News and posts

Here it is – the monster wrap-up monitoring blog for 2016. August sped by in a dizzying fashion, starting with the early dispersal of swifts from roosts. Yet the month stretched out as we tracked fledging, late nesting breeders, and migrating swifts. Without further ado, here is what you all reported…

In mid-July, Ken reported activity in the chimney of the Visitor Centre at Riding Mountain National Park. A mid-day entry and exit on July 14, and evening entry/exit cycles on July 15, indicated a nest site was active. A cleanout trap is accessible on this chimney so breeding success can be verified.

In late July, the St James monitors shifted to morning observations at three of their sites. Adolf and David noted activity at: the Carillon – 2 exits; the new 1780 Portage site – 2 exits and an entry; and Assiniboine School – an exit indicated that the nesting activities at this combined roost/nest site continued.

Similarly, John was as busy as his nesting swifts in late July. He monitored on July 30 and 31, then started in again on August 1. “I have been to Princess and McDermot the last three days and saw entry and exits every 12 to 20 minutes with about 30 seconds in the chimney. Yesterday morning I had 5 swifts flying over the nest at McDermot for about 10 minutes as well as one entry/exit in 40 minutes. I’m hoping that was flying lessons I witnessed with at least one more chick still being feed on the nest.” The timing was right for fledging and we hope that was the case.

An unexpected event unfolded in St James on the evening of August 2. Adolf was hosting a group from Bethel Place, assembling to “observe the phenomenon of Chimney Swifts entering the Assiniboine roosting chimney”. The phenomenon fizzled. No more than 2 swifts were seen at once and the total for the night was only 8! A week earlier, on July 25, 61-63 swifts had come in for the roost. The swifts were on the move.

Following on the theme of unexpected events, Gord and Janice checked their Portage sites in early August. The swifts were late-arriving in town this spring and showed no signs of nest building along the way. However, on August 1 (roost) and August 2 (daytime) feeding activity was noted at Victoria School. Janice saw 3 consecutive exits, 2 consecutive entries and 2 consecutive exits in 30 minutes of viewing over the noon hour on August 2. Returning August 5, Janice noted 4 feeding cycles in an hour of dinnertime monitoring on August 5. This is the FIRST nesting attempt recorded for this site.

Frank and Jacquie hit the road again on August 3, passing through Aubigny. There was a brick chimney of interest on the rear of the church. Heading back on August 5, 0 swifts were seen in the airspace. Given the early departures witnessed in Winnipeg, another look-see next year is warranted.

John continued his “new site magnet” ways on August 3. “On my way back from the north end today I stopped at two chimneys for a 5 minute peak. No luck with the first, which was more of a smoke stack than a chimney. At the second I had an entry and exit, then 20 minutes later had 2 swifts entry and exit less than a minute later. Looks like another nest!”  Site 2016-20 is located at 70 Higgins. This new site is John’s fourth discovery for 2016 and the last addition to the critical habitat registry list for 2016. Great work John.

To keep John’s accomplishments together, here is a summary of his sites:

• Site 2016-4, William Ave; maximum count = 4, June 2 (NRMP-3);
• Site 2016-6, 579 McDermot, nest site; likely successful; fledging ~ August 1;
• Site 2016-14, 41 Princess; nest site; likely successful; 3 roosting August 16;
• Site 2016-20, 70 Higgins; nest site; successful; 5 roosting August 15.

Moving on to Selkirk on August 3, Winona was at her Merchant Hotel site and watched 8 swifts flying about – they all roosted! The breeding attempt appears to have been successful. On July 27 and 28, increasing entry/exit activity was noted before the increase of roosting swifts was seen on August 3.

More good Selkirk news came from Robert on August 3. He saw 4 swifts enter the Infirmary chimney – 2 of them were juveniles! The benefit of making frequent, concurrent observations at nearby sites is that the synchrony of breeding events can be compared. Both the Merchant and Infirmary sites had a breeding pair on site in May during the NRMP.

At another Selkirk site, Gerald saw no activity at his Manitoba Ave site on August 2. No flying swifts were seen either.

