-viewing debriefing (sorry Rhonda!). Once again, we couldn’t account for all the CHSW seen/heard.

No Timmies products were consumed, either…’

So we are at least two swifts short in Carman. There are certainly more sites to find. And not even a rewarding Timmies, how did Frank survive?

Ken and Jan sent this report in from the Riding Mountain region:

‘We found ourselves passing through Clear Lake (Wasagaming) this evening (Wednesday) so we stopped at the museum to watch for swifts for about an hour. We saw one entry into the northern chimney of the two western ones and 2 minutes later a swift left. We waited hoping for a repeat performance but that was all, didn’t even see them flying overhead, we left just past an hour observation time.

Later we got to Dauphin and went straight to the roost to watch the roosting hour during which time we saw 11 swifts go down that chimney.’

Gerald also sent the latest summaries from the Selkirk Birdwatchers Club. Here is our summary:

• Gerald recorded an exit followed by an entry in one chimney, and three entries in the other chimney at the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound in Lockport on July 15;
• Winona counted 3 entries and an exit at the Merchants in Selkirk on July 16;
• Winona counted 4 entries at the Merchants in Selkirk on July 17;
• Linda and Nia counted 17 entrances in the large stack at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on July 17;
• Linda and Nia counted 2 entrances  and 2 exits in the yellow bricj chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on July 17;
• Gerald recorded one entrance in the southwest chimney, but no activity in the southeast chimney at Lower Fort Garry on July 18, with 6 swifts counted in the air.

Blair became the latest victim of Tim’s overenthusiastic attempt to find a new site, this time seeing nothing and hearing nothing at St Boniface Hospital. Sorry Blair!

And the Tim’s curse did not stop there even. This time it was Leah who was left scratching her head in Fort Rouge:

‘So, unfortunately, no exits/entries at 626 Wardlaw.  A spectacular looking chimney – roost size? – but although there were a number of pairs of birds that flew over the chimney, no dips or near misses.  More activity to the south and east – from the sounds of it, and after taking a walk after I finished, possibly 549 Gertrude (chimney at the church)?  Is that chimney active this year?’

Kelsey confirmed that swifts remain busy at the zoo. All our fingers and toes are crossed on this one!

Garry sent this from East Kildonan:

‘Feeding activity has really picked up at 712 Watt Street. Timing of visits indicates feeding non-brooded young. Things are progressing nicely!’

And for the purists, here is the swift pattern he refers to:

‘11:06 – entry one swift
11:06 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit)
11:16 – exit one swift (appears both adults now out of chimney at the same time)
11:30 – entry 2 swifts (both adults returned to chimney together)
11:31 – exit one swift
11:47 – entry one swift
11:47 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit)
12:04 – entry one swift
12:04 – exit one swift (~ 15 seconds between entry and exit):06 – entry one swift

Rudolf also reported 7 swifts in the area around Kildonan Drive and the Bergen Cut-off.

Barbara and Phil continue there Osborne endeavours, with breeding activity at the Royal Oak on River and the apartment on Clarke. Looking forward to Wednesday in this area. They also confirmed swifts using the chimney during the day on Sunday at Augustine United Church.

On Sunday evening it was the turn of Margaret and Millie to send an excellent update from Brandon, looking good for non-brooded feeding of swifts in the chimney. This chimney is amazingly consistent!

Another week goes by, and we have more swift reports flying by. Right now it seems that our swifts are at varying stages, from the latter stage of incubation all the way through to feeding non-brooded young. In fact, Barbara and Phil in Osborne Village gave some great examples of this in their weekly update:

‘It looks as though we have two chimneys (Royal Oak, and the Biltmore) with newly hatched young, one (Clarke)with CHSW who roost early (maybe eggs not yet hatched), and two with no daytime activity at all.

Thanks to Barb for her analysis of CHSW activity after hatching.  It helps to make sense of the activity we are seeing, and meant that I stayed an extra 5 minutes at the Biltmore as the entry/exit pattern of every 20 minutes suggested they were due again at that time.’

Leah watched an experimental chimney on Lilac. We say experimental, as Google Earth images suggest there were 6 small entry holes on the top of the chimney. We thought it might be worth a shot at seeing if swifts were using something a bit funky. Leah reported thus:

‘No entries, unfortunately. Will they seriously enter such small holes?  I had ruled out these types of chimneys as usable…’

The answer seems to be no. This would not be the first Tim Poole fail of the monitoring week!

Kelsey went roaming in St James, and possibly wishes she hadn’t:

‘The first night I stayed and watched the 2 chimneys on the “Piano Building” the whole time. I saw 2 swifts high overhead, they got lower overtime, and the last time I saw them they were headed northwest, so I went and checked where they might have gone. I found a house on Roseberry with a good looking chimney.

The next night I went was going to watch that chimney, but I got so excited trying to follow the group of 10 that I didn’t end up watching that chimney at all. this time the group seemed to hover a little more northeast of the “Piano Building”. There is an odd looking small chimney on the back of Underworld Scuba, as well as a chimney on the back of Liberty Full Gospel Chapel, on Marjorie. This is an odd looking chimney (and the picture on google maps shows a cap that is no longer there), but they were swooping quite low towards it repeatedly, before disappearing.‘

Garry visited Watt Street in East Kildonan on July 9th, and sent the following:

‘Activity continues at 712 Watt Street. Timing of visits indicates feeding brooded young, so all appears to be good at this site!‘

Gerald sent us a great number of excellent updates. Here is a summary of the latest news from the Selkirk Birdwatching Club:

• On July 3rd, Linda and Nia counted 14 in the large stack and 2 in the yellow chimney at Selkirk Mental Health Centre;
• On July 4th, Robert and Donna counted 24 in the large stack, 2 in the Infirmary and 2 in the yellow chimney at Selkirk Mental Health Centre;
• On July 4th, Winona counted 1 in the Merchant’s Hotel;
• On July 5th, Winona counted 3 in the Merchant’s Hotel;
• On July 7th, Gerald counted 2 in the southeast chimney and 0 in the southwest chimney at Lower Fort Garry.

In Brandon, Margaret and Millie sent three update sheets, showing the pair in the Orange Block still active on June 30, July 2 and July 7.

Janice did this weeks Trinity United Church watch in Portage la Prairie, and had only a single entry. 

Ken compiled the Dauphin report on behalf of the team, with Pat, Marilyn and Jan in place to watch the swifts:

‘Well, Dauphin observers talked themselves into getting a set of Wednesday observations and reports out this week. It seems to be getting harder to sneak that 1 hour of observation in with so much happening. As an example, we are all geocachers and tonight there was a caching event for us which was hard not to miss being called “Long Live the Queen” as sort of a christening of our new Dairy Queen. This 1 hour event was from 8 to 9 PM. With our sunset being at 9:53 PM we barely had time to down our ice cream and get to our observation spots for our chimneys. So what to do, well we did some observation before the event and then some more after it.

We are happy to report that all 3 chimneys where reporting swift sightings but none had repeated in’s and out’s of any sort of set timing so we think we have nesting but still sitting on eggs. The reason we’ve said “some swifts think it’s still spring” is that we have birds flying around in pairs just chattering things up and even some “chevron” Vv flying about. Entries and exits were anywhere from a few minutes apart to over ½ hour duration either in the air or the chimney. There were some veer and peers but not consistent enough to indicate some internal chimney event was happening. We have not had any major “nest washing off the chimney walls” rainfalls but have had some unseasonably hot humid days.

By the end of the evening, there were at least 1-2 swifts in nesting chimneys and the roost had possibly 10-12 as we were not directly watching this chimney but could see birds approach it from our other observation stations.‘

Given the previous report from this location, all we can say is that the swifts were being as brilliantly baffling as ever, there being no large roost on that evening.

Finally in this section, what about our evening trip to Emerson?Frank, Jacquie, Lynnea and Tim took on the challenge, and this is what Tim sent in:

‘Emerson last night left everyone scratching heads. As befitting a Machovec road trip, a stop at Timmies was a necessity. Apart from the requisite Manitoba construction, we arrived in Emerson on roosting hour checking West Lynne which has a couple of likely chimneys. We decided to focus our efforts in the main town. Heading through Emerson, I directed us towards 3 buildings that were identified as potential habitat last fall. 

Lynnea suddenly spotted a possible swift, there was a quick verbal exchange as I failed to find said swift, and then we leapt into action. Frank drove like a hero, turned the corner rapidly, and we could clearly see a pair above us. Success!  

Ultimately, Frank and Jacquie watched the Masonic building, Lynnea a house and I took on an abandoned house. We each saw and heard swifts, Lynnea‘s max being 2 clearly identifiable pairs. It surely wouldn’t be too long before a swift took the plunge? The final swift sightings  were around 9:20. After that, nothing! We have no idea where they are heading. Maybe West Lynne, but why spend so much time in Emerson? Maybe a tree? Maybe they popped over the border? Maybe we need to do more scouting the buildings! Who knows, but it is clear that a new plan is needed to work out this place and Neepawa.‘

Another week closes, and some big news from St Adolphe in our weekly update. Yes, we have swifts hatching this week! We also have some updates from around the province, from Lockport, St Francois Xavier and Neepawa among others.

