Another week of excellent monitoring has come to a close, and we have some really fascinating reports from Dauphin to Brandon, from La Broquerie to St Francois Xavier.

Where to start ?

On July 23rd, Robert and Donna attempted the Selkirk 3 chimney watch at Selkirk Mental Health Centre. They reported 12 swifts entering the large stack, and multiple entry and exits at the infirmary and yellow brick chimneys.

Moving to Ken, Jan and the fast growing Dauphin crew. Here is July 25th’s swift news:

‘Well, we got ourselves organized to watch all 3 Dauphin chimneys with walkie-talkies to share our instantaneous observations. As I (Ken) was filling in my data sheet at the roost there was a sudden swift showing up and straight down the chimney (8:27) and shortly there after another went down (8:50) followed by an exit (8:51) and another exit (9:05), this type of turn around is not what we are used to in Dauphin.

Meanwhile at chimney #3 there was an in & out within a minute (9:10) and at chimney #2 there was also an in & out (9:13/9:14). Is it possible that all 3 chimneys have nests? Later chimney #3 had another in & out (9:30) while #2 had “veer and peers” about every 5 minutes.

Right on sunset, the roost chimney airspace was suddenly alive with swifts and within a few minutes 29 flew down the chimney followed by 4 more over the next few minutes.

In summary there were 34 in roost chimney (#1); only 1 spotted(?) going down #2; and finally 3 in chimney #3.’

Ken also sent an update from July 29th:

‘Chimney #2 had 3 swifts go down but the chimney is nestled between the building and several large spruce which makes it almost impossible to see an exit. The entries were 8:03, 8:35 & 8:38 so there could have been an exit between, the main thing is however that the this was not the roosting hour and, there were lots of “veer and peer” flights overhead so I would say YES to a nest.

The roost chimney #1 was during roosting hour but had an exit just as we got there and a ½ hour later there was an in & out 3 minutes apart which would indicate YES another nest even thought a ½ hour later there were another 26 swifts go down for the night!!

The #3 chimney Jan got to watch also had 2 in& outs with less than a minute between and only 4 minutes between the two cycles so 2 birds at least feeding here also, YES another nest.’ 

Great news from Dauphin, and congratulations to everyone involved in the effort to confirm these sites.

Veering south and east, David, was back in situ at the church in La Broquerie, one of Manitoba’s most intriguing stories for 2018. Here is his report from July 25th:

‘After subtracting the exits (4) from the entries (23) I made it 15 birds in the large chimney for the night and 4 in the small chimney, making a grand total of 19 compared with 9 seen on earlier counts.

It is very hard to watch both chimneys simultaneously so I concentrated on the large chimney and may have missed some activity at the small chimney.

I arrived at 8.30 and there was an exit almost immediately afterwards, so there may have been entries before that time too.  AS you know it was cold, windy and heavily overcast with rain spots occasionally so early to bed was the order of the day.

There were a lot of Purple Martins sharing the same airspace so it was impossible to count swifts in the air.  Strangely the Martins disappeared at 9pm almost exactly.’

Gord in Portage reported form the same evening that:

‘I had a total of 4 entries at Trinity United Church with 15-30 minute intervals between entries. It was a very poor evening, as there was an overcast and it was cold and windy. The birds were having difficulty finding insects to feed their young, but the upside is that they haven’t abandoned their nest.’

In Brandon, Margaret and Millie still have a very active pair (or is there a helper?), 8 entries and 6 exits was a very good evenings work on the 25th.

Michele and Mike in Saint François Xavier reported on the 25th that:

‘We were really expecting to see more than 2 individual chimney swifts at our site in SFX last night but on the bright side, they were very busy with multiple entries and exits at regular intervals….first time I’ve had a 2 page night! ‘

Another pair feeding – excellent!

Barbara and Phil in St Boniface managed a magnificent 10 entries, and 7 exits on their watch. This controversial watch has given rise to estimates in the chimney from 3 to 4 to 6! Yes, swift experts cannot agree how to count. We will be sending the data to an arbitrator to decipher the actual results soon! The important thing though is there is an active nesting attempt still going, and there are helpers on site.