Similarly, no swifts entered the Small Yellow Chimney on August 3 when Gerald and Robert watched it. On July 18, during a robust roosting hour session, 8 entries and 6 exits were seen and 3 swifts were inside at one time. This indicated a possible helper was onsite at a nest chimney, but July 18 is too early for fledging. The earliest known fledging date this summer was July 30 at the Church in St Adolphe; the family group was still present on August 5. So the absence of swifts at the Small Yellow Chimney on August 3 may have reflected a nest failure.

Still in Selkirk on August 3, Carol, Gerald, and Robert counted 27 roosting entries at the Large Stack; this was up from July 18 when 17 swifts roosted. The increase suggested a pre-migratory group was setting up, but this secondary late-summer peak was 6 less than the spring peak count of 33 recorded on May 25 (NRMP-1).

Matt sent an update from Carman on August 5. All three nest sites in town were occupied and young were in the nests. Bad news winged in on August 6 – no swifts were using the elementary school over two hours which straddled daytime and roosting hours (2030 – 2230 H); a construction trailer was below the chimney. On August 8, Matt returned to the school to find the chimney demolished. Apparently, the heating system had been upgraded and it was felt the chimney was no longer necessary.

Ken and Jan went to their Dauphin roost on August 5. At the very end of the observation hour, 10 swifts arrived. Interestingly, Ken noted that “they all went down in about a 2 minute period with one having trouble lining up and after 4 tries down it went.” It was likely a young bird or, at least, one that was not familiar with the chimney.

On August 6, swifts were still active at the private home and Memorial Hall chimneys in Carman.

Tim was in Melita on August 6 and saw “a swift doing a terrible impression of trying to enter the chimney ~ 0930 H”. A fledgling telegraphed its need to learn how to drop past the chimney rim! This site was discovered in 2015 as an active nest site but the outcome was not determined. We are glad to upgrade the status to a successful breeding site for 2016.

David and Adolf rallied at the Assiniboine School August 6. They “did not see a single swift until one snuck up from behind us, southeast, and entered the chimney at 9:41, 40 minutes after sunset. Then lo and behold, it or a second bird, exited 2 minutes later at 9:43. We hung around for another 10 minutes or so, but saw nothing else and the mosquitoes were driving us crazy.” Despite the apparent abundance of food, the swifts had finished using Assiniboine School for 2016. This was another example of swifts being on the wing after curfew with their roosting destination unknown. A special shout out of thanks goes to the St James monitors for their many, many long hours of monitoring this year.

Millie and Margaret generously scouted out Souris after their Brandon site was abandoned in July. On August 5, a group of 8 swifts (less than the 12 seen on July 28) were flying about, but no roosting entries were seen at Murphy’s (5 roosted on June 2 when the chimney was watched by Tim and Gillian). We appreciate your extra effort in monitoring one of the “remote” communities Margaret and Millie.

Frank, Jacquie, and Lewis travelled from Winnipeg to Otterburne again on August 7. It was a rewarding road trip. A lot of activity was seen at Providence College, including some “tentative entries/approaches after low level circling of the site”. Fledglings were in the air! The final roosting tally was: 0 in the Chimney near the Bell tower (Site 550); 13 entries which included juveniles, 8 exits, and 6 roosting swifts = a successful nest site at the Large Chimney (Site 551); 7 entries which included juveniles, 2 exits, 5 roosting swifts = a successful nest site at the Skinny Chimney (Site 552). Thanks so much folks for going the extra distance this year.

David saw 1 entry at his La Broquerie church site on August 7. Being curious about the low roosting count, David watched again the next night. There were 2 entries and “one of the birds did a near miss and had to go round again”. A fledgling or adult unfamiliar with the site was attempting a landing.

Jacquie and Frank trekked out to Steinbach on August 8 to fill in yet another gap in our database for 2016. Three proficient roosting entries were seen. A visit from a “nice security guard” rounded out the evening’s excitement.

Moving over to St John’s Ravenscourt on August 10, Frank and Jacquie saw 1 exit and 4 consecutive entries – the last one being a fluttery tumbling entry of a fledgling. Another bonus round followed as “We chatted with another nice security person, too.” It was like a Spy vs Spy vs Spy caper – the security guard checking out the monitors checking out the chimney.