Usually we end with St Adolphe, and Barbs weekly update, but this time it is really important to at least open with part of the update as Barb gives a terrific explanation of what is actually happening in the chimney right now:

‘Here is a reminder of some Chimney Swift biology to help you track activity at your nest sites:

• Hatching Day = Day 1 of feeding. 
• Feeding brooded young lasts for 6-7 days; typically, 2 entry/exit cycles are seen in an hour. Last week Tim referenced brooding = the warming of young in the nest by adults. When the juveniles can regulate their own temperature, both adults can head out to forage…that is when the chimney will be “unattended”, reflecting the next stage of nesting.
• Feeding non-brooded young occurs between Day 6-7 and Day 28-30. Feeding rates are often 3-4 times per hour, or more, if a locally abundant food patch is present. Watch for longer duration-in intervals, = turnaround times, now that the same swift enters and leaves. The between-visit intervals are now going to be shorter than those seen in the feeding brooded young stage. 
• At Day 28-30, the juveniles take their first flights outside the chimney as fledglings.
• Fledglings use the natal chimney for resting and are still fed there for a few days. However, daytime use of the chimney declines markedly over the first week post-fledging as the youngsters gain flight proficiency and become independent feeders. 
• Roosting by the family group at the natal chimney will continue until pre-migratory groups come together in August.’

Now to that St Adolphe update:

CLUB AMICAL

On Monday July 1, between 10:10 – 11:30 AM, the SE pair had 2 entry/exit cycles; 1 minute duration-in interval; 41 minute between-visit interval; 1 minute duration-in interval.

The NE pair had a 30 minute between-visit interval and a long, 37 minute duration-in interval.

Hatching was indicated at both sites. 

BRODEUR BROS.

Classic incubation exchanges were first seen Sunday, June 30. Hatching is likely to occur within the next 7 days. 

CHURCH 

Friday, June 28; 9:55 – 10:55 AM: 1 entry/exit cycle with a 2 minute duration-in interval; repeated approaches low to rim before flying off = “peer ‘n’ veers”. SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING. 

Sunday, June 30; 11:15 – 12:15: 2 entry/exit cycles; intervals = 2 minute duration-in, 30 minutes between-visit, 8 minutes duration-in. WOW – HATCHING WAS INDICATED.

Wednesday, July 3; 12:00 – 1:00 PM:

12:14:51 entry

12:22:59 exit (8 minute duration-in interval)

12:25:08 entry ( ~2 minute between-visit interval)

12:33:32 exit (8 minute duration-in interval)

The sequence and timing of the entry/exit events indicated the site was unattended – the breeding pair were feeding non-brooded young! The peer ‘n veer events of Friday telegraphed hatching. 

MAIN ST.

As of July 3, incubation is still underway and hatching is expected any time now.

In summary, as of July 3, all 5 nest sites in St Adolphe were active and 3 stages of nesting were evident. The SE and NE Club sites had brooded young while the Church site had non-brooded young (Day 6). Incubation was progressing at Main St and Brodeur Bros.

While some classic incubation exchanges and typical unattended site activity have been seen, there have been long stretches of disturbingly low activity. It is another hot, dry summer and airborne insects may be limiting. We welcome some rain and the ripening of food sources. There are many beaks to fill in the nests now!’

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So there we have it, we have swifts hatching, and even more interesting, we already have non-brooded young.

Next we head to a brilliant effort in Osborne Village from Barbara and Phil. This area has long been crying out for a couple of locally based volunteers, and in 2019, we finally have two dedicated and skilled people in the area. Here is their report from the week:

‘Catch-up time in Osborne Village! Fresh from our contribution to Toronto’s CHSW data, we needed to catch up on watching in our neighbourhood. 

You’ll see that both the Clarke site, and the Royal Oak apartments on River each had one entry, which I assume means that there is a nesting pair in the chimney.

I did a day-time watch at the Biltmore (395 River), and was rewarded with an almost immediate entry/exit.  The 30% chance of showers changed to 100% rain, and since I came out without a jacket, I cut the watch short after the trees no longer provided shelter.

I moved on to 118 Scott in the afternoon, and while there was some overhead activity, there was no activity in the chimney.  I did have a great conversation with a local resident who was very interested.

In the evening I watched 351River (Rosemount Apartments) for the first time.  One entry there.  Phil watched 6 Roslyn (same back lane) which is not on the data base.  No activity there, but he had a better overhead view of the area, so saw the birds that I could only hear. ‘ 

An excellent update, and we have covered almost every known site in that area thanks to Barbara and Phil!

Mavis  has also been watching in this area as she can see one of the 424 River chimneys form her apartment (in keeping with these chimneys, she can only see one):

‘Although I’ve been watching and recording a few times, I have yet to see any Swifts enter the chimney that I can see.  I see them fly around it, but haven’t seen them go into it. They are so fast that I can’t guarantee they aren’t going in – just that I’m not seeing them go in. There are up to 6 Swifts that I see flying, but mostly 4 when I am watching.’ 

Next to the Kildonans. Frank led a group to West Kildonan/the North End on Wednesday and returned with this, slightly damp, swiftless report:

‘Lewis Cocks, Jacquie and I went in search of swifts in the North End.Temperature was only 18C, and there was a noticeable absence of bugs at both sites we checked.

At the chimney at 123 Matheson Ave E (Etz Chayim Congregation), no swifts were seen or heard.

At the two smaller chimneys at 50 Mac (Seven Oaks House Museum), Lewis had two high fly-bys but no entries were recorded.

We curtailed observations at sunset due to rain.’

The following evening, Tim had an absolutely banker of a new site, the Immaculate Conception Parish on Austin Street in North Point Douglas. He had previously taken a couple of excursions in this neighbourhood during June and noted that there were swifts around this chimney. Surely then a new site was guaranteed to be confirmed? Well, apart from a couple of late high flyers, the evening ended in dark disappointment as no swifts were spotted using the chimney. An odd evening given that the chimney looked very impressive! Tim did though have better luck on a brief excursion on Saturday evening:

‘I went to buy ice cream just now, and as you do, I tracked a swift into a new location in a private house opposite the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre.’

On Thursday, Lynnea and Adam decided to do a multi-site check. They watched the Roxy Lanes on Henderson for 20 minutes but eventually got annoyed looking at pigeons on the chimney (they were later advised to watch tight, as they may have seen said pigeons getting dive-bombed). The moved onto the Valhalla chimney and were rewarded with an exit. Onwards to Archiibald Storage and 2 entries. The roll thus ended at the Niakwa Plaza on Archibald as it was probably a little late by the time they arrived. Zero swifts noted here.

Blair had tried a new site in St Boniface as well, this time on the 2nd:

‘This week I checked out a new chimney at 381 De La Cathedrale..  Although, it looked like a good 3.5 by 5 brick chimney to me, no swift activity was observed on this evening.’

On Canada Day, Gerald had a great evening at Lockport. There were 6 entries and 1 exit on one chimney at the Manitenance Compound and 2 entries at the other.

In St Francois Xavier we received this Wednesday report:

‘Mike was on his own this evening for monitoring night and he was very excited to report something very interesting when he got home. For the first time this year, he witnessed 4 swifts enter the chimney to roost for the night. We had seen 4 in the air before but we were under the impression that only one pair was using this chimney….seems we were wrong about that. The first one entered at 9:32pm followed by a pair together 12 minutes later then the last one 1 minute after that. No exits were witnessed this evening.’

Gord in Portage la Prairie lucked out on Wednesday, with zero swift activity at Olina’s and the MTS Building.

Back to Tuesday, and Tim was in Neepawa this time during the morning:

‘I was in Neepawa earlier. Spent 80 minutes at the hospital and got one sighting. Elusive! I then headed across town, found a pair low flying low over the Safeway parking lot. They were still taking nesting material from a tree. At one point it looked like there were several swifts in the air. Unfortunately I did not find where they took the nesting material. Lots of private houses south of the highway which look good.’

This is still proving a challenge – getting a swift to fly into a chimney in Neepawa!

Keep the reports coming. Next Wednesday, we are looking for any volunteers who fancy a trip down the highway to Emerson. Please email us if you are interested in helping to find swifts in the south.

— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative (MCSI) is today launching a crucial new set of factsheets. These factsheets are being targeted at property owners with resident Chimney Swifts. In many cases, Chimney Swifts nest in chimneys attached to an a furnace, whether working or not. However, in some cases, especially in private homes, Chimney Swifts nest in chimneys dropping into to the household fireplace. In the next week we expect eggs to begin hatching and the parent swifts to begin the new phase of regular feeding of young birds.