Back down in Morden, and David has a nice update:

‘ Consistent entries and exits by 2 different birds.  8 entries and 6 exits over the course of the hour and a half Paul and I observed the Lucky’s chimney.  Except for the final entries of the night right at sunset, every entry was followed by an exit within a minute.  Final entries were right at sunset.’

A new site doing well then!

Talking of new sites, Tim, was back on his bike this week having to check on a brood of swifts found in North Kildonan on Valhalla Drive. As ever, there is more to the story than we can fit here, but needless to say, we were delighted to discover our first active site north of Chief Peguis. On the same day (the 24th), he also picked up a new site in West Kildonan at the Kildonan United Church. The 26th, a wedding anniversary, some ice cream, and a coffee at Starbucks on Pembina resulting in a brief watch of the Flag Shop where 3 swifts were hanging out. Nothing happened for a while, they left for home and Tim picked out a new site while driving (honest officer, my eyes were facing forwards at all times), as a swift tumbled out of the Pembina Hotel on the corner of Pembina and Jubilee. A fourth new site was found on Friday on Broadway, at number 634 on the way home from a presentation in Wolseley (subsequently confirmed later in the evening as a breeding site). In other news, he also confirmed the breeding attempt on Kennedy as ongoing. Phew!

Again on the 26th, Meredith completed her first ever swift monitoring session. She reported from East Kildonan:

‘I checked out Roxy Lanes last night and there is a pair of Chimney Swifts using the chimney!! They were entering and exiting every few minutes so they must be feeding young.’

More happy families!

Lynnea checked a few sites out, confirming the Valhalla site on the 26th, but still finding a chimney (seriously weird this site). She did also on Fridayhave a successful evening at the 105 Clark property, recording multiple entries and exits.

Frank and Jacquie begin their update with the important matters before moving onto a swift update at Otterburne on the 26th (an attempt on the 25th ended a bit mistily):

‘We did not stop for Timmies…

All entries and exits were to the south side “skinny” chimney. There was no soaring above the campus– just direct arrivals and departures from/to the forested river side. 

It appears that some birds returned late (I don’t think we missed their return) with three CHSW confirmed in the chimney. At one point where we confirmed three in the chimney, a fourth CHSW was seen near the middle chimney.

So, at least three in the skinny chimney with a likely fourth CHSW in the vicinity.’

Exhausted, we come to La Salle. Barb and Rob have their usual tales of stroppy swifts:

‘Just a quick update to say that the La Salle swifts were a bit weird last night. Should have gone out on watery Wed. when it could all be blamed on the weather…By the end of the evening, we had an exit, entry – long duration in, exit, and final roosting entry at the EAST chimney. While the alleged helper was in the chimney, all sorts of entry/exit events were going on at the WEST chimney. The final count in the WEST was 1 swift and that was shortly before curfew. It was strange though as there were two exit styles from the WEST chimney – one to the southwest and one to the north. But, you have to go with the numbers and keep the hunch by your side…so no helping helper, and no absolute indication of the pair. Insert a frustrated bad word. The nest site in the WEST chimney is active though.’

We have a longer St Adolphe update from Barb to come – the week was very exciting and we need a full blog to report on all the weird and wacky swift activities.

It’s August tomorrow and there are fledglings in the air. For many of you, this might be the last opportunity to watch ‘your swifts’ before they move on, so lets get out and enjoy them while we can!

— Tim Poole

Swift housing crisis

We are in the midst of a potential housing crisis for some young swifts who have fallen from their nest. They have been re-placed in the nest,  but they may not be re-visited and fed by their parents. (We’re monitoring the chimney now.).

We may need to take the birds out and place them in rehab for a few days. In this scenario, we may want to place the birds in multiple chimneys where they might be “adopted” by new parents.

If we take the birds to rehab to recover for a few days, can we then find suitable locations with feeding adults and accessible clean outs and friendly owners?

If anyone in the Winnipeg area knows of a suitable active chimney with an accessible clean-out and sympathetic homeowners, please let us know.