Between August 2-10, Janice did a huge job monitoring the Trinity Church in Portage. There are two chimneys that can be seen simultaneously – a main chimney and a clay-lined chimney on the north side which was seen to be used for the first time this year. For the main chimney: 4 feeding cycles were made and 2 roosted on August 6; 1 feeding cycle and 3 roosting swifts were seen on August 8; 3 feeding cycles and 2 roosting swifts were counted on August 9. On August 10, things got interesting…3 roosting entries only were made in the main chimney while 4 other fluttery attempts were abandoned. PLUS, Janice saw 11 entries and 8 exits with 4 in at one time and 4 roosted for the night in the north chimney. A total of 7 swifts called Trinity Church home for the night. Having witnessed several chimney hopping events with St Adolphe fledglings, I am inclined to think Trinity fledglings got airborne from the main chimney and dropped into the second, adjacent chimney. Then the parents continued feeding them in the non-natal site.

Matt continued to track the Carman swifts from August 8 through 14. He dealt with “a wing flash over the edge of a chimney”…sneaky entries and pop-up and away stealth exits plague us all. The breeding attempt at Memorial Hall was successful – the maximum count of 5-6 roosting swifts came on August 9; by August 13, no activity was seen in the evening and, again, no activity took place on August 14.

Matt’s scrutiny paid off with an amazing observation at the private home on August 12. It is best told in Matt’s words: “Friday 2030 to 2200 hrs House on 1st SW: Single swift exiting chimney then re-entering, about twenty minutes apart. Other swifts were calling in the area; Martins were calling etc. At about 2055 hrs a single swift left the chimney, calling loudly as it went overhead. Three other swifts then left spaced out about a minute apart. Though I watched until 2200 hrs they did not return. At 2130 hrs it had become very dark with storm clouds overhead. The chimney was barely visible but I am sure if the swifts had returned I would have seen them.” Matt continued by saying “I have seen swifts returning in the dark after foraging far afield just prior to leaving on migration….but these birds, old and newly fledged young appear to have left at night and not returned.”

Your insights are fascinating Matt – thanks for sharing this rare gem with us! We know so little about the migratory behaviour of Chimney Swifts in Manitoba.

Ken and Jan finished their season in Dauphin on August 16 when the roosting count was “0”. Thanks so much for taking on the monitoring duties at our northern-most roost site and enduring to get that final data point.

Ok – time for a breather here. We’ve made it to mid-August and the roost sites in Dauphin and Assiniboine School have emptied; the Selkirk roost was down to 1 swift on August 9 when Carol, Gerald, and Robert were at the chimney-side. Fledging was reported for nest sites in St Adolphe , Carman, and Winnipeg.

A lot of activity followed in the second half of August. Monitoring teams were still tracking the cluster of sites in Portage, Selkirk, and St Adolphe. Late nesting swifts were on the radar. John was pushing on for season ender observations in his group of newly discovered City Centre and South Point Douglas sites in Winnipeg. Veteran monitors were sharing their final observations. It will make most sense to clump reports by observers, sites, and/or areas for the last couple of weeks of August. Here we go…

Rudolf saw 2 swifts over the Melita museum on the evening of August 10. In East Kildonan, closer to home, 9 were flying over Kildonan Dr on August 4, while 2 were seen in the E.K. area the next day. On the 16th, 4 swifts including 1 juvenile were in the air – likely from the cluster of nests near the Northdale Shopping Centre. At least 1 swift was heard over Kildonan Dr on August 18.

On August 17, Blaire noted that no swifts had been flying in the St Norbert area for the past week. The last big sighting event was on August 3, ahead of a storm, when over 12 swifts put on an amazing aerial display for over an hour. Blaire’s visitors were treated to quite a performance as the swifts swooped about. When storm fronts meet, there can be an upwelling of insects which provides rich feeding opportunities. One year in St Adolphe, the opposite phenomenon occurred with forest fire smoke descending in town. Chimney Swifts, Purple Martins, Barn Swallows, and Tree Swallows were moving in one dynamic feeding group – inches off the cemetery grounds – as all the insects were forced down with the sinking smoke.