Following four incidents, two in 2017 and two in 2018, of nests falling from the wall of a chimney into a fireplace, MCSI felt that we needed to act. In each year, chicks from one nest were returned successfully to the chimney and fledged following intervention by MCSI volunteers. Although we were delighted with this outcome, we also had a situation in each year, where due to a lack of information, swifts were not returned to the chimney in good time, and the adult birds abandoned their young. In these cases, with a heavy heart, the swifts were delivered to a rehabilitation centre. Although the staff and volunteers at the rehabilitation centre were able to raise the chicks, due to the short breeding season in Manitoba. the birds had to be flown to London Ontario to be released by the excellent Debbie Lefebre at Swift Care Ontario. This approach did lead to birds being returned to the wild in both years BUT we do not want to make a habit of flying birds halfway across Canada to release them for various reasons. In Manitoba, our swifts remain for a much shorter period than London, and therefore the window to raise, train and release young swifts is too short. It is therefore an imperative that the swifts are returned to the chimney, returned to their parents, who will feed, train and lead these young swifts to survive their first months of life.

Our objective is to ensure that if a nest falls into the base of the fireplace, the chicks are returned to the chimney as soon as possible by part of the MCSI team. We have also produced a separate sheet which is being sent by Manitoba Sustainable Development to various groups who may receive a call about baby birds in the fireplace, including rehab centres, veterinarians, pest control companies and chimney sweeps.

The new factsheets, were drafted by Christian Artuso and the Steering Committee, and designed to fit in with our existing series of facthseets by the talented Richard Cain. 

We are looking for help from you, our volunteer network. We really need to get this message out in communities across Manitoba. You can help in the following ways:

1. We have stacks of factsheets, and would love it if you could take some to local community centres, libraries and other meeting places that people may see them;
2. Pin up the front page on community notice boards;
3. Hand deliver to houses which you think may have, or get swifts nesting in the chimney; and
4. Post the images above across social media or share from the Facebook page @ManitobaIBA (simply add this as your search on Facebook).

Please email us if you can help – we want to get these factsheets distributed widely and quickly.

Happy swift-ing, and let’s help make 2019 a very successful year for our swifts!

— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

Canada Day, the beginning of the month of July will soon lead to a new phase in the life of Manitoba’s swifts. Right now, they are sitting tight on eggs, incubating. In early July we will see a slight change as adults begin the process of feeding their chicks. These chicks begin life at a brooding stage. This means that an adult stays with the naked young until they reach a stage where they have enough feathering to keep them warm.

In the meantime, our swifts remain busy, and this segues to our weekly monitoring review.

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Leah kicks things off for us this week. On Wednesday, Leah switched posts and watched the adjacent building to the Maple Leaf apartments on Corydon, a chimney not previously noted for its swifts. Here is the exciting report:

‘And GREAT news… I watched  890 McMillan (the Milan Apartments) – and saw two enter at sunset!!! YAY!  Now I couldn’t see the Maple Leaf apartments (915 Corydon), so assuming these aren’t the same birds using a different chimney on alternate nights… ‘

We suspect there are two active chimneys in this area with nesting swifts.

Blair had some success in St Boniface:

‘I revisited 393 Marion to see it’s chimney was being used since one night it had some swifts, but all I saw was 2 fly by. I spent an hour at 261 Youville that had a pair of swifts earlier, there was a entry and then an exit and finally another exit, so they seem to be nesting.‘

Frank and Jacquie had a Chimney Swift flummoxing evening:

‘We intended to watch the Viscount and Marner Apartments but couldn’t find a suitable viewing point, not to mention that we didn’t bring our chairs …

So, we relocated westward to the Thunderbird and Stanley Park Apartments. There were 7 swifts in the general area, especially westward near the Moorgate, but activity was more restrained nearer the Thunderbird. We  heard some very vocal CHSW to the east of our location after sunset (toward the Deer Lodge area). 

Stanley Park Apartments: NE chimney had no swifts observed nearby.

Thunderbird: Very interesting with repeated low fly-bys by three CHSW, but only one observed entry AND SUBSEQUENT EXIT!’

Barb and Rob sent a report on the 24th from the zoo tower:

‘..and a lovely night we had last night (Sunday June 23) = Solstice + 2; the swifts were obliging.’

Gord and Tami reported ‘first 2 then 3 swifts circling and chittering overhead over backyard’ on Mossdale in East Kildonan on Wednesday, which is very close to the apartments on Brazier among other sites.

In the same area but to the east, Garry sent a report from the 20th, with some excellent entry/exit cycles at the chimney on Watt.

On Monday, Ron, left the confines of his office and sent the following:

‘I went out to check my chimneys across the street from my office.  I began my observations at 12:15 pm until 1:00 pm.  At 12:29 pm I saw a single CHSW exit from the chimney at 222 York Avenue.  In the database this is Site 24 and is called VJ’s middle chimney.  The chimney is actually on a building across the back lane from VJ’s.  The building is owned by Brink’s Canada Limited.  This is the same chimney in which I observed an entry and exit last year.’

Finishing Winnipeg, we head north. First to a quick report from Gerald on the 21st. A swift droppped in during daytime hours to one of the chimneys at St Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport. 

Michele and Mike in St Francois Xavier had some action:

‘It’s been a few weeks since our last visit to the church in St Francois Xavier. For most of the night we witnessed 3 birds in the air but one pair in particular always flew unusually close together and were very vocal, chirping away continually. 

Interestingly, at around 9:30pm a small falcon (probably a kestrel I think) came to perch on the cross at the top on the steeple at the front of the church. We had seen it around before but never perched so close to the chimney. The swifts quickly banded together and swooped in to chase it away. It did not return.

The only entry we saw was the final one for the night where the pair uncharacteristically bombed in together (no graceful fluttering tonight) chirping all the way. We did not see the lone remaining swift enter this chimney.’

Gord was catching up on sites in Portage la Prairie on Wednesday. He reported first from an hours observation at the Rufus Prince building:

‘4 swifts were seen in the air and one entry in the north chimney at 20:16.’

He finished off in Southport:

‘No swift were seen flying around but 2 entered the chimney. One at 21:32 and another one at 21:55.’

Also on Wednesday, Lynnea watched two swifts frustratingly refuse to enter the chimney at the Neepawa Health Centre during the early afternoon. These birds are so unobliging!

Margaret and Millie in Brandon had the nesting pair turn in early for the night at the Orange Block on the 23rd, but were later joined by another noisy pair which eventually went elsewhere to roost.

Finally, Ken sent the Wednesday night update from the Dauphin observors:

‘Having 3 chimneys to check was complicated this week with my wife being in Winnipeg for her grandma fix. I went out last night (Tuesday) and observed the roost chimney 600 and tonight I went to nesting chimney 2018-15 while Pat and Marilyn watched nesting chimney 2018-14. Contrary to other years, the roost chimney appears to be occupied by only (2) swifts instead of up to a dozen non-nesting birds which might be a significant reflection on the population!

Chimney 2018-14 had 2 entries so a  possible nesting pair while chimney 2018-15 (which was the one where we found dead young last fall) could possibly have a nesting pair and helper using it (this is based on the possibility of a bird in the chimney(1) when we arrived and then having (2) drop into the chimney(2+1=3) to be followed by an exit (off the nest 3-1=2) and 15 minutes later a single entry (2+1=3)).

If nothing else it appears there are 3 nesting chimneys in Dauphin.

A thought from the night: from the 2 chimneys that had an exit, there was a re-entry for each within 15 minutes, is it possible that they were leaving a hot chimney for a quick drink before retiring for the night?’

As for the latter, I suppose it is possible, I know that feeling from a personal perspective after all!

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I said ‘finally’ but these reports are nothing without our full comprehensive review from the swift maestro in St Adolphe. Over to Barb to tell us what everything means.

‘Last week we noted how different “windows” of observation could yield very different interpretations of a nest site’s status. Using entry/exit data collected during a 2 hour watch at Main St and Brodeur Bros., three different “windows” yielded: 2 swifts being present in each chimney (using the full two hour period); 1 swift in each chimney (using a 60 min period); and 0 swifts being present in the Main St chimney (using a different 60 minute period). 

How we look at chimney tops can influence our interpretations and conclusions. Variation in activity, hence our interpretation, is also introduced with individual preferences, or cadence, of the swifts e.g., some have short turnaround times in the chimney while others take a bit longer. More variation occurs as a day plays out – intense afternoon heat and lower insect abundance is linked. Then there are weather factors such as intense rain storms or extremely high winds to contend with. Day to day life for a Chimney Swift is not cookie-cutter predictable. All these factors are intertwined as adults must feed themselves in addition to carrying out their breeding activities. Easy foraging means more time is available to spend at the chimneys.