Frank M for the MCSI

Wednesday 25th July will be our latest monitoring challenge. This week, we are asking if folk can do a one and a half hour roost monitoring session at sites for which we have evidence of a breeding attempt in 2018. We have included a list of possible sites at the end of this post.

‘logically, in times of poor feeding, it would seem that a nesting attempt where the breeding pair are tolerant of a helper would just fare better compared to non-helper nest sites.’

We have been trying to keep volunteers and interested folk alike abreast of Chimney Swift activity throughout the summer. One of our target activities this year has been to go out and find swifts in new places. To this end, it is high time you were given an update as to where we stand on this, and a friendly reminder that there is still time to find more swifts.

A number of you have checked out towns in Manitoba, from Gilbert Plains, Ste-Rose-du-Lac in the northwest (ok, northwest of Chimney Swift range), to Baldur, Pilot Mound and Rivers in the southwest, Eriksdale in the Interlake and Emerson in the south. In total, we must have had folk look at over 20 towns in addition to the usual spots we watch. That is some effort. Here is a summary of where we stand, including a trip report from the Emerson/Dominion City trip earlier this week.

Towns Where We Have Swifts (Hurrah)

Baldur (report by Cal Cuthbert) Also today (June 10) at 9:53 AM I spotted a lone CHSW flying among a myriad of Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, some Cliff Swallows and Purple Martins over Baldur, specifically 2 blocks W of the Baldur United Church (over Oak Creek Road). The previous evening I had spent about 30 minutes walking slowly along Carrie Avenue in the vicinity of the Baldur United Church but didn’t see any swifts in spite of the good looking chimney there which had been earlier noted. Therefore today’s bird was a surprise. Maybe our next visit down there will come up with more than one bird and that this one wasn’t just a transient.

Pilot Mound (report by Katharine Schulz) I was not able to link the two Chimney Swifts in Pilot Mound to any specific chimney, although they appeared to spend most of their time above a two street by three street area with the majority of potential chimneys that I had noted. There was also a potential chimney on an old house east outside Pilot Mound (south side of #3 Hwy just east of the intersection of Hwy 34).

The potential chimneys in this area included:

• 128 Moffat Ave ~26 bricks high x3x3
• 138 Moffat Ave. ~42 bricks high x 3.5 x5.5 rectangle
• 125 Stanley Ave. (corner at Anderson St.) cinder blocks
• 137 Stanley Ave. ~21 bricks high x3x2 with metal around top edge
• 215 Railway St. (on section between Stanley Ave. and Victoria Ave. ~30 bricks high x3x2

Eriksdale (report by Ken De Smet) ‘It’s from 1:20 pm on June 29. After many sail overs one of the pair went down the small church chimney on Railway Avenue.  No affiliation or sign on church and doors locked. It’s between Coop and New Horizons Club.’

Neepawa (report from Rick) ‘I went there today(June 22nd) and the one is flying continuously around the hospital and mainly staying mostly around the large chimney. I am not sure but it feels that the other is on the nest.’

​Lockport (report by Gerald Macnee)  ​’This evening (July 11th) when we were returning from Winnipeg at about 8:15 PM I noticed a couple of Swifts near the bridge. So parked for a few minutes and saw several flying around. I saw up to 10 flying from 8:20 PM until 9:45 PM. Then they started going in and out of the north chimney. One came out of the south chimney.’

Birtle (report by Lynnea Parker) ‘I’ve got 4 CHSW flyover in Birtle, Main Street (June 19th)’

Morden (report by David Charriere) ‘This evening (June 23rd), I saw 2 entries, and 1 exit.  Not being overly familiar with the nest duties of swifts, the timing of the second entry/exit surprised me.  Is it normal for a entry/exit to be only 10-15 seconds apart?   If the birds swapped places on the nest this quick change makes sense to me.  And if it is a normal turnaround time, this explains why I missed a likely exit at or near 7:57 (as soon as the entry happened I took time to jot it on my worksheet).’

Dominion City (report by Tim Poole, Chris Meiklejohn and Lynnea Parker) ‘Last evening (July 18th), Lynnea Parker, Chris Meiklejohn and I took a road trip to the south on a mission to eek out some Chimney Swifts in new places. Our first stop was Dominion City. I had recently found a record from Luc Blanchette of swifts in the town in around 2014, so a follow up was very much needed.

