News and posts

After six official nights of swift monitoring, our official spring roost monitoring program ended with some more fascinating insights into Chimney Swift behaviour,  Chimney Swift distribution, and that glorious ability of swifts to confuddle even the sharpest of minds.

Before jumping into our June 8^th update, a quick recap on those monitoring reports between June 4^th and June 7^th which have not been covered yet. Kathy, Jake, Beth and Adolf submitted their report for the Assiniboine School roost a wee bit late, but that doesn’t matter, a very respectable 107 entries were recorded. They also counted 2 bird per chimney at the Carillon and King’s Theatre.

Luc was unable to get to the church St-Jean-Baptiste in June 4^th, but did get out on June 6^th. His report was fun reading – another bemused swifter!

‘Am I ever confused! five swifts entered the chimney. Are they migrants? I thought only one couple would nest in a chimney, with sometimes a helper or two from a previous brood. It’s the first time this year that this many birds enter the chimney.’

Gord counted 2 entries at the MTS building in Portage la Prairie on the same evening, with a total of around 8 birds in the air.

There’s the update completed up until June 7^th. Now to the night of June 8^th. Following the lousiest forecast ever given, volunteers managed to get out to towns and cities from Dauphin to La Broquerie, and a few places in the middle. Thunderstorms eh!

We HAVE to begin in Morden, and David’s quest to find where the pair of swifts are roosting/nesting. Here is his summary report of the evening:

‘The final official monitoring session was my most successful.  I found a chimney that is being used!  321 Stephen St. This is Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant that I suspected from my last monitoring session.  2 confirmed entries and 1 possible entry earlier in the session.  The two entries were about 20 seconds apart so I’m hoping it is a mating pair.’

Congratulations David for the many hours of determined watching, followed by a very deserved and rewarding grand revealing.

Mike and Michéle had an interesting evening in St-François-Xavier, a total of 5 entries over the period of the evening followed by some bizarre nocturnal entries and exits.

Over in Brandon, Margaret and Millie had their faithful pair of swifts, the final bird entering at 10:11pm.

In Portage la Prairie, Cal had some entry/exit cycles and a total of 3 birds in the Tupper Street Church chimney.

David in La Broquerie broke into poetry, a possible first for the evening updates:

‘Whether the weather be fine, Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot,
I decided to weather the weather, Whatever the weather,
Whether I liked it or not, so I monitored the La Broquerie lot.

Considering your advice about early roosting when rainy, I arrived early at around 8.30 and at 8.39 there were 2 entries into the small chimney.  At 8.43 there were 2 entries into the large chimney.

 Then the weather started to brighten with sun on the horizon even though it was still cloudy overhead.  At 9.04 there were 2 exits from the large chimney and shortly thereafter I saw 7 in the air at the same time.  If the first 2 in the small chimney stayed down that would make 9 in total.  However with the sky clearing, the fun had just begun.  

 Scribbling on a pad of paper I use an up arrow (⬆) for an exit and a down arrow (⬇) for an entry.  So starting at 9.23 after subtracting the exits from the entries I end up with 10 entries, the last entry being at 9.55.  And if the first 2 entries at 8.39 stayed down the grand total would be 12.  I suspect I must have missed a few exits, especially from the small chimney as they are very hard to see.  Nevertheless a very successful evening.

 We need more chimneys for them to nest in.’

 For those unfamiliar with swift monitoring, this sounds like a hectic evening of fun watching. Speaking of fun swift watching, we cannot go on without delivering the report from the Moorgate by MCSI Coordinator, Tim.

‘I had an interesting evening. I went back to the Moorgate on Portage Avenue. I soon got distracted by frequent swift activity on the south side of Portage, the Moorgate being on the north side. On more than one occasion, I documented swifts entering a new site over the road. Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to ditch the Moorgate, and watch the south Portage swifts. 

Looking at the chimney where I had noted swifts entering, I was a little perturbed to see one flue lined and the other screened by a pest cage. Surely I was mistaken. A few minutes later, a swift tried to enter through the cage and deflected off it. Yes, it literally hit the cage and jolted away in a different direction. A minute later, the same swift, presumably, tried again, and this time went straight through the cage.

I moved across to look at the next apartment with a chimney which appeared half open, and half screened by another cage. Later on, a pair of swifts came into roost. STRAIGHT THROUGH THE CAGE ON THIS CHIMNEY. The top must have fallen through on both cages.