It follows that nest site monitors can see variable activity at the various stages of nesting.  Nest building and egg laying is a confusing process to sort out at the best of times. Nest building takes place for at least 7 days before eggs are laid. Then, an egg may be laid every second day until the clutch of 2-7 eggs is completed. Incubation starts with the second to last egg laid. Nest building continues until the eggs hatch. Complicated? Yes!

So just how do you know incubation has started? It is difficult to tell the onset – embryological development progresses without 100% smothering by an incubating adult – the pair can be out of the chimney together as often is the case before roosting. Classic incubation exchanges of 1 entry/exit cycle,  with short duration-in intervals, seen once per hour = incubation, BUT NOT necessarily the start of incubation. A rear view mirror analysis is often needed. 

Since last Wednesday’s report, many interesting observations have been made. Twig collection by a swift, followed by a direct flight from the dead tree west of Main St. directly into Brodeur Bros. chimney, was seen last Friday (June 21). Today (June 27) and yesterday (June 26), there was not a twig being snapped off… 

The summer solstice was an inflection point ~ beautiful, classic incubation exchanges were seen on Saturday, June 22 at the NE Club and Church chimneys. 

Wednesday morning, June 26, the SE Club pair demonstrated incubating prowess. Here’s what the data set looked like:

START MONITORING: 9:16 AM
9:25:05 ENTRY
9:25:27 EXIT
9:45:52 ROCK DOVE (PIGEON) ON WEST SIDE OF NE CLUB RIM GOT DIVE BOMBED BY A CHIMNEY SWIFT – THE INVITATION TO GET OFF THE RIM WAS ACCEPTED! NICE BONUS EVENT!
10:20:44 ENTRY
10:21:46 EXIT
END MONITORING: 10:46 AM

Both the Main St. and Brodeur Bros. pairs are active at their sites and, hopefully, we’ll see some classic exchanges soon. 

Just when you think you’ve got incubation figured out, the early nesting birds will have hatching eggs soon. There will be subtle shift in behaviour at the nest sites when the transition from incubation to hatching occurs = 2 entry/exit cycles in an hour. 

Watch for the signs and enjoy your connect time with the nesting swifts!‘

Thank you to everyone for the weekly reports. Next week will see more changes still. Plans for July include a road trip to Emerson (and possibly Dominion City), and maybe somewhere else to boot. We will let you know. In the meantime, why not do a ‘Leah’ and take a look at a new chimney. You never know what you might see….

— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

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PS: Why not check out our new Chimney Swift rescue document at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/CHSWrescue.pdf ?

Another week almost disappears and the swifts are keeping us on our toes. Keep these reports coming – our blog would be nothing without the fun and excellent observations of so many people!

We should begin our summary in Selkirk this week, following a very successful blitz night from Gerald and the excellent Selkirk Birdwatchers. 

On June 10th, Ray and Sybil watched the Merchant’s. They had 2 entries, followed by 2 exits, and then 4 roosted for the night. A possible breeding pair/helper scenario might be developing.

On June 14th, Robert and Donna, counted 2 swifts entering the apartments at 267 Main Street

On June 14th, Gerald counted at least 3 swifts over Lower Fort Garry and 2 entered the southeast chimney, although the southwest remains empty.

On June 16th, Nia and Linda counted 16 entries at the large stack at the Mental Health Centre and 2 in the yellow brick.

On June 17th, Robert and Donna counted a drop to 10 entries at the large stack, and 2 in the Infirmary.

On June 17th, Winona saw 2 swifts fly over the Lord Selkirk Hotel, but alas no one dropped into the chimney.

On June 17th, Gerald was back at the Fort and recorded a good entry/exit cycle at the southeast chimney, confirming a breeding attempt is underway again. This time we hope everyone stays on the wall!

Finally, Gerald went to Lockport on June 20th, and counted 2 swifts in one chimney, and one in the other. His comment was interetsing as it matches other observations:

‘The Swifts did not fly around. They came from nowhere and dropped into the chimney.’

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More on that later. For now, let’s turn to Wasagaming, and a trip by the ever vigilant Dauphin crew, Ken and Jan:

‘Well, the stars aligned yesterday afternoon, our Sunday drive, Father’s Day and our 18^th Anniversary and a possibly new chimney swift chimney needing to be recorded so we got our park pass and headed down to Clear Lake or is it Wasagaming? No one seems to know as both names are battered around. We knew where the main chimney to check was located and drove around to locate a possible second chimney which we also found.

Back to the main chimney, it is located on the National Parks Interpretive Centre and/or museum. The building actually has 5 flues however: the single southern one might be too small being only 2×2 bricks; the pair of east chimneys sees one with a screen over it and it’s pair mate was in use with smoke coming out; this left the pair of westerly chimneys. We sat around on assorted benches and were pleased to see at least 3 swifts flying over the townsite however they were paying no attention to any chimneys so we went for supper.

After supper with an ice cream in a waffle cone in hand, we walked back to the museum and were rewarded with a swift dropping into the southerly chimney of the westerly pair. We watched and saw only 2 swifts flying about and as they were seen heading in the general direction of the possible 2^nd site we split our forces and I watched this other chimney for an hour. This chimney is located in the building to the east of White’s Bakery. The building was a sort of hotel/resort but was not open and may have been under renovation. Swifts were seen flying overhead, at times 3, but none paid any attention to the chimney but stayed further north.

Back at the museum 2-3 swifts were seen flying about and it was still thought that 1 was in the chimney (3+1=4). We again observed this chimney for a further 2 more hours and observed some “dipping” flyovers accompanied by much chitter-chatter but no further entries. The weather was closing in and it was starting to rain plus we still had an hours drive to get back home so we left before sunset, wishing we had been camping in the park and had been able to observe till dark.‘

Happy Wedding Anniversary to our really dedicated volunteers, Ken and Jan from MCSI! 

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Rick  in Neepawa is still trying to clock those swifts into chimneys:

‘I was at the flats in Neepawa and had time to check by the hospital for the swifts. There was one flying around the hospital. I believe there is a possibility the other is on nest. I have seen chimney swifts at hospital in Neepawa on 2 occasions so far.’

I think Rick is very close to confirming this site!

Our esteemed former MCSI chair, Ken De Smet, is now retired and enjoying more time with his grandchildren. Fortunately for us, Ken has decided to keep busy ont he swift front. Here is report number one:

‘By the way, watched downtown Stonewall last night (the 18th).  Nothing at all happening for half an hour and then 9:35 a pair was spottted & within a minute both were down the normal chimney.  Really different than the normal when there is only one pair in town & no major swallow hunting concentrations to be found’.

Last night, the 20th, Ken and Cal were out in Melita:

‘Watched swifts in Melita from 9:30-10. One entry in old school museum. None interested in back of legion hall this year!  Cal said there were still 3 seen flying around museum after 1 went down but not sure where they went. May be unaccounted for chimneys in town?’.

Also in Melita, Lynnea observed a bird enter the Manitoba Agriculture cinder block chimney.

In Brandon, Margaret and Millie were out on the 17th and had entries and exits at the Orange Block, another breeding attempt is happening at this regular spot.

David in Morden had this to say:

‘I’d been away from “my” chimney for a couple of weeks so I was eager to try to decipher the current goings on. The total was 5 entries and 3 exits for the session, with the majority (3 entries, 3 exits) occurring during a 31 minute period. There were even 2 birds in the chimney at the same time for 5 minutes, possibly 3 birds IF I assume eggs were always being incubated?

I wish I knew more about the nesting cycle as this seems like a lot of activity for a pair that should still be incubating eggs (based on interpretation of observations 2 weeks ago that this site was in active nest building phase and Google telling me the incubation period is 18-21 days) Does this activity fit the norm? Could it be a pair and a helper? So many questions…’

As ever it was Barb who answered David’s questions:

‘I would say the nest site activity is continuing nicely…a pair is clearly involved with the sequential entries and exits; the exits were fairly close together (~1 minute between events) = the pair is moving together; net 2 in for the night.

With a 9:41 sunset, “daytime” = 8:31-9:11. So the first consecutive entries and exits were in that daytime period. The duration in and between visit intervals are just fine for that time of day and for the roosting hour. All is well! But it still is tough to know about incubation because it’s the worst time to figure out the most difficult stage of nesting. Ah, there is always a reason to go back to the chimney side… ‘

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Back to Winnipeg. We had a few reports on the website. Gord and Tami reported a pair of swifts over their yard in East Kildonan at a time we would expect them to dive into a roost. Aaron  sent a few reports of swifts including at Lilac@Fleet and over the Earl Grey School.

Leah reported that:

‘By the way – I took my husband to see the Assiniboine School roost last night – we were only there from 2115 to 2215 – counted 66 in for the night (although may have missed a few early on).’

At the zoo, Mitchell continued to watch on the 20th, ad had some nice entry/exits, indicating that our nesting pair are busy! Strangely, Katrina saw 7 swifts but no entrances on the previous roost watch.