Having managed to make the town (I very nearly took us on a detour around St Agathe), we began our search. Within about one minute a swift was spotted
over the road. We followed it around the corner and set our eyes on a very nice looking brick chimney on a private household. At this point I think we had 2 swifts in the air. One swift dropped into the house. Success! Soon after we could see 3 swifts in the air, then the second swift dropped. The other two swifts disappeared for a bit only to be seen intermittently for the next 20 minutes or so. We noted a couple of other possible chimneys and headed to Emerson.’

Emerson (report by Tim Poole, Chris Meiklejohn and Lynnea Parker)  ‘Emerson was not so lucky to begin with (this is the same day as the Dominion City report). We drove around for quite a while and did not see swifts or any really good chimneys. One private house looked out best bet and Lynnea staked it out for a while. Around sunset, and with still no swifts we decided that it didn’t look promising. I decided to drive to the railway bridge over the river, call it a hunch, and immediately spotted a more promising bird in the air. Walking onto the bridge (there’s a pedestrian path), I spied at least one swift heading north over the river, possibly with 2 others (they flew away before I could get a good look). Back to town! Apart from a brief glimpse that I had of a probable swift near the post office after sunset, we did not get to see a swift enter a chimney (Barb Stewart found a picture of the masonic lodge on First Street after our trip which looks to have a very nice masonry chimney). On the way back to the 75, via a detour to nowhere, we saw at least one good looking chimney east of the Red River in an area we had not explored. This was by the border crossing (stop press, a look on Streetview suggests a number of possible chimneys in this area).

Anyway, needless to say it was ultimately a successful trip! If anyone wants to head down that way on a second swift search, let me know and I can provide details of possible locations.’

Manitou (monitoring done by Lynnea, Frank, Jacquie and David) 4 sites were watched with no success. Frank and Lynnea both though heard brief swift chattering.

Other towns watched – but with no swifts (yet)

We cannot just give credit to those who found swifts. A number of folk took the trouble to look elsewhere for swifts with less success. Below is a list of places checked this year without swifts:

• • • • • • Rivers (Margaret and Millie), no suitable chimneys found
          • Gilbert Plains (Ken), some suitable chimneys but no swifts seen
          • Grandview (Ken), no suitable chimneys found
          • Laurier (Ken), possible chimneys, no swifts
          • Ste Rose du Lac (Ken and Jan), one possible but unlikely chimney
          • Ochre River (Ken and Jan), one possible but unlikely chimney
          • Valley River (Ken and Jan),  no suitable chimneys found
          • Sifton (Ken and Jan),  no suitable chimneys found
          • Minnedosa (Tim and Sabina), some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Erickson (Tim and Sabina), no likely chimneys
          • Boissevain (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Crystal City  (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Cartwright  (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Minto (Katharine and Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          •  Deloraine (Katharine)  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Virden (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Dunrea (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Ninette ( Katharine and Frank and Jacquie ),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Miami (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Mariapolis (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Belmont  (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Wawanesa (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Glenboro  (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts

        ---

        If I have forgotten to include anywhere else in this list, please let me know and I will update the blog to be more accurate.

        It it important to note that, just because there were no swifts noted on these visits, this does not dismiss these towns as possible locations for swifts, especially in those places where searches were made during the day.

        A huge thank you everyone who has gone out and checked these places. As you can tell, there are some places which need more looking to get those all important swift residences identified. Please feel free to go and find these, and if you need some pointers, we will be happy to help!

        — Tim Poole

Most breeding Chimney Swifts are likely to be at the stage where they are feeding non-brooded young – chicks which no longer require an adults warmth to survive inside the chimney. In the last week of July and early August, we will start to see young birds leave the chimney, and these birds will start to migrate in mid-August. For a full summary of swift dates in Manitoba, you can read an excellent summary from Barb and Rob Stewart on our website at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/monitoring_guide2011.pdf. With this in mind, sit back with a cup of coffee, a glass of water, or something stronger, and read the latest interesting swift news from Barb Stewart in St Adolphe.