So there we have it, swifts can get through these contraptions if the top falls off, and it’s highly likely if we can get them removed, we can restore more habitat.’

 Even more bizarre, Tim found two more similar chimneys the following morning in Osborne Village while taking his kids to the splashpad.

So there we have it, swifts can fly through a busted pest screen. GO SWIFTS!

Sabina tried a possible new site on Confusion Corner but lucked out, as did Lynnea and Adam in East Kildonan. Barbara also had no luck at the new Old Grace Coop site.

John continued his 303 Assiniboine vigil, counting 2 in one chimney and 30 in the other. Of interest was the fact that Linda also counted this site, the two of them must have been in different locations! Her count of 31 was pretty much exactly the same (there is always going to be an error with larger groups of birds, so a one bird difference actually helps confirm the precision of the volunteers – call it within the margin of error).

Up to Dauphin now. Ken and Jan now have helpers. Yippee! The report from the larger roosting site was as follows:

‘Things started slowly with a pair circling about 8:43 but then the numbers started to climb, by 9:08 there were 7 and 9:45 about 10+ more showed up, then the clouds got heavier and things got darker and the swifts started to go down but only a few at a time which was nice for counting but it got too dark to see and we knew there were still birds circling.’

The total was 18 in the chimney. The second new site was as follows:

‘As this site is close to the main roost, there were lots of times birds making a big circle were seen over both sites. Birds here were very vocal. One swift went down and 45 minutes later left the chimney but returned later resulting in 3 in chimney. It is likely therefore that this might be a nesting chimney with a helper. At end of observation period, swifts were still heard chittering overhead although not seen.’

Dauphin reports always seem to end with swifts in the air still, and no one able to see them!

Finally, Gerald, looked at a new site in Lockport. A swift had been watched entering the Maintenance Compound chimney for the dam earlier on Friday. Unfortunately, no swifts were observed at the same spot that evening. Maybe they went to bed early?

‘Finally’, did we say ‘finally’? We meant, finally for Friday, because some of you were out on Saturday as well. John did one of his legendary multiple site checks on Saturday. There was nothing at 515 Waterfront, but he did have a pair doing entries and exists at 527 Waterfront. Sites on Ellice and Stradbrook did not turn up any swifts this time, but knowing John, he will be back to look again!

Later that evening, Cam and Diann, were out in Lac du Bonnet. The report was as follows:

‘Initially no swift or swallows observed
20:27     3 swifts in air,  2 somewhat together and one apart

Casey’s Inn
20:47– one entry
21:00– one entry
No exits

Gran’s Bakery
No entries or exits

So once again we have an unaccounted for swift!’

This town appears to have a rogue swift every time!

At the Silver Heights, Bob and Valerie reported:

‘Glad to see two swifts entering chimney at roosting time, but no other activity.’

Frank and Jacquie recruited Cathy to help them make sense of Providence College, reporting:

‘Three of us watched the skies around the Providence College campus last night (without benefit of Timmies I might add).

 We saw eight CHSW overhead shortly after arrival.

 We observed nine CHSW entering the chimneys: three birds in each chimney this time. The CHSW were very vocal this evening.’

 Not sure how Frank survived such an evening with no visit to Timmies, but thanks to Cathy for helping with the watch.

Barb and Rob with sick dog to care for, decided to do a bit of daytime monitoring in La Salle and St Adolphe on the 10^th. As ever with Barb, the interpretation is very detailed, and worth reading for anyone less familiar with swift behaviour and life-cycles.

‘At 8:15 AM in St Adolphe, the pair of Church swifts were busy flying through tree tops…then I had to go clean the hall…

 At 10:15 AM, the vigil at La Salle started. Immediately seen were the pair plus single swift. It was a lovely show they put on for 75 minutes – trio flying, feeding, “V” displays between the close flying pair etc. Just as the Church service finished and folks started to drift away, the single swift dropped into the west chimney. A couple of minutes later, one of the pair dropped in then the second of the pair dropped in. So all 3 were in the west chimney and stayed there for the next half hour. After roasting in the sun and dealing with very strong wind gusts from the south, I left for home.

 So nest building is underway…the next stage of nesting to look for is incubation. With a nominal July 1 hatching date and an 18-21 day incubation period, there should be partner exchanges starting soon – possibly June 14^th. At a site without a helper, monitors will see a swift drop into the chimney and usually within a minute or two, a swift will leave. Typically, these partner exchanges will take place once an hour.’