Chimney Swifts were seen over the Assiniboine English Garden on the morning of August 16. John saw 4 flying for ~35 minutes between 0700-0800 H.

Two multi-site recons were done on August 17 – in Portage and St Adolphe. In Portage, Janice and Joyce recorded 6 roosting entries in the main chimney of Trinity United Church while 3 swifts roosted in the north chimney. Gord saw 3 swifts enter the Correctional Centre chimney. Jim noted 1 entry at the Duffield and Duffield site. Cal had 7 entry/exit cycles and 5 roosting swifts at the Victoria School/Red River College chimney; a successful nesting attempt was indicated.

The August 17 multi-site in St Adolphe laid the baseline for interpreting nesting outcomes. During the robust roosting hour the net roosting count was: 2 in the SE Club Amical chimney and 0 in the NE Club Amical Chimney – Rob and Kathy were on site; 0 at Brodeur Bros – Jacquie enjoyed viewing the sunset; 3 roosted at the Church and ALL of the swifts entered before the roosting hour – Frank and Lewis were observing; 2 juveniles at Main St – Barb was watching.

The family group at the Church had dispersed after August 5 when 8 roosted (July 30 = fledging). Fledging at Main St took place on August 12, so it was surprising to have dispersal of the family group only five days later. Fortunately, observing the cleanout trap contents will inform the clutch size etc.

The cadence of the SE Club Amical pair was never established and, frankly, they drove me crazy most of the summer. A re-nesting was indicated but a perfect storm of roofers, electrical and rain events, plus “helpers” (sometimes non-parental birds arrive and push eggs out of nests or peck juveniles to death) added to the confusion. August 22 was an inflexion point, as the feeding activity declined to 1 cycle per hour then it petered out on August 23. Daytime activity stopped on August 24. That night, 2 swifts entered the SE chimney but both left again; 1 swift returned to the SE and 1 swift roosted at the NE chimney. The breeding attempt at the SE chimney was over – no record was set for successful late nesting. On August 30, no swifts roosted in either Club Amical chimney.

We got a head’s up about a nest full of juveniles at St Avila School on August 18 (see the “Peering Down the Chimney” blog, August 21). Juveniles stay in the nest until ~21 days of age, so these young had a lot of growing to do. Frank and Jacquie did another special assignment on the evening of August 19. They noted very active feeding – 8 entries and 6 exits took place in the robust roosting hour. The adult swifts persisted through 17 C temperatures and periods of light rain. On August 24, there was active feeding = 3 X hour. All seemed well. Activity was lean on August 25 early in the evening. Returning on the afternoon of August 26, only 1 feeding cycle was made in an hour – no juveniles were seen and the airspace was empty except for the quick, competent entry and exit. Two swifts roosted just before the roosting hour on August 26 – no feeding cycles were seen. On August 28, a fast entry/exit cycle was noted and 2 swifts roosted for the night. On August 31, Jacquie and Frank saw only 1 swift roosting for the night. Similar to the SE Club Amical experience, the late nesting pair at St Avila seemed to exhibit decreasing feeding activity that resulted in a failed breeding attempt.

Tim offered an interesting perspective. Begging calls from juveniles elicit feeding from adults. If the young in the late nesting sites were weakened by cold overnight temperatures, or weather induced low food availability etc., then the attending parents might not push ahead with feeding, despite an apparent abundance of mosquitoes being about.

The swifts at St Avila and St Adolphe were record breaking in terms of the latest date when feeding behaviour has been seen at a nest site. The adults did not abandon their young, despite migration being underway, but their efforts were not enough to achieve fledging. We come across these situations so rarely that we really don’t understand all the issues. Clearly though, the recipe for a possible successful nesting outcome still = a breeding pair onsite + nest building by June 1-4. Time is a challenge for Chimney Swifts breeding in Manitoba.

Many thanks to the Selkirk birders group for taking on so many monitoring missions this year.  They have pushed hard in August to track three active sites. A summary of their work follows…

At the Selkirk Infirmary, a successful nest site, Robert noted 2 roosting swifts on August 9; 3 roosting birds on August 17; and 0 activity on August 22.