On the 19th, Tim and Jon took a stroll around some downtown sites in the morning and eventually found a pair of swifts at the Living Gospel Church near Health Sciences. In the evening, Tim also had a pair at the apartment on Walker in Lord Roberts. Frank and Jacquie were also nearby, and this to report:

‘We had two CHSW at 415 Mulvey this evening. Only two were seen in the area. Unlike St James birds, these came in to the chimney at the expected time and stayed there.’

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AND FINALLY! These reports need context, and here is the weekly update from Barb in St Adolphe:

‘Wednesday’s roundup report for St Adolphe started with a reminder that flew in during Tuesday morning’s dog walk. Over a hundred low flying Canada Geese were making their way north in a leisurely fashion. It is the time of year when non-breeders carry on migrating – no rush to get prime nesting spots, but a yield to what is an ingrained movement. In St Adolphe, Chimney Swifts also have been seen to shift in numbers in the third week of June. Extra “helpers” can show up at nest sites and previously unoccupied chimneys become active with newly arrived pairs. It is impossible to tell if these are relocating local swifts or late arriving migrants. 

So, I was intrigued to see a tantalizing, possible 3 consecutive entry sequence at the Brodeur Bros chimney late Tuesday morning. Bad luck, or in my case really bad timing, overrode the ability to decipher things. Just as swifts were leaving the nest site, two commercial trucks which had been parked next to me (the folks were working on the municipal electrical box near my infamous blue Comfy Chair) were being backed up and blocked my view. Insert a bad word bubble. Unfortunately, my sight line was broken despite jumping up and hopping over to keep focused on the chimney rim. Who knew calisthenics were part of swift monitoring? Everyone who has sat the vigil knows how seconds can make the difference between observing or missing an entry/exit…..so the stage was set for Wednesday.

After 2 solid hours of monitoring Wednesday morning, with a lot of head snapping and keen peripheral vision workout, no further indication of three swifts at Brodeur’s was seen. I had likely missed an exit at Brodeur’s the previous morning.

However, with a long observation period and 2 sites being watched simultaneously, the data collected were useful to show how variation in nest site use exists. It also shows how the length of a monitoring period can influence the interpretation of activity. Here’s the data set:

Main St and Brodeur Bros. 

Main St and Brodeur Bros.
Start time: 11:00 AM
11:22:08 entry Main St
11:59:31 entry Brodeur Bros.
12:01:07 entry Brodeur Bros. (2 in)
12:45:16 entry Main St (2 in)
End time: 1:00 PM

A pair used each chimney. The Main St site was occupied for ~85% of the observation period by at least one swift; the nest site was unattended for >22 min. (Start time to first entry).

The Brodeur Bros. site was occupied for ~50% of the time and for most of that time by a pair; the nest site was unattended for >60 min. 

The Main St pair were moving about independently; the Brodeur Bros. pair were seen together in the air before the first entry took place. 

Stage of nesting for these two sites = egg laying to early incubation (based also on spring arrival dates)?

Take a moment to look at different 60 minute “observation periods”. If you watched between 11:25 AM and 12:25 PM, you would think that the Main St site was not in use. If you watched between 12:00 and 1:00 PM, you might think that only 1 swift was inside when 2 swifts were actually inside the chimney together. 

If a session doesn’t go “as you expected” don’t loose hope that your site is not active but don’t stretch the interpretation too much either. We suggest being flexible about monitoring and making common sense adjustments to your viewing sessions to answer the question of the day. Set an objective when you head out to monitor Chimney Swifts. You’ve heard this before: there is always a reason to go back and watch again! 

The next stop on Wed. was over at Club Amical:

The next stop on Wed. was over at Club Amical:
Start time: 1:30 PM
2:06:27 entry NE Club – approached alone
2:11:47 entry SE Club – 1 other swift in close proximity
2:22:39 exit NE Club
2:34:00 exit SE Club
End time: 2:35 PM

NE duration in was ~16 min.; 1 swift approached alone before; = a long, partner exchange at incubation stage?

SE duration in was ~22 min.; partner was in air with the swift that entered; = egg laying to early incubation stage (also based on spring arrival dates)? 

To finish the wonderful Wed. circuit, the Church site was checked out: 

To finish the wonderful Wed. circuit, the Church site was checked out:
Early evening at the Church:
Start time: 7:30 PM
7:37:21 2 exits
7:44:35 entry
7:52:34 entry
7:57:34 2 exits
End time: 8:30 PM

Clearly, the breeding pair continue to be active partners in the sky and down the chimney. These swifts were the first arriving birds in town this spring. The chimney was unattended for >7 minutes and 7 minutes and >32 minutes. In the evening, both adults like to feed and drink and get ready for roosting – even if they are incubating eggs. So, back to the chimney side it is…

For all of you nest site monitors, keep watching for classic incubation exchanges ~ you will observe an entry then an exit within 30 seconds – 2 minutes. Those partner exchanges are best seen during earlier daytime hours. Good luck monitoring your nest sites!‘

— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

A quick look over the figures indicates that so far in 2019, you have checked at least 114 chimneys for swifts, with an impressive 88 being occupied on at least one occasion. This is an incredible achievement!

MCSI is aiming to maintain momentum throughout the summer. Our target is to watch over 150 chimneys. This means that we need your help. Here are a few suggestions of the types of swift watching you can do on Wednesday evening to help us out:

1. Watch chimneys in towns which have not been watched yet. Priority places include:

• Baldur
• Manitou
• Emerson
• Dominion City
• Birtle
• Crystal City
• Clearwater
• Darlingford
• Neepawa
• Eriksdale
• Melita
• The Pas
• Stonewall

2. Look for alternative chimneys in and around your existing Chimney Swift community. For example, in 2019 we have had excess birds in the air (swifts which were not accounted for int he main chimney) in:

• St Francois Xavier
• Saint-Jean-Baptiste
• La Broquerie
• Steinbach
• Souris
• Morden
• Brandon
• Otterburne (try the church or the old convent)

3. Look at existing chimneys on the database in your area. Here are a few examples of chimneys which have not been checked in 2019:

• Selkirk (Manitoba Avenue, Lord Selkirk Hotel)
• Portage la Prairie (MTS Building)
• Southport (Mynarski Building)
• Saint-Jean-Baptiste (school)
• Winnipeg – there are lots of options, email us and we will point you towards possible chimneys which will need looking at.

4. Go and find some new sites! This is especially likely in larger communities, and especially Winnipeg. 

5. Keep an eye out for swifts and chimneys as you travel around Manitoba this summer. Last summer, Ken De Smet found swifts in Eriksdale because he happened to be in town having lunch while doing some Red-headed Woodpecker monitoring.

Please, we would love your help to build up the fullest picture of where to find swifts in 2019! If you have data and have not submitted it yet, please do so as you get a chance. Finding out where these birds are using is important for their conservation.

Quick Monitoring Update

Last Wednesday we had our annual season ending swift watch at Assiniboine School. Don, Denis, Jake, Lyle, Janice, John, Frank, Jacquie, Leah, Kelsey and Tim counted 104 swifts enter the chimney for the night. In the same area, Kelsey has confirmed a nesting attempt is underway at the Essex House Apartments, a new site for 2019.

Derek also picked up a new site, at St Paul The Apostle Church on Portage Avenue in St James. Thank you Derek!

On Friday evening, a group of Nicole, Cain, Barb, Rob, Frank, Jacquie, Serge, Christian and Tim, watched the zoo tower, counting a daytime entry and exit followed by 3 swifts entering to roost for the night. This confirms that the activity recorded the previous week was certainly no fluke!

Blair  continues to check his sites, watching some good daytime activity at the St Joseph Street site. Here is his report:

‘Below are the details of the sightings at St. Joseph Street, which was quite active.  There were entries into the chimney.  But the two swifts that  entered the chimney, remained for 30 minutes.  There were 3 swifts flying together and were sited 7 times before the entries and again once after.  I think these three are a group in the chimney and the other 4 in the air were a separate group. 

Do you know what the pair would be doing in the chimney for 30 minutes at this time?  It doesn’t seem to be the same as the nest building scenario, that was explained in a recent new report.  

Arrived at 10:10 at 690 St. Joseph

10:13 – 3 CHSW around building
10:20 – 3 CHSW to the east of chimney
10:24 – 2 CHSW around building
10:25-10:27 – 3 CHSW close to the chimney
10:30 – 3 CHSW back again to east, flying together
Merlin flying overhead but moved off to the west
10:37 – 2 CHSW came back
10:38 – all three back circling the chimney, saw a forth in the distance to the SE
10:40 – 2 CHSW enter the chimney
10:48 – 1 CHSW flying over the chimney
10:49 – 1 CHSW flying over the chimney
10:51 – 1 CHSW flying over the chimney, then four swifts flying over the building
10:53 – 2 flying close to building to the N
10:55 – 1 CHSW flying over the building
10:58 – 1 CHSW flying over the building to the SE
11:08 – 5 CHSW in the distance to the SE
11:10 – 2 CHSW exit the chimney, then three flying together
11:13 – 4 CHSW flying together to the N, turned and flew further North
11:15 – Left to check chimney at the Franco-Manitoba Cultural Center.