 Luc submitted his second report for the 10^th, had an early exit (so hopefully nesting is happening). This bird was eventually joined by 2 more birds. Only thing is, there were 5 in the air! So maybe his excess birds from earlier in the week ended up back in the school? More to follow on this we are pretty sure!

And that is it for all our formal monitoring but not for the swifts, and we would suggest, not for MCSI as well. There’s more to come in the next few days, including plans for weekly monitoring, some local blitzes, and an update on where we are finding new communities with swifts, so please watch this space.

— Tim Poole

Our final National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) evening on June 4^th threw up some interesting results again!

We will begin this update with our webmaster extraordinaire, Frank, and his partner in crime, Jacquie. They headed back down to Otterburne for another night of bewilderment and confuddlement. Here goes:

‘After consuming Timmies beverages, we conclude: 

Well, some unusual behaviour at Providence College again…

Looks like five CHSW using the college chimneys (3 in #550 left, 2 in #551 middle, and none in the right hand #553)

We did see an “extra” bird that was never seen to stay in a chimney, but…

We did have instances of this (??) bird doing an immediate entry/exit into the middle chimney. These events did not look like  “missed approaches” or an exchange between an incoming CHSW and an exiting nesting bird. Could this be some sort of aggressive behaviour directed toward the nesting CHSW? (Seems to me that Barb has seen this sort of thing at St Adolphe.)

So, looks like six CHSW in the area with five using the chimneys on campus. We’ll see what happens next time.’

Now I’m confused. Why? Because Barb looked over the sheets and had her say:

‘It seems that the action distills down to:

#550 – LEFT: 5 were in the chimney at peak time and 4 roosted for the night. The last exit was at 21:51 and that swift didn’t go into any of your other sites. The 20:39 exit was during the daytime so nest building is indicated.

 #551 – MID: 3 were in the chimney at peak time (your 3 consecutive exits at 21:31-21:32 showed 1 in the chimney at the start of your session) and 1 roosted for the night. The last exit at 21:50 could possibly have been the bird that entered #550-LEFT at 21:50 – hard to tell. The 20:39 entry was during the daytime so nest building is indicated.

 #552 – RIGHT: thankfully no action took place here!

 Overall, you are bang on with at least 1 unaccounted for swift at the end of the evening; perhaps even 2-3 swifts depending on whether the jumper was moving between the middle and left side! Your observation of 5 swifts at 21:09 is when the middle was loaded with 1 seen entrant plus 1 that had been in the chimney at the start of your session so that indicated 7 swifts.’

Speaking of Barb, she joined with Rob to go back to La Salle and see if the pair (of swifts, not Barb and Rob) have kissed and made up yet.  Let’s see:

‘Harmony was restored in La Salle last night ~ all three swifts roosted together in the WEST chimney. As for NRMP-3, 1 swift came in ahead of the pair. Lots of feeding going on. We didn’t have mosquitoes after us at all but you could see airborne insects in the air column with back lighting. Still no sign of nest building for 50 minutes of daytime viewing; the three entries were in the roosting hour. ‘

Continuing in the southeast, Keelie had to leave early and could only confirm 2 birds in the skies of Steinbach. East to La Broquerie, and David:

​‘Even though they would never keep still to be counted, there were DEFINITELY 7 birds flying around.  There may have been another pair but as there are several Purple Martin houses in town it is easy to confuse martins with swifts especially at a distance when one is scanning the sky.  In other words my errant pair mighthave been martins, not only tonight but also the other night.

In spite of seeing 7 in the air I only counted 6 entries – 3 in the small chimney and 3 in the large chimney.  On one occasion one came out of the large chimney and very shortly after one went down the small chimney.’

Life is never simple!

David in Morden has been an absolute star this spring as he searches for a first confirmed swift site in town. Here is the latest report:

I found a spot where I could watch both the clock tower and the chimney next to the CIBC bank but unfortunately, not many birds were observed this evening, I never saw more than a single bird in flight and I did not see any chimney entries AGAIN.   On a positive note, I did see a bird (perhaps 2?) fly down towards the rooftops a block away and there is a promising looking chimney in the area.  The very old chimney that has my attention is on the north side of the 300 block of Stephen St.  Pictures included, one from Stephen St, one from the balcony of the Kenmore Theater (I met the owner who gave me permission to go up, his name is Richard)

So I’ve got my spot staked out for the next monitoring session, wish me luck once again!  Personal mission is to find a chimney being used here in Morden!