At the Selkirk Large Stack: Carol, Gerald, and Robert had 1 entry/exit cycle and 1 roosting swift on August 9; Virginia and Linda saw 2 entry/exit cycles involving 2 birds then 2 roosting entries on August 17; 3 swifts roosted on August 22 when Gerald and Robert watched; 0 swifts entered on August 29 when Winona, Gerald and Robert were on site.

At the Selkirk Merchant Hotel, Winona spent enumerable hours tracking this successful nest site. On August 15, 1 swift roosted; 2 roosted on August 16; 1 roosted on August 17; 2 roosted on August 18; then 0 roosted on August 24, 25, and 26. This was an interesting alternation of 1 and 2 roosting swifts – then it was time to migrate…

Segue to migration. Gord sent word that all the Portage swifts had left by August 29.

John had 0 roosting swifts at his Higgins site on Aug 28th. Earlier in the day, John saw 5 swifts flying west of Shaftsbury and Corydon.

Spectacular September observations, made by Suzanne at her Main St home in St Adolphe, wrapped up the Chimney Swift sightings for 2016. It was a bookend experience for a truly memorable season which started with Beth and David’s season opener, May 25 (NRMP-1). In the pouring rain, 156+ swifts funnelled into the Assiniboine School roost at the very end of the drenched evening.

Suzanne and her husband watched in awe as Chimney Swifts fed on insects, low in their garden, on the evening of September 2. Mosquitoes had been very abundant in their yard recently, hiding in the plants during the day. The swifts flew very close to the ground and circled through the foliage – they had a swallow- like appearance but appeared unusually large. Isn’t it an interesting change of perspective to see swifts up so close?! The next evening, September 3, the same feeding frenzy took place then some of the birds flew up to the roof top and began circling the chimney. After repeated laps, they hovered over the rim and dropped into the chimney. None were seen leaving that night. So, it appears that an opportunistic foraging took place before migrants bunked in for the night, ahead of a huge thunderstorm. This was a reverse bed ‘n’ breakfast scenario – dinner buffet in the yard followed by nighttime accommodations in the 2.5 X 2.5 brick chimney.

Nobody deserves to see such a spectacle more than Suzanne – she is a Swift Champion (see “Volunteer Champions” blog, March 31, 2016) who has indulged me staring at her chimney and sneaking peeks in her cleanout trap for 10 years!

It has been rewarding to work with you all this year, as we attempted to unravel what it means to be a Chimney Swift in Manitoba. Lewis Cocks, the founding father of MCSI, aptly described working with these birds as “an enigma wrapped up in a dilemma”. Many of you shared that kind of experience, facing the mystery of the outliers. Many of you established the framework to describe the more “typical” condition. Either way, your efforts have helped make season 10 an extremely successful year. We have learned much, discovered new sites for the critical habitat registry, and saved some chimneys. Thanks for it all!

Now comes the time to check the databases behind the scenes. Both of the NRMP and MCSI Roost and Nest Site databases will be finalized shortly. Then, webmaster Frank will beam them up to the MCSI website with provide document links.

Tim is busy now with habitat stewardship issues. Once it gets too cold to lay mortar, he will have updates for us. Then, the MCSI Steering Committee will hunker down to set goals for the 2017 season. We will keep connected..

Barb, for the MCSI Team.

Last night, I was reminded by son Ryan, of that which I know and should have remembered (the Einstein moment). Successful breeders in the southern-most portions of the swifts distribution e.g., Texas, can produce two clutches per year. In Manitoba, however, the birds simply run out of time to produce a second clutch before migration. BUT, if the first nesting attempt failed and a second nest was started, that might explain the ongoing confusion and feeding behaviour seen at this late date. The down-the-chimney details for the SE Club Amical will never be known – there is no accessible cleanout trap and we have no nest cam. The best strategy to decode the mystery is to continue watching for evidence of fledging and start polishing up the rear view mirror.