The Cultural Centre was empty. Blair’s question about activity was answered as if by magic by the ever helpful Barb in her St Adolphe report:

‘Conditions continue to be optimum for Chimney Swifts in St Adolphe. Each of the 5 nest sites in town is occupied by a breeding pair of swifts. They are still busy twig collecting, but they are telegraphing egg laying is also taking place. Very long “duration in” intervals (= the time between an entry and an exit) are being seen – whether a single bird or a pair enters, it is often 30  to 40 minutes before an exit from the chimney is made. Eggs are often laid every other day and incubation begins with the second to last egg. This is a very tough transition for monitors to pick up on! 

When the swifts are tight on their eggs, classic incubation exchanges will take place. The “between visit” interval (= the time between an exit and the next entry) is roughly 1 hour. You will see a swift enter the chimney ~silently and fast usually~ then within 30 seconds to 2 minutes, a swift will exit (= a much shorter duration in interval compared to the egg laying stage). The adult birds have exchanged the job of covering the eggs and the off-duty parent heads out to feed. Incubation lasts between 18-21 days, although shorter incubation periods of ~16 days have been noted previously in St Adolphe.

Borrowing from the Big Bang Theory finale, who borrowed from Heraclitus, a Greek Philosopher: CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE. Watch for the signs of change as nesting Chimney Swifts shift gears as their breeding activity continues!‘

Tim continues his mission to find every chimney between home and the Nature Manitoba office. On Thursday of last week he clocked a swift flying into a new chimney at 272 Cockburn Street in the Earl Grey neighbourhood. On Friday it was a swift dropping into a new chimney in Osborne Village, this time on top of 118 Scott Street.

In Portage la Prairie, Gord, watched the small chimney on the Correctional Facility. There was a swift using it, but it left, not returning to roost.

Thank you for keeping those reports coming, we thrive on reports! And thank you everyone for your help so far. We want to confirm as many swift sites as possible, so we look forward to hearing from you!

— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator

I hesitate to call this breaking news, but I have just added a list of new identification codes for Swift sites that have recently been identified.

Please use these new location codes to identify sites on your monitoring forms.

The list (in pdf format) is located on the Resources page at: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/2019_MCSIcodes.pdf

Frank M for the MCSI team

Our final official monitoring night was a bit of a turgid affair for many, a fair few sites were not watched in favour of avoiding the possibility of being struck by lightning. But hey, some folk managed to get out where the weather was better, and some folk also got out on other days. Here is our latest swift monitoring update.

First, to business though. This Wednesday is the first of our ‘Wednesday Night Swift Night’ of the summer. To mark this, we are encouraging all monitors in and around Winnipeg to turn up at Assiniboine School to watch the large roost. We may even recruit a few folk to look at the surrounding chimneys in the area before descending on the school for the main event. We will be there from 8:30, so please come along and meet us!

We cannot avoid this first piece of news any longer. On Friday, Laura  from the Assiniboine Park Zoo sent us this message:
‘Good news! Our students were checking out the Zoo chimney this afternoon to see if the data loggers were still recording, and saw 2 swifts exit the chimney! I sent them out to continue observing for ~ 1 hour, and they did not see any more entrances or exits.’
This is the first ever use of an artificial chimney in Manitoba, a very significant moment, and huge credit must go to a number of people, not least Nicole at Manitoba Sustainable Development for making this happen.
The story didn’t end there. This needed following up. Avoiding the downpours on Saturday, Tim popped up mid-morning and watched for an hour. Here are the results:
https://youtu.be/yvs2t9nysWs

Nicole and Cain tried later in the day, but alas they teased, weaved and didn’t enter. Not to worry, Barb and Rob went on Sunday and sent the following:

‘Rob and I landed at our observation site ~4:50 PM today (Sun. June 9) – facing north toward the tower, with chairs set up on the broad sidewalk due east of Gate E 10. We started officially at 4:54 PM and saw 2-3 swifts feeding over the tower many times.

Patience was rewarded with observing a meteoric dive entry at 5:50:31 PM – the swift dove in on an angle from an easterly approach. This was a confident, experienced bird using the site.

Kamikaze Pete left the tower at 6:01:21 PM with a low, quick rim-blip exit to the west; duration in the chimney ~11 minutes.

So the site has had at least three consecutive days of use. It looks like the swifts are using the tower as a nest site.’
Amazing news for 2019!
And the news keeps coming.

In 2018, St Vital and St Boniface appeared relatively quiet for swifts. Not so in 2019! We may just be fortunate that Blair has come along as a volunteer. But there seems to be something in the air around here. Here is another new site, the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre on Provencher, also known as the home of Nature Manitoba Discovery evenings:‘It was a dark and stormy evening, when I arrived to watch the chimney at 340 Provencher – Centre Culturel Franco Manitoba.  It was so dark I expected I could have missed all entries.  At 9 PM, the sky had cleared significantly and at 9:02, two Chimney Swifts flew by coming from the North and going South.At 9:04 and then 9:07, a CHSW, exited the chimney.  They returned and entered the chimney at 9:16 and 9:18 PM. Another pair (two swifts) in this chimney.’

Blair followed up with a follow-up at an old favourite, Springs Christian Academy:
‘I was able to check out the small chimney at the north end of 261 Youville recently. On June 9, I checked the chimney but not from a good vantage point.  I caught one CHSW dropping in the chimney at 9:21, with no more activity.  So, I went out for a short period on June 10th to confirm if I missed a second entry.On June 10, I saw two shifts circle the building and then both entered at the same minute 16 minutes later. A fourth chimney with two chimney swifts in St. Boniface.’

Tim also got in on the act in St Vital, this time from the comfort of his own neighbourhood in Riverview – a bit of a home boy apparently! On the 6th, he spotted two swifts sweeping around the Riverside Billiard’s on St Mary’s, a site which has sat on the database for 13 years, with no record of a swift entering. Well, no more! Later that afternoon, while taking his sick child out on a tricycle ride, Tim spotted the same pair of swifts over the chimney through his binoculars. He watched the swifts from the far side of the red River, eventually seeing one drop into the chimney.

The success in that area is in stark contrast to Fort Garry, where volunteers have really struggled to find any swifts. The folks at the Old Grace Housing Coop, on this occasion, Debbie and Carl were left empty handed, zero swifts spotted (although birds were seen in the air earlier in the week).

On the 6th, Justin and his family  decided to watch the Assiniboine School and were rewarded by the following:‘I did note that 3 swifts went in around 9:27 and the rest (between 65-70) went in between 9:49-9:51.The Friday night monitoring was certainly patchy this week. Thunderclouds gathered over Winnipeg, lightning flashed, and some very sensible folk decided not to chance it outside. Certainly Gerald in Selkirk tried:
‘I did a short survey yesterday, June 7. I spent 10 minutes at Lower Fort Garry. There were no Swifts or Swallows flying.
I was at the large stack at the SMHC from 9:20 to 10:00 PM. Zero Swifts 
sighted. The rain had passed through Selkirk by about 9-9:15 PM. I expect that the Swifts had entered the chimneys very early.’

Linda tried the Moorgate, covering for Frank and Jacquie who were in Churchill (not sure why, there’s no swifts in Churchill). Here is her report:
‘We had a severe weather watch but fortunately was almost finished passing through just as I was leaving home. We had had high winds and high temps 36C throughout the day and then came the calm before the storm! Thankfully it missed our end of town but not sure how others fared. Anyway, I did see at least 2 Chimney Swifts, but not entering or leaving. Hope this doesn’t give me a failing grade! LOL’.

On Corydon, Leah and Donald were left disappointed, not a single swift, and the only some lightning for company.

Ken, Jan, Pat and Marilyn in Dauphin reported:

‘The final count night for Dauphin went quit well, despite what the Watson Art Centre observers said:

Lots of chatter we could often hear them but not see them. Flew mostly in groups of 2 or 3 but did see a group of 4 once in a while and one group of 6. We had one entry at 9:09 but non after that time. Did not witness any exits.

When they were packing up they think a 2^nd swift went down their chimney which is shielded somewhat by a large spruce. The old Scott’s Hardware chimney had 2 swifts go down and the roost chimney had several exit and entries and got a final count of 8. It would seem the migrants have headed off but it is possible all 3 chimneys have birds setting up nests. Now to have a short break and then do some impromptu counts over the next few weeks to few months.’