I have a feeling that this mystery might be solved on the additional monitoring night – we might get lucky even….

The evening was more successful in Selkirk this time. Nia and Linda counted 21 swifts entering the large stack, a relief following on from the bizarre 4 from the previous monitoring evening. They also spotted the 2 swifts entering the yellow brick building. Robert and Donna counted 2 enter the infirmary, and Ray and Sybil likewise counted 2 at the Merchant’s. Gerald was also able to count the first swift entry of 2018 at the Lord Selkirk Hotel, but saw nothing at the East Selkirk Hydro Stack.

Moving on to Winnipeg, Barbara had no luck at the Old Grace, as did Tim at the zoo (although he did get to show an enthusiastic gentlemen a nighthawk feeding over the park). Lynnea had no luck at a site in St Vital. Kelly-Anne did count a pair of swifts at 378 Academy. Bob and Valerie had a quiet night at Silver Heights, only 1 swift entering, but Sabina had 6 entries and 1 exit at the nearby Moorgate, a total of 5.

John had a surprising early exit at 303 Assiniboine, ending with 34 in one chimney and 14 in the other. A follow-up daytime survey though did not yield much more information, i.e. no evidence of breeding. A big event for Pat and Dave at the Gordon King Memorial United Church – 2 entries, at last success after a few zeros.

Margaret and Millie were unable to monitor on the 4^th – they were due to watch a talk by Dennis Fast. Being so committed, they went out on the 3^rd, and had their usual pair in the Brandon chimney.

Finally, Ken and Jan continue to do great things in Dauphin. This is their report:

Another national swift chimney observation evening has come to a close. Here in Dauphin we split our monitors to cover the “old” roost and 2 other potential chimneys and had success at all 3 chimneys. Unfortunately, the “kids” decided they did not want to go to bed so we went well past the observation time until we could no longer see birds flying and going down chimneys but we could still hear them “laughing” back at us overhead.

The “old” roost saw 21+ swifts go down, “new” chimney #2 at the Watson Arts Centre (we call it “The WAC” here in Dauphin) had 2 go down and, site number #3 along Main Street had 3 go down. As we ended our watch, we met back by the “old” roost viewing area and could still hear swifts talking to each other and it was now 10:30, 45 minutes past sunset! Dauphin count 26+ in total.

 Thank you once more everyone. We will update on the last monitoring evening in the next day or so.

— Tim Poole

Oh what a night! Our third Chimney Swift National Roost Monitoring Program evening seemed to create a bewildering sense of confusion and baffling swift behaviour. These birds really like to play with our assumptions, and Thursday, they really played!

The ‘large’ roost in Dauphin is one of MCSI’s most well monitored sites. Ken and Jan have been excellent volunteers, always willing, and always diligent, producing a fine long-term dataset at one single site. As mentioned before, this roost is always consistent, they hardly ever have additional birds in the air, and so the situation they faced on Thursday was puzzling to say the least. They described the situation as follows (emphasis is theirs):

‘Well, we started out wondering if we would be going out due to a rainy forecast but then the major clouds moved off to the east so we went to watch the roost. We had a geocaching event organized for this night and there were 5 cache-ers that joined us to watch.

 As soon as we arrived at 8:40 there were 3-4 swifts flying about. Come 9:08 and there were 11 seen overhead, chittering back and forth. About 9:49 there was a light sprinkle of rain and 1 swift was observed to come from the backside of the chimney and go down (we always seem to have a leader by it’s self). Well, we waited, it rained more, it got darker, we waited and finally we called it with only 1 swift in the chimney and 10 missing! We all figure there has to be another chimney they are using so we will have to start expanding our search once the weather gets better.’

 Here is another report from Ken on June 1^st:

‘Well, after going out for supper Jan and I decided to check around for other possible chimneys the swifts might be using, we didn’t get far! About a block away, in the rain, we spotted swifts flying overhead by a building with a small and large chimney. We stopped in a parking lot to observe and then moved to another lot where we could see both this and the “old” chimney. No sooner did we get parked than 2 swifts went down the short but larger chimney on our Watson Arts Centre, 104 – 1^st Avenue NW. We were surprised at this due to the lack of height of this chimney. The chimney is 4.5 bricks square.