— Tim Poole

The following comes to us from Barb Stewart based on recent observations from  the Chimney Swift capital of Manitoba, Saint Adolphe.

All monitoring data collected are useful but some sessions are just more fun than others. Tim sent news of Margaret and Millie’s fabulous pair in Brandon who had 13 entries and 11 exits in the roosting hour on July 15. There was a report from a Winnipeg site, on July 17, documenting 7 entry/exit events in 40 minutes prior to roosting. That is excellent activity at both nest sites – reflecting big patches of local insects? – and very enjoyable swift watching experiences.

Sadly, there is another end of the spectrum. Zero, zip, nil, nada. And that is what happened (or didn’t) during a 120 minute monitoring session Wed. morning, July 18, at the St Adolphe Church. I saw a group of 5 swifts feeding in the cemetery, so there were adult survivors of the recent heat wave. That may not be the case for all nestlings. Even with the recent trend of low feeding rates, adult no-shows for over 2 hours is too long to keep juveniles alive. This site will be followed closely over the next few days for ongoing signs of a nest failure.

Checking in on other sites on Tues., July 17, a single swift flew really low over the Main St chimney 50 minutes into the mid-morning monitoring period. An audible chitter came from the passing bird. Then, a swift flew quickly out of the chimney – it had been inside for a very long time. It is remarkable how these breeding pairs communicate and keep connected.

After Tuesday’s Main St session I moved over to the Club Amical. The feeding activity in the SE chimney continued nicely. On Sunday the pair was also active and “veer and peer” behaviour was evident. So, the young are non-brooded now.

At the NE chimney on Sunday, an adult left the chimney 50 minutes into the session. Then on Tuesday, an adult entered the chimney while a second swift flying with it flew off. Incubation is not indicated so this pair will not have a successful secondary nesting attempt. Time has run out for this season.

Still no sign of flyby’s or activity at the Brodeur Bros site.

Moving along to Thurs. July 19, the morning monitoring started at Club Amical. And what a session it was. All was revealed. Five swifts were flying low to the roof and around the general area making all sorts of sounds when I arrived. Within minutes, an entry was made into the SE site as 7 swifts were flying about. Then 8 noisy swifts flew by, then 9 were counted. Two swifts approached the SE site and 1 dropped in; minutes later another entry was made. Brilliant! With 3 swifts inside the SE chimney a helper was confirmed. Within a minute, a swift left the SE chimney so that left 2 inside.  Then a whole lot of noise broke out – swifts and martins were mobbing a hawk (Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s). As the birds clumped together to drive off their foe, it seemed that 9-10 swifts were in the group. Then a swift popped up from the NE chimney. Ok – that made for 1 in the SE and 1 in the NE when 9 swifts were spotted; and there were 2 in the SE and 1 in the NE chimney when the mob scene took place. So this morning, 11 swifts for sure and possibly 12-13 swifts were in town. For over an hour, low feeding flights with stall ‘n’ nabs were seen along with group flying, peer ‘n’ veers at the SE rim, racing with body bumping, “V” displays between close flying pairs ~ all with a wide range of conversations that only the swifts could understand!

Swifts are highly social birds and the St Adolphe flock was certainly engaged this morning. Unfortunately, there was no activity again at the Church chimney for over an hour. Perhaps the nest failure which seemed apparent on Wed. resulted in a renewed social connections on Thurs.

At the time of writing Thurs. night, the rain was pouring in torrents and an electrical storm danced about the sky. Sheet wash on the inside surface of chimneys is a risk to nests. So the vigil will continue at the chimney-sides Friday to check on nesting progress…

To wrap things up, here’s a point to ponder ~ the Kyle’s who wrote the bible “Chimney Swifts, America’s Mysterious Birds Above the Fireplace” say that young in Texas get fed on average every 30 minutes for 7 days; then they are fed on average once an hour. Based on 11 years of observations in St Adolphe, non-brooded young usually are fed 3-4 times an hour. So why are the St Adolphe swifts behaving more like Texas birds this year with 1 X hour feeding rates? Whatever is driving the seemingly low Manitoba feeding rates may be contributing to unsuccessful nesting outcomes. Something to think about as you stare at a chimney rim waiting for action…

— Barb Stewart

A quick update on some swift comings and goings is due, so here we go!