Rhonda in Carman also managed to get out:‘Last night was a hot and steamy night in Carman.  Temperature was still around 30 degrees into the evening.  The thunderstorms had missed Carman entirely but gifted us with spectacular clouds tinted with the an ever-changing kaleidoscope of the colours of the sunset…pinks, purples and oranges.  What a gorgeous  backdrop for watching the swifts.  And, I’m sure the swifts were loving it, too.  At one point, I tracked 9 swifts careening around the Town Hall and the rental house.  One swift entered the rental house early, around 8:30 and stayed put.  I moved down the street to the Town Hall and watched another 4 swifts enter singularly at staggered intervals.  No exits from the chimney.  I packed it in just before 10 pm with 2 swifts left circling close to the chimney at the Town Hall.  That accounted for 7 of the 9 that I saw at once.  Where do the others go?  It’s the mystery of the disappearing swifts.  I sure do love a good mystery.’

Michele and Mike had more luck as well:
‘I didn’t think that monitoring would be possible this evening but the weather system blew by in time for us to arrive at the church just a few minutes late. The air was dead calm at first and the temperature had dropped an astonishing 12C in the past hour. This seemed to have quite an effect on our pair of swifts with very little activity to report other than the last 2 entries a bit earlier than usual. On another note, this was the first time this year seeing dragonflies…there were quite a few flying around above us this evening.’
In La Salle, Irene and Scott observed at least 10 swifts in the air, although only 2 came down to roost in the church. Mysterious swifts again…

Colleen and Mark had a great night in Otterburne, 4 swifts in one chimney and one in the other. This lot do appear to be settling down now!

David had a good evening in La Broquerie:
‘Another interesting night of observation and in spite of the strong wind the birds seemed to fly ‘normally’ as if there was no wind.  Straight down the chimneys as usual.At 9.37, immediately after the last one went down the small chimney there were 4 birds in the air in a quick fly through.  I never saw any more entries after the 9.37 one and by 9.55 it was getting too dark with numerous lightning flashes and black clouds so I quit about 5 minutes early. I saw no exits, so from the above there were 5 birds in each chimney with 4 more unaccounted for.’

In Brandon, Margaret and Millie watched the usual spot, and were rewarded with 4 flying swifts. Unfortunately they disappeared and did not roost in the usual chimney. Never fear though, on Sunday they returned, and the pair settled for the night in the Orange Block once again. There seems to be a second pair in town, so Brandon folks, keep a lookout for more swifts!

Barb did her St Adolphe recce on Saturday morning:
‘As the sky was darkened to end-of-roosting-hour conditions and lightning strikes were flashing, an outing for Friday night swift watching was cancelled. Even with my compulsive-obsessive swift disorder, I draw the line at electrocution.So Saturday morning, off I went to St Adolphe to check on the local flock. A major electrical storm blew the sky apart ~ 0530 H and drenched the area with much needed rain. It is always a concern though that nests get washed off the wall of the chimney by heavy deluges.As I parked the car near the Main St site, a swift was low overhead and I watched it fly directly to a dead tree and bang – the dead branch end was hit – the swift circled and dropped into the chimney, with it’s partner nearby. All seemed well.Shortly after the Main St entry, a pair of swifts made entries into the Brodeur Bros. chimney after fluttery alignment. Yes, all was very good.A trio of birds raced down toward Club Amical. Several swifts were swirling around the Church. All around, the local Chimney Swifts seemed active and on task for nesting.’

Finally, we end in Souris and our Sunday evening swift watch. 21 people from as far away as Darlingford and Brandon joined a group of locals from the town for a roost watch with MCSI Coordinator, Tim Poole. A minimum of 8, possibly up to 10 swifts roosted in the church, 5 in the Whistling Donkey Pub, 3 in the nesting chimney at Kowalchuk’s, one in the brilliantly named ‘ducktaped chimney’, and finally there seems to be a nesting attempt in the Specialty Shop. Big thanks to Terry,Glennis and Gillian for the extra watching.
This is the end of the ‘official’ roost monitoring nights. but the swifts do not stop, we do not stop, and we are encouraging as many of you as possible to keep the momentum going throughout this summer. more suggestions will follow over the coming weeks of things you can do to help.

—Tim Poole

A Terrific Night of Swift Watching
Certainly in this writers experience, this was the most entertaining night of swift watching in 2019. There were some excellent reports, and as ever, you guys have challenged us in trying to condense all these into a short blog. We will try though!

Firstly though to business. We will be back out this Friday, the 9th, for our final MCSI roost monitoring night. After that, there will be some swifting in Souris on Sunday, and a Wednesday night open roost watch at Assiniboine School, our first Wednesday night swift watch event of 2019 (more to come on this).

And tomorrow is also INTERNATIONAL SWIFT DAY, and no, we did not make that up! 

We will begin in La Broquerie. David had to go out a night early, but did have plenty of fun even so:
‘It was interesting because I never saw more than 8 in the air at any time thus the mysterious 6 that flew past last time and never showed up again, didn’t show today either.  However letting exits cancel entries my final count was 6 in the large chimney and 6 in the small one.’Keelie in Steinbach had some interesting observations:
‘I only saw one sadly. And couldn’t stay long enough to see him go into the chimney. I have been noticing less swifts this year. I feel like last year there was a maximum of 7 or 8 in the sky from what I could observe and this year I have only seen a maximum of 5 at a time!’

A segue then to Lac du Bonnet and Cam and Diann:
‘No swifts seen or heard! We generally get to Lac du Bonnet early to scope things out at various locations where we have seen swifts and not a one anywhere! Near the end of the monitoring the smoke haze, while it wasn’t thick , did make seeing the chimney’s difficult ( dark sky/ dark chimney) but I don’t think there were any swifts to see.’Luc in Saint-Jean-Baptiste turned in an epic evening, 4 entries, 2 exits, and 2 in the chimney at bedtime. A total of 7 swifts were counted in the sky, a great number! The patterns of entry and exits points very much to a nesting attempt.

Speaking of nesting attempts, in Morden, David could not make it out to monitor at the roosting hour. Never fear, he went out regardless and did an excellent daytime watch, sharing these results:
’10:44 Start monitoring10:47  1 exit (I assume I just missed a entry)10:57  1 Entry  (2 birds in air chittering, only 1 entered)11:02  1 Exit11:21  1 Entry (single bird, silent entry)11:28  1 Exit11:53  1 Entry (2 birds in air chittering, only 1 entered)12:00 1 Exit’We asked MCSI’s resident nesting sequence expert, Barb Stewart to comment on the patterns David observed, and she didn’t disappoint:‘This is classic nest building behaviour. Often a pair socialize together in the air, flying close to each other, sometimes with those classic “V” displays, vocalizing, and perhaps flying broad circles in their territory around the chimney. Sometimes the pair enters together and sometimes they both approach and 1 enters while the other peels off.A swift was in the chimney at the start of David’s session. As two swifts were seen in the air (I am ASSuming close to each other), the entry/exit sequence suggest no swifts were inside at the end of the session.The time chosen to monitor is really excellent. The birds feed after leaving the site in the morning, then they get busy with breeding chores. When the heat of the day forces insects high in the sky, the frequency of activity declines (say 2 PM to 5 PM -ish) on really stinkin’ hot days.’In Otterburne, things also took a turn for the hectic. Colleen and Mark had an impressive count of 12 swifts in the chimneys, split as 7, 3 and 2 respectively in the trio of chimneys.

Blaire in St Norbert sent an email entitled ‘oh what a night at the Behavioural Health Foundation’:
‘I’m not sure if I’ve been in a different world but tonight was hectic at the health foundation.Numbers make no sense to me but here’s the break down.Today there were 4 swifts flying around over head all day9:11 pm 4 swifts flying around and 1 swift entered chimney9:11, 1 swift attempted but flew off9:22, 2 entered chimney9:24, 2 entered chimney9:24, (seconds later) 2 exited chimney9:26, 3 swifts flying near chimney9:27, 4 swifts flying around chimney9:42, 3 swifts flying around chimney9:46, 1 swift attempted to fly in but took off9:46, 2 swifts entered chimney.No activity after that.I noticed when they exited they skimmed the top of chimney and went straight down and in a blink would be missed so I’m not sure how many exits there may be. I was closer than normal so the chimney was higher from this point of view and tougher to see the top. Anyway, it was quite exciting and strange at the same time. I saw 0 entries last night too BTW. ‘

Nicole and Cain were also completely up to their eyeballs with a swift party over in Wolesley:

‘The swifts were loud and proud in Wolseley tonight.  As I enjoyed the evening on the deck there were swifts overheard chittering.  I counted 4.  As Cain and I walked to the Fleetwood he counted as many as 15 flying over and making a ruckus. I had one entry at 8:49, followed by a really graceful exit at 8:55.  Then we were treated to quite the show overhear with birds circling in chittering so loud I thought there were a hundred birds…alas only 8…then 4. We finally had entries at 9:29 and 9:32 to close out the night.  Good thing it was getting dark!’
Unfortunately, Hardo and Evelyn were unable to see any swifts at the Old Grace Housing Coop.

Kelly-Anne was at her site on Academy and watched the pair safely roost for the night, a quiet night by some standards!