As we continued to watch, over the next hour we observed various sizes of swift flocks flying in the area. Just before 8:00 PM we started seeing swifts go down the “old” chimney and by 8:14 we had counted 18 down the “old” chimney with 2 flying out of sight. This would have been about a ½ hour before the roosting hour during which time we actually would have seen NO swifts!’

So there we have it, the swifts are using the traditional roost chimney, or maybe not, or maybe there are other chimneys to be found. What did that chap Rumsfeld say about known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns? I for one am looking forward to the next chapter in this saga later today!

Keelie, a new volunteer for 2018, has been doing a fantastic job at the Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach. This is her report from the evening:

‘There were 3 swifts that went into the Bethesda chimney at 9:10 pm. I saw 4 others fly southeast of Bethesda around 9:20-9:30 ish and they did not return. I stayed until about 10 pm. So I guess their place is somewhere in that area. Wonder where they went. So there was a total of 7 swifts this time. Weird. Seems like there’s always more each time!’

 So we require a search in Steinbach for 1, possibly 2 chimneys. I feel a road trip coming!

Likewise, another new volunteer, David, is trying to locate where swifts might be roosting in Morden. The assumption has always been that the Pembina Arts Centre looked the most likely candidate. Well, assumptions and swifts NEVER go hand in hand. Over to David:

‘For the 3rd time, no swifts were observed entering the chimneys at the Morden clock tower.  A group of 5 swifts was very active in the area, they were seen and heard almost continuously during the count period, gradually shifting from west to east as the evening wore on.  The rain didn’t seem to affect them in the least.

 It would seem my mission needs to shift from watching the clock tower to trying to find the roost they are using!  I’ve already identified a chimney a block further east that will be my starting point, it is the building beside the CIBC bank.  Wish me luck!’

Good luck David!

Fortunately, Otterburne swifts are always easy to predict. That’s right is it not? Over the Frank and Jacquie:

‘Another strange night of viewing at Providence College.

Shortly after our arrival, we spotted four CHSW high over the campus. So, we have at least 4 CHSW present.

 Before 21:00, three CHSW entered chimneys, but we observed three CHSW overhead at 21:18 after these three entries. I don’t believe we missed any exits this time, and we never saw the three 21:18 birds return to campus. The right hand chimney (which had two CHSW last time) had no entries!

Unless we missed some entries/exits, we may have had six CHSW in the vicinity, three of whom did not return to the campus in the roost hour.’

A pattern appears to be developing here. Fortunately, this time David in La Broquerie had an easier evening:

‘It was a good thing I put on a couple of extra layers before leaving home and even then I had to get out my emergency rain jacket and emergency blanket to keep warm.  It was chilly out there!

Anyway I arrived early as you suggested (at 8.30) and could see 7 birds at various times flying around.  They really are the most agile birds I have seen.

With 2 birds going in and one coming out, then 3 going in and 2 coming out it was all a bit tricky keeping track of how many were actually in, but if my reckoning is correct, for the night there were 3 birds in the small chimney and 4 in the large one.’

 Phew, swifts behaving themselves for once!

John continues to watch the 303 Assiniboine big roost, and was rewarded with two larger roosts, of 55 and 10 birds. Asked to compare the behaviour of the Assiniboine Avenue with the Assiniboine School roosts, John followed up with these observations:

‘Comparing 303 Assiniboine to Assiniboine School the pattern of entry is much the same. The birds fly over the building for anywhere from 30 second to 20 minutes before a few enter then in the next few second 20-40 enter in 4-5 seconds.

The school was interesting because the swifts flew over the area for about 20 minutes, increasing in number in that 20 minutes, before entering the chimney. It made me wonder if this was a social activity, because it’s not likely they were feeding there for that long. The area over the school is more open than 303 Assiniboine which might make the birds more likely to congregate there than at 303.  But then they might be flying around in a large group that I can’t see because of the trees and buildings around 303.

 The last time I monitored 303, Thursday the 31st, a group of between 40 -60 flew over the building for 30 second or more about 20 minutes before the group came back to enter the roost.  And a few minutes before that 2 swifts flew around the building for a few seconds.

The shifting dynamic of the two chimneys at 303 is something I wonder about. The first NRMP night I believe 3 entered chimney A, then the second night only one, on the third eleven in and one out, leaving ten.

 It will be interesting to see how many swifts come to 303 in the next few days and weeks. Will it be a nesting site, how many nests in one chimney, will both will be used?’