First, thanks to Frank for his excellent update while I was away in the past couple of weeks. Frank’s contributions can go unnoticed to MCSI, but without his technical help, the emails and website would grind to a halt!

So an update is needed. First to Dauphin. As ever, why write something yourself when others say it so much better. Over to Ken on July 8th:

‘Well, Jan and I decided to give tonight a chance to view the local swifts and decided to try a new observation location in hopes of watching all 3 chimneys but we ended up being too far away from two of them. We did see one exit from the roost chimney (#1) and some single entries but we were only able to see birds just as they went down. The #2 chimney (WAC) did have lots of interest but we only noted one enter. The #3 chimney was too far away and slightly obscured by a tree top so nothing to report there. At one time when they were flying around, we did count about a dozen swifts going between all 3 sites.’

Margaret and Millie had a busy pair certainly in the process of caring for young on the same evening in Brandon. This must be Manitoba’s most reliable breeding site (don’t tell St Adolphe).

We always look forward to John’s reports, primarily because he manages to check so many sites. John on July 10th had daytime activity at 139 Market and 41 Princess, both in Winnipeg.

Sticking in Winnipeg, Garry continues to watch his Watt Street sites, and they continue to be actively breeding. However, Frank, Jacquie and Cathy checked last night (the 11th), and only noted a single bird. Maybe the other one was in the chimney for the duration?

Sticking in East Kildonan, Lynnea successfully recorded the first use at Roxy’s Bowling on Henderson Highway on Wednesday evening. She noted at least one entry-exit cycle (last time I heard from a text, there surely is more to come here).

Rudolf made it an East Kildonan hat-trick:

‘I spent this evening (Wednesday 11 July) from 9:38 to 10 p.m. at the Northdale shopping centre. There was a single flyby at 9:38, then an entry at the Curtis Hotel at 9:42, followed by an entry at 1010 Brazier at 9:51. No exits were seen. By 10 it got too dark to see well, so I left.’

Tim failed to get out on wacky Wednesday due to jetlag, but he’s still been busy don’t you worry! On Tuesday he recorded first use of one of those old downtown sites in Winnipeg which has been on the database forever, a site at 172 Edmonton. This was on his walk home from the office. In a few minutes, 3 entries and a single exit were noted. This morning (Thursday), Tim also noted new sites at 526 Walker, and 33 Kennedy during his trip to work. The former included an exit, and the latter two entries.

Finally, a couple of nice stories to finish. Ken De Smet, our esteemed MCSI Steering Committee chair has located Chimney Swifts in Eriksdale, the first time MCSI has become aware of swifts in this part of the Interlake. A swift was noted entering a church on Railway Avenue, with a second bird in attendance.

Finally, Gerald has sent in some good news from Lockport:

‘This evening when we were returning from Winnipeg at about 8:15 PM I noticed a couple of Swifts near the bridge. So parked for a few minutes and saw several flying around. I saw up to 10 flying from 8:20 PM until 9:45 PM. Then they started going in and out of the north chimney. One came out of the south chimney. By 10:00PM only 2 were seen flying. Then it got a bit dark so I went home at about 10:10 PM.‘ 

Gerald has tried a number of times to locate swifts in this chimney, so it was great to finally track them down.

Before we forget, an update from Barb in St Adolphe:

‘Here is the St. Adolphe roundup for Wed. July 11:

 Starting with Main St., where the swifts were no-shows for 90 minute sessions last Friday and then again Monday, aerial sightings were rare. Swifts were high up in the sky and were speeding by in the high winds. A pair left the chimney together about 15 minutes after the start of observations. After 60 minutes, no other entry/exit events took place. I left to carry on as the temperature was climbing fast, dragging the humidex rating along with it; the wind gusts of near 60 kph kept my chair awning blown down. It was tough to sit and watch with everything being tossed about but it was nothing compared to what those swifts were going through trying to feed! The Main St site was active today which is good, but the feeding rate was low.