Janice and John continue with the epic Lanark swifts:
‘We saw swifts but didn’t have many enter the chimneys that we were watching. I’m not sure if 2 ravens in the area were a deterrent as 1 raven stayed on the ground while the other stayed close to it. The raven on the ground appeared bright but never attempted to fly. There was a lot of noisy conversation between the 2 ravens which then seemed to attract a couple of crows. We counted 15 swifts overhead but only saw 4 enter the chimneys we were watching – there must be another chimney or 2 in this area. This was another enjoyable evening of swift watching but has left me with many questions! Where did the other swifts go to roost???’

A few blocks east, Leah and Carol reported a dumpster diver and a few swifts at 915 Corydon:‘Quite an active night – probably all over the place! We had a max count of 8 birds in the sky at once, lots of activity in smaller groups… but only 2 went into 915 Corydon – while 6 others headed off in a tight group to the WSW right after sunset.  Where to?!?!’

Where to indeed! This segues to Tim in Osborne Village trying to locate a roost in the area (patterns described by other monitors suggested that a roost must be present in this area). Alas, no roost….BUT that was one crazy evening! At least 12 swifts could be seen at various times, but this was clearly an undercount. There were aerial copulation’s, gangs of swifts chasing each other, courtship flights, and a lot more! There was an entry early on in the small chimney at 424 River. A bit later, a pair of swifts were spotted dropping into a new site on Bell. Then a pair roosted at 321 Stradbrook. Finally, a swift exited 375 Stradbrook after sunset, joined another swift, whizzed around the chimney twice, and flew off, probably to the mystery roost! On the 5th, Tim also found another new site:

‘This year continues to be crazy. Driving along Portage Ave with the window down (and Radiohead on the radio), I heard a swift above a building west of all our known chimneys. I turned around, parked up, and watched an apartment with a broken pest cage called Essex House. Within a couple of minutes a swift almost seemed to climb out the cage.’

Back to Osborne Village. Barbara sent the following report:‘Phil watched 94 Roslyn, while I watched 395 River.  The birds he saw circling may well be the same as the birds I saw. We both did a little passer-by education, a good deal of curiosity and interest. No twig collecting – HOWEVER,at 5:50, when we were stopped at lights at Osborne and York, I saw 1 CHSW swooping through the dead twigs at the top of one of the grass on the west side of Memorial Park.’
In total, Barbara counted 2 entries for the night, and Phil lucked out with zero.

Across to St James. Beth and David counted 111 swifts enter the school. This is down a few on the previous count, but that’s a good thing, suggesting that our swifts are now redistributing to nest sites. 
Frank and Jacquie sent the following:

‘A night of appropriate behavior from our CHSW for a change. Perhaps my change to decaf has helped somehow. At the Silver Heights, three CHSW went in and they stayed in. A little bit of entry/exit action at the Moorgate, but four CHSW were there at closing time. During the observation period, we had six CHSW circling near the Moorgate, but only two in the vicinity of the Silver Heights.

Anecdotally, we heard some chittering behind us (to the SW) when all of “our” birds were accounted for (21:30-ish). This has noted by us in past years, perhaps there’s another site in the vicinity.’

Ooh, extra swifts, more new sites out there to discover perhaps!

Peter continued to see no swifts enter the chimney at St Anne’s Church on Hampton, strange as this has been an excellent breeding site for swifts in recent years. BUT then on Wednesday he sent this report:

‘Between some other jobs this evening, I stopped by St. Ann’s Church.  Your breeding pair may indeed be setting up house this year. Two birds appeared at 9:20 and after some coming and going; one bird entered the chimney at 9:35.  I don’t think the other slipped in unnoticed; and I only stayed another ten minutes.’

Kelsey also reported a strange evening, her two swifts in two chimneys at the Foodfare and Mount Royal chimneys in St James now reduced to one swift between two chimneys.

Garry had an easy 2 swifts at the Watt Street site in East Kildonan. In the same area, we received an excellent summary of reports from Jessica watching the Gordon King Memorial United Church:

‘May 18 – No swifts

May 26 – two swifts entered chimney

May 30 – one swift entered chimney (five in total seen in sky)

June 3 – two swifts entered chimney (three seen in  sky)

I spotted two chimney swifts flying overhead at my house, in Elmwood. I leave near the firehall on Talbot. My neighbor twice removed (couple houses down) has a chimney that looks like a suitable location for swifts. I don’t know if it is capped. I will keep an eye on it!’

Still in Winnipeg (we promised an epic), Blair in St Boniface sent the follow-up form his Sunday night discovery:

‘Tonight I arrived an hour before sunset at 188 St. Mary’s.  I had a pair of swifts fly by the chimney, first at 8:44 and again at 9:12.  The two entered the chimney at 9:15.  Later, a single swift flew by going north at 9:24 but did not come back to enter.  Hopefully, it is a pair who are going to nest here.’

Justin and Melodie at the nearby Good News Fellowship saw 3 swifts in the air, but alas they did not enter the chimney, flying off to the SE. 4 days earlier, it was Cathy who lucked out, but interestingly saw a similar patter of behaviour. Maybe there is another explanation, as the 3 swifts seen in Windsor Park last week did not show for Jenny again. Indeed, on the same theme, Kirsten has still not seen a swift at the Flag Shop, and Gary and Marj were left empty handed at St John’s Ravenscourt.

Leaving Winnipeg breathlessly behind, next to St Francois Xavier. Michele and Mike write:
‘This evening we were joined at various times by a couple of friends who live in town and stopped in for a visit while we were monitoring the chimney at the church. They were delighted to witness some entries and exits, something I have been enthusiastically describing to them for a few years now. We had a few more entries and exits than last week.’

Hurtling north up the Red River, Gerald’s watch at Lower Fort Garry was promising, until 3 swifts decided to disappear, leaving him alone, with no one to count. Seem to remember the swifts at this site doing unusual things previously! So to Selkirk, Donna and Robert had a pair in the Mental Health Centre Infirmary, Winona had a pair at the Yellow chimney, and Linda and Nia had a net 19 swifts at the large stack. In town, Ray and Sybil continue to count a consistent 4 at the Merchant’s.
Another nesting attempt is going here then. Diving south to Rhonda in Carman:
‘I was a little late at getting out tonight.  I arrived shortly after 9 at the Carman Elementary School yard.  There were 8 swifts circling and cavorting but I saw no entries at the two chimneys at the school and across the street.  I did go over to the Town Hall chimney after 9:30 but there was no activity, either. It looked like all the swifts took off in an easterly direction on their last fly by and I couldn’t locate or hear a single swift after 9:25 pm.  They are my type of swifts…they like to go to bed early, too.  I will keep trying to be in four places at once and maybe I should start earlier next time, too.’

More heroics from Rhonda there. Talking about heroic, Gord continues to watch the United Church in Portage la Prairie, counting a pair in the nesting chimney on Monday.
Margaret and Millie finally set eyes on a pair of swifts in Brandon:
‘2 swifts in the air circling fairly high came low and continued circling above the bldg. doing a couple of low swoops and flew to the north area of the building in the direction of the N chimney not visible from our observation site.’

After all these years, they may have to move their observation spot if the swifts decide to switch chimneys on them. Said they were crazy….
The final epic reporting is from our Dauphin group, with Ken sending in the report:‘The weather wasn’t looking very favourable with almost 100% heavy cloud cover over Dauphin this evening. Swifts were out and about in 2’s and 3’s until we got a light sprinkling of rain and then they seemed to group together but then they had trouble deciding where to spend the night with 3 chimneys to choose from.

Pat and Marilyn reported this while observing the Watson Arts Centre chimney:

“There was lots of chatter tonight. At times we couldn’t see them but could hear them. The most we saw in the air was 5 but usually they flew in twos or threes.  Not as many chimney fly by’s as there had been last Thursday, and at 9:41 there were (2) entries and then it started to rain.  We heard some chatter about 10 minutes later saw 2 more fly overhead and that was it for the night.”

Jan’s observations at the old Scott’s Hardware chimney were similar but Jan faces the west so has the advantage of the brighter sky as the sun sets. Birds were again in small groups of 2 and 3 and when it started to rain (1) bird went down her chimney and she could see the others flying towards the large roost chimney.

The roost chimney had larger groups overhead with 10-12 at times. When it started to rain 1 swift went down almost immediately followed ever minute by another single until 5 were in the chimney and then 1 decided to leave as the rain stopped. The sky was very dark and lightning was seen to the south when 7 swifts went down leaving a few unaccounted for in the dark but (12) in the chimney. The overall swift count seems stable over the last observation nights.’
And that is us up-to-date. As Blaire stated way back, somewhere near the start, ‘oh what a night’. It truly was a fantastic swift watch evening. Thanks to everyone who took part!

We look forward to the next, and final spring reports after Friday. We will not stop there though! There are lot’s of possibilities and we will be sending an email out next week to encourage you in continuing to watch for swifts in the coming months.

— Tim Poole