 This roost is challenging the supremacy of Assiniboine School……but not yet. Kathy reported as follows from this area:

‘At the school chimney we counted 93 entering, between 9:28 and 9:42. Of that number one large group went in rapidly at 9:37 pm; Don and I thought 50 was about right. Beth said she counted 43 but knew she missed some. In the rest of the count it was easy to be exact: the total of those going in by one, two, four up to seven was 43. The Kings Theatre chimney had one enter at 9:00 pm and one at 9:25 pm. Adolf and I saw those go in. Adolf saw activity around the apartment chimney, but none that he was sure went in. Jake was at the apartment down Portage, and saw some swifts in the air but none entered that chimney.’

Further west, and Valerie and Bob watched the Silver Heights Apartment, reporting:

‘We assume there is a pair using the chimney and maybe nesting, even though not much activity?  We saw no other swifts flying around in the area which was very surprising, as in the past we have always seen a few swifts flying overhead occasionally.’

 Tim was at the Moorgate which is several hundred metres east of Silver Heights, and attached to the same general apartment complex. Tim responded to Valerie and Bob as follows:

‘I had 6 roosting birds, and saw 2 diving as if they were entering a house behind. My highest total of swifts was 23, but this makes sense as the birds seemed to hang around an area to the east and south, and directly above the Moorgate chimney. I only noted a single pair in the direction of the Silver Heights chimney.’

 Back to Valerie:

‘That is really strange, as the Moorgate and the Silver Heights Apartments are so close together.  And also, they are  both near the river and across the river from Assiniboine Park/Zoo, so potentially a good area for insects!  However, we are glad to hear that the Moorgate chimney is being used, and that you saw a lot of swifts.  I wonder what is so good about east and south of the Moorgate.  In previous years we had usually seen a lot of swifts flying around in the area of the Silver Heights Apartments.’

 To finish off on Winnipeg reports, Sabina watched the zoo artificial tower and saw no swifts (fingers crossed for this evening). Lynnea saw a single early-to-bed swift enter the chimney at St Johns Ravenscourt. East Kildonan threw up a few furrowed brows. Pat and Dave continue to watch the Gordon King Memorial Church but to no avail, not even a swift was in sight. Rudolf, watching his three chimneys a few blocks further north of the church, noted up to 8 swifts in the air, but none in any of these traditional sites. We currently only account for 2 swifts in East Kildonan (thanks Garry), so where are these other swifts roosting? We might also need to put a search out for swifts in St Vital and St Boniface – we currently have no sightings at all in 2018 (please someone correct me, I want to be corrected). Jessica, continues to see no swifts at her usual spot on Springs Christian Academy in St Boniface. In Osborne Village, Patricia recorded 2 entries on 424 River.

Selkirk is our next stop. The large stack in Selkirk will always be a reliable place for double-figure entries of swifts. It was probably a surprise then for Bonnie and Gerald when they only counted 4 entries, a small number for this chimney. Carol and Sharon watched 2 swifts enter the yellow brick chimney, and Robert and Donna similarly counted 2 in the Infirmary chimney. Ray and Sybil also had 2 swifts entering the Merchant’s. The first bird was noted at Lower Fort Garry entering the southeast corner chimney by Nia and Linda. Gerald also noted a swift entering the large stack at 11:48am on June 2^nd, a sensible swift on a cold day!

Margaret and Millie still have their pair. Interestingly, they exited the chimney almost 50 minutes after monitoring began, and re-entered 10 minutes later. A strange occurrence!

Barb and Rob  were back at La Salle, and back with an interesting report! Here goes:

‘We went to La Salle super early hoping to catch some nest building behaviour. Not only did that NOT happen, but the swifts being the birds they are, taught us more about cold evening and partner dynamics! The head count was 3 – as has been the case so far this season. Also, as on the previous night, a pair was seen tightly together with a third bird nearby feeding at some distance; there were a couple of close group flights but not racing trio flights.

 It was cold, windy, and very overcast. As we wondered who would get the dog to sit on them to warm up, a lone swift entered the WEST chimney at 8:38 PM. A minute later, the pair came over the church and one swift did a drop/feint on the west chimney before the two flew off. It was 15 minutes before seeing the pair again – they came toward the church then 1 dropped into the EAST chimney at 8:55 PM and at 8:56 PM the other dropped into the WEST chimney. So we had no nest building behaviour, we had 3 roosting entries all in the daytime, and the pair split themselves between the two sites. A tiff perhaps? A need for a time out? With such a cold night, you would think that a little extra huddling warmth would be useful. There is always a reason to watch another time to try to figure out these amazing birds!’