 At the Church over the noon hour, the occasional rain blob fell but nothing was substantial enough to change the activity patterns of the birds. As the clouds rolled in, the wind dropped, and then swifts started appearing low overhead to feed. Quite the reverse order of what happens typically in the course of a day. It took 100 minutes to capture some entry/exit intervals. A swift dropped into the chimney 85 and 91 minutes after the start of observations; they stayed at the nest site for ~12 and 6 minutes respectively as they left together. So despite seeing a lot of foraging swifts, the feeding rate was low at this site too.

 Club Amical was the last stop for the day. Between 1:50 and 2:50 PM, a swift entered the SE chimney seconds after the start of observations and stayed for 1 minute. Shortly before the end of the session, 56 minutes later, 3 swifts came by and 1 entered the SE chimney, then 1 swift left ~20 seconds later. Were these partner exchanges or fast turnarounds by one swift? The feeding rate was higher (i.e., between-visit interval here was shorter) than for the Main St. and the Church sites. A longer session soon will help clarify whether a helper is on site at the SE Club and if the young are being brooded.

 A pair of swifts entered the NE Club Amical chimney and stayed for ~17 minutes. They left together and were seen flying close together in the area afterward. A secondary attempt at nest building/egg laying seems to be indicated.

 Still no activity at the Brodeur Bros. site after the June 30^th nest failure.

 One last note to watch for is the adults are starting to moult. Watching the trailing wing margin, you will see gaps or discontinuities where feathers are missing.’

Always useful to get the full Barb interpretation!

Onto next Wednesday, and for this one a group of us will head south to check Emerson and maybe if we have a couple of extra folk around, another local town for swifts. Maybe a wild swift chase, but you never know if you never look! If you would like to come please let us know. For those living further away from Winnipeg, we have a great list of towns to check out, from Gilbert Plains, to Swan River, Fisher Branch to Pilot Mound. Let us know if you are interested in checking out a new place to look for swifts.

— Tim Poole

Post Canada Day greetings to all, and special thanks to the many volunteers who continue to brave the elements in search of  sometimes elusive chimney swifts!

Recently we’ve had some interesting finds and some surprising absences involving our target species.

We will make sense of the many monitoring reports later, but the following are some highlights from recent observations. If I’ve neglected to mention your reports, sorry and we’ll get to you next time!

From Carman, Lewis, Frank, and Jacquie recently monitored the Memorial Hall chimney and a nearby residential chimney. There were several fly-bys by Swifts, and we observed at least eight CHSW in the Memorial Hall and four in the residential chimney.

From Barb Stewart:

“As of Tuesday, July 3rd the St Adolphe swifts were in various stages of progress and unfortunately, demise. The backstory to remember was a huge early morning thunder storm on Fri. June 29. Before then, incubation was underway at all 5 nest sites (checked Tues. – Thurs.) although with an extra helper on site at the SE Club chimney, the cadence of entries/exists was different.

As a reminder, the adult exchanges of 1 time per hour during incubation, shift subtly to about 2 times per hour when feeding begins. After hatching, the young need warming, or brooding, for 6-7 days. So one adult is usually in attendance at all times, covering the young after they are fed. Juveniles older than 6-7 days can regulate their own body temperature so they can be left uncovered i.e., non-brooded. Then both adults may leave the nest site to forage for those precious food morsels. Fledging – the first flight of juveniles outside of the natal chimney – takes place on Day 28–30.

Checking in on the birds starting Sat. June 30th, the daytime activity at the Brodeur Bros. and NE Club Amical sites had stopped. A nest slippage after the storm? Perhaps some negative outcome of “extra” swifts arriving in town?

On to better news…the Main St eggs hatched out during the time between the last Tues. monitoring session and the Friday storm day – on June 30th there were 2 entry/exit cycles in one hour. On Tues. July 3, both adults were out of the chimney together – both arriving over the rim but only one entered. So that was Day 6-7 which makes for an estimated fledging between July 24-27.

At the Church, hatching took place on July 2. That means the avian congregation should fledge July 29-31.