Cam and Diann also have a few mysterious birds in Lac du Bonnet. Diann kicks off her email as follows:

‘Some interesting results from LdB.  On May 30 Cam went to LdB to observe a couple of potential roost chimneys, but saw no swifts.  There are a few more potential sites in LdB and as there were 2, possibly 3 swifts unaccounted for on the 31st….’

The good news is that they had 2 swifts enter the Casey’s Inn for the first time in a few years, the bad news was that no swifts entered the bakery, which is their usual haunt. Even more unusual was the fact that 2 or 3 swifts were unaccounted for. But the previous evening, those swifts were not recorded at a couple of potential sites. They’re playing with you guys out there!

South to St-Jean-Baptiste, and this marathon session almost ends! Luc was unable to make the NRMP evening but followed a day later, noting a pair enter the chimney before 9pm, and a third swift flying around after the event. He returned to check the new site on June 2^nd, and reported as follows:

‘I spent some time at the school tonight to see the swifts. I was quite surprised to see 9 swifts flying around the chimney. They seemed to have come out from the south, stuck around for a while, chittering, then kept moving north. The local swifts were around but never went in. I left when it was too dark to see anything.’

 The datasheet mentioned that 2 swifts came close to the chimney and left at 9:47, pretty late, and they went elsewhere (we assume the church). BUT where did the 9 swifts go at that late hour?

 Mike and Michele in St Francois Xavier finish off our report with a Sunday evening to the church. In total, 3 swifts entered the chimney, hopefully a breeding pair and a helper!

And that finishes our report.

Well almost! We have a couple of pieces of business to wrap up. Firstly, we have at least one person interested in helping out in Neepawa, but the more people looking, the more chance we have of pinning these swifts down. The second is of another confirmed new site, and another very likely new site. The confirmed site was a private house on Furby in Winnipeg, observed by the ever-alert Marshall on Friday evening. The second is an apartment building with a large chimney on Corydon, right on Confusion Corner. On Sunday evening, Tim noticed up to half a dozen swifts here, including a number of swifts swooping directly at the chimney but not entering. A very early morning meant that he did not wait to confirm, but this will be followed up and hopefully confirmed very soon.

There we have it, the season is really active, we have a wonderful group of committed volunteers collecting some incredibly valuable data – even if at times it leaves everyone scratching their heads.

Onwards to this evening and the final NRMP monitoring night. Let’s hope for some more fascinating observations. Sunset is different at every location, but as ever, if possible please get to your location 1 hour before sunset.

Good luck, and we look forward to sharing your stories and experiences later this week!

— Tim Poole

Thank you to everyone who sent in their results from the National Roost Monitoring Program Night 2 on May 27th. We have plenty of good reports, including a record haul for La Broquerie, and some first reports from Lac du Bonnet.

We should though begin with David in La Broquerie. David always sends detailed emails, and rather than summarise, let’s read his report:

‘The best Chimney Swift viewing since I’ve been monitoring the La Broquerie chimney which must be 6 or 8 years by now.

Immediately after I arrived at 8.45 pm 2 birds went down the small chimney. Then there were 6 birds flying around for more than 40 minutes with a 7th being seen on occasion. Then 6 went down the large chimney and shortly after 3 came out again. I then saw 4 flying around and at 9.45 pm 2 went down the small chimney. I stayed until 9.55 (well past the half hour after sunset) but no more action.

If you add it all up, I saw 9 birds, 7 of which are accounted for and 2 remain a mystery.’

If anyone knows of anyone in the Steinbach/La Broquerie area, then we would love to get an extra person or two out to watch a couple of alternative chimneys. Let us know at the usual place.

North of La Broquerie, and a slow start in Lac du Bonnet. Cam and Diann had their first night of the year and only counted a single bird in the physios, and none in the inn. We like a detailed report, and here is theirs:

‘There was a very vocal red eyed vireo and numerous swallows flying around and chattering( they nest in the eaves of Casey’s Inn ) so it was hard to hear swifts if there were more than the one. We have typically seen 3 in other years.’

Thanks for the great details guys, always great to catch these in our reports.