What about the SE Club Amical site? Well, with an extra bird on site and some complicated entry and exit activity, the site is active but the stage is not easy to identify.

Difficulty in interpretation spread to La Salle for the early evening monitoring on Wed. July 4th; the last check on June 10th had 3 consecutive entries into the West chimney in late morning. Arriving about 7:25 PM, Rob and I were treated to an exit from the West chimney shortly thereafter. Great – a nest site. Then an exit was seen from the East chimney. Oh boy, had an additional swift(s) arrived for a breeding attempt? By the end of a 90 session, 3 swifts were seen flying together, no other event occurred at the East chimney, and the pair had 2 entries and 1 exit at the West site. The couple moved together (typical of egg laying/incubation phase) which resulted in an unattended stretch of ½ hour (a long time for brooded young) and a short between-visit interval of ~5 minutes (not much time to collect insects to feed young).

What is happening in La Salle? Likely a single bird took a rest in the East site. A pair is attempting breeding in the West site. The stage of nesting isn’t obvious. What complicates the story is the early Wed. morning thunder storm which had significant winds and rain. A nest slippage is always possible under those conditions. Parroting a favourite swift saying, there is always reason for one more trip to the chimney side!

Best, Barb.”

• John has been observing a number of sites in the core area of Winnipeg, and he has reported activity at 513 Waterfron, 303 Assiniboine, and 41 Princess.
• Rick in Neepawa has observed swift activity in that location.
• David in Morden has seen swifts at Lucky’s .
• Margaret and Amelia in Brandon have noted consistent activity at the 1203 Princess site.
• Chimney Swifts have been reported in the vicinity of the bridge in Lockport
• David in La Broquerie has been observing consistent activity in both chimneys at the historic  St Joachim Church on Main Street.
• Frank and Jacquie have noted swift activity at the Mulvey Avenue site near Confusion Corner in Winnipeg.

During a recent Swift Wednesday, Lynnea, David, Frank and Jacquie took a road trip to Manitou (after an obligatory  visit to Tim Hortons in Morden) to check three likely sites in the Pembina Valley town. Four chimneys were observed during the roost hour, but no swifts were seen (although two of the group may have heard swift chittering).

Keep those monitoring reports coming in and feel free to assign yourself to a chimney of your choice on Swift Wednesdays!

— Frank Machovec

Here’s  a Swift update while our intrepid coordinator Tim is, as they say, across the pond.

From Saint Adolphe, our swift nesting capital with five active swift sites and an artificial tower, comes news of a mural featuring our favourite insectivore:

Lesley Gaudry, the CEDO of the RM of Ritchot provides some details:

The artist is Mandy van Leeuwen. The Sign is a project of the Ritchot Community Development Corporation – St. Adolphe Subcommittee.  The mural is part of our Main Street Enhancement efforts together with the Pergola at Esso and the hanging flower baskets. The Heritage themed mural is to commemorate different aspects of St. Adolphe’s heritage – built and natural environment.

The birds on the mural are representation of the RM being a birding area, the chimney swifts are of course for the nesting capital, the area view of the town on top is homage to the red river lot settlement land patterns, and the old rm logo, etc.

It should be noted that Barb Stewart and Tim Poole had some input on the design of the mural.

As far as monitoring results from south of the Perimeter, Barb Stewart reports “As of this morning, all 5 nest sites in town are active at the incubation stage; extra birds are in town with at least one helper on site at the SE Club Amical chimney.”

A group of road warriors (David, Lynnea, Frank and Jacquie) drove out to Manitou last night (after an obligatory stop at the Morden Tim Hortons) to check out several promising chimneys in the town. The chimneys were indeed promising,the weather was obliging and the company was congenial, but no swifts were seen entering the chimneys, although Lynnea and Frank heard some familiar chittering during the monitoring period.

July 4 (Swift Night but not necessarily American Independence Day)

Instead of an organized blitz of a pre-determined site on July 4, we recommend that you select a likely chimney for monitoring. We hope that some new sites might be found or some lesser-viewed sites might get some data points for 2018.

You might want to consult the Monitoring Results page for a list of known sites.

— Frank Machovec for the MCSI