Selkirk is busy as ever, not least our very active group of volunteers. Ray, Sybil and Robin counted 20 birds into the main stack, a nice rise on night 1. They also noted the 2 birds fly into the yellow brick chimney. Robert and Donna were on hand to count an entry/exit cycle on the red brick chimney, and had net 2 swifts at the end of the night. In town Gerald had no avian visitors at the Lord Selkirk Hotel, but Linda observed swifts at the Merchant Hotel.

South we go to St-Jean-Baptiste. Luc counted 2 birds into his chimney at the church, but noted a couple of spare birds without a home. Monday evening he watched the school, and confirmed our third new active site of 2018. Well done and thanks Luc!

Barb and Rob, were in La Salle, and had a trio in the church chimney. The report here read as follows:

‘We had 3 swifts again in La Salle. The big shift in behaviour seen more often compared to NRMP-1 was a pair was seen closer together with 1 further away. The pair roosted up in the WEST chimney about 9:18 PM and the single swift came in at 9:23 PM also to the WEST chimney.’

Frank, Jacquie, Lewis and Roberta shared 5 swifts between the 3 Otterburne chimneys, and I daresay a few Tim’s goodies as well! Blaire also counted a pair into the St Norbert Parish Church, another success for her.

To Winnipeg now. Bob and Valerie counted a pair at the Silver Heights in St James. Further east, and Anna reported from the Assiniboine School complex as follows:

‘Since we started out only 3, Adolf wanted to monitor the Carillon but while there was good Swift activity around the chimney he found no Swifts entering or exiting it; he observed one bird entering the King’s theatre at 9:46.

At Ecole Assiniboia—Beth joined Kathy and me there just before sundown—we had, give or take–66 entries. There were two bigger bunch entries, one countable at 16, the other estimated at 25-33–not so countable. The rest entered as 2, 4 or 5 in a group; 5 were solitary entries. No exits.’

Speaking of large roosts, John continues to count a single large roost on his own, and is doing a terrific job! The new downtown roost turned up 42 birds, and a single bird in the adjacent chimney. Another report from his watch was of interest:

‘At 9:44 there was about 30 to 40 swifts flying just over the building and they started to enter the chimney. After 9 swifts had entered a large slim fast bird, likely one of the two large falcons I had been seeing for the last more than 20 minutes, flew by the building causing the swifts to stop entering and scatter. Four minutes later the swifts returned and 32 made a very quick entry. So fast that 32 is only my best guess at the number of swifts that entered.’

As I said, I love a bit of extra detail!

In Wolseley, Nicole awaits the return of ‘her birds’ at the Fleetwood, likewise Wes over in St Vital at Good News Fellowship, and Jessica in St Boniface at Springs Christian Academy. More interesting in the zero count department, Tim, watched the Assiniboine Park Zoo Tower. Zeros don’t usually class as interesting, apart from the fact that earlier in the day, Tim spotted 2 swifts doing a v-shaped courtship flight over the tower, with a third watching. There was at least one swift around the area in the evening, plus the local biking community, and seemingly more traffic than Portage Avenue!

Trying not to forget anyone, Sabina counted 1 swift at the Biltmore in Osborne Village, and Garry had a pair on his Watt Street site, a regular swift occurrence seemingly.

Onwards to St-Francois-Xavier. Mike and Michele had 3-4 swifts, the final one only being confirmed by one of them (I will check, but I would be comfortable saying 4 if one of them was sure they saw it). Gord counted a pair in Southport, as did Margaret and Millie in Brandon. Most baffling was Ken and Jan in Dauphin having only 2 swifts in one of Manitoba’s best roosts. Strange, but that I suppose is what ca happen when working with nature. Finally, Margaret and Millie continue to faithfully watch their pair in Brandon.

Onwards to night 3 on Thursday May 31st, This is shaping up to be the night for lots of breeding activity, so please try to get on site 60 minutes before sundown if possible.

Good luck everyone, and we look forward to sharing your stories on the outcomes of Thursday!

— Tim Poole

Results are coming in from last night’s surveys, and it appears that the swifts are as bewildered by recent weather conditions as we are! The birds are certainly back, but activity levels are erratic, to say the least.  I’m sure Tim will fill us in with a complete report when he returns from his western peregrinations.

Thanks to those who have submitted observation reports, and good luck with your Sunday viewings!

From Souris, which has as its share of Chimney Swifts, comes a page out of the avian edition of Architectural Digest. In a design inspired by the Red Green school of duct tape use, comes the following example of the modern swift residence:

We may need to re-think our concept of “suitable habitat.”

More later…

— Frank M