Waiting for late-fledging swifts is happening beyond St Adolphe. There are at least two other nest sites which could produce fledglings in the next week or so. A multi-site blitz took place in Portage on August 17. The monitoring team – Gord, Janice, Joyce, Jim, and Cal – reported intense feeding activity at the Victoria School/Red River College site. There were 7 feeding cycles before the roosting hour and a total of 5 adults roosted. That means up to 3 helpers were on site or a pre-migratory group assembled at the nest site; this activity also was noted during monitoring on August 8 and 10.

On August 18, late nesting Chimney Swifts were discovered by a Winnipeg chimney sweep at St Avila School – see our August 21 blog “Peering Down the Chimney“. Jeff saw 3 juveniles in the nest which means that they were < 21 days old. Fledging takes place at 28-30 days of age = after August 25 at the St Avila site. That would be a new record for the latest date of fledging in Manitoba.

To put “late-fledging” in perspective, migration is underway. Ken reported that the Dauphin roost emptied between August 6-10. David and Adolf recorded 0 swifts at the Assiniboine School roost on August 6. Two unsuccessful nest sites in St Adolphe were unoccupied on August 17 (Jacquie at Brodeur Bros.; Rob at NE Club Amical) while 2 other successful sites had lower counts indicating a redistribution of family groups (Frank and Lewis at the Church: fledged young July 30 – 8 roosted August 5 – 3 roosted before the roosting hour August 17); Barb at Main St.: fledged August 12 – 2 juvenile entries August 17).

While we continue to monitor the progress at the remaining active nest sites, your patience is appreciated too. The final August monitoring update is still a work in progress…

–Barb Stewart

Chimney Swift stewardship is all about reaching out to the general public and providing engaging information. When good fortune is on our side, good folks contact us at MCSI to share their experiences. Such was the case when Jeff reported in recently.

On the morning of August 18, 2016, Jeff was dispatched by a local chimney cleaning firm, to St Avila School in Fort Richmond, Winnipeg. He had quite an unexpected and raucous reception as he peered over the chimney rim! Two breeding adult Chimney Swifts, clinging to the interior wall, voiced their considerable displeasure at having their nest site disturbed. Three young juveniles sat stuffed into a small twig nest. At approximately 21 days of age, juvenile swifts move out of the nest onto the wall of the chimney. Then they practice flying up and down the shaft of the chimney until fledging at 28-30 days of age. So, the St Avila young were at least a week away from their first flight outside the chimney when Jeff spied them.

After shooting an amazing video to document the event, Jeff prudently withdrew from the chimney. It is all to easy for folks dealing with species at risk to quietly go the “shoot, shovel, and shut up” route. MCSI is grateful that Jeff allowed the St Avila swifts to carry on undisturbed at their nest site. Click here to view the 46 second video on YouTube.

Our on-the-road specialists, Frank and Jacquie, monitored St Avila school on August 19. There was intense activity – the 2 adults had 6 feeding entry/exit cycles in the 1.5 hours preceding their nighttime roosting entries. We will continue to monitor the progress of these swifts and hope for successful fledging soon.

For history and archicture buffs, there is information about  St Avila School on the Manitoba Historical Society and Manitobe Architecture Foundation websites.

With this special shout out of THANKS to Jeff for allowing us to post his video, enjoy the rare view of Chimney Swifts inside a nest site…

–Barb Stewart

My personal highlight of being involved in MCSI in the last couple of years is hearing different peoples stories of finding new sites for swifts in Manitoba and sharing their experiences. So far in 2016, 13 new site codes have been issued by Barb, which reflects brilliantly on the endeavours of MCSI volunteers. Each time a new site is reported, there is always a story to tell and this blog uses extracts from emails and a couple of personal accounts to give a impression of how these sites are found.

Site 1 – Portage Avenue, St James – the eagle-eyed spotter
David Wiebe is part of a team monitoring the chimneys around Assiniboine School in St James. He recently sent a report of a new chimney on Portage Avenue which was found thanks to Jake Peters of Osborne Village fame. Here is Davids report:

‘A couple of days ago I looked more closely at the apt block on Portage Ave right beside the Carillon on the east side of it. 1780 Portage. Something Jake Peters had said the last time he was monitoring with us made me curious. And so I noticed upon closer inspection that it has a chimney mostly hidden because of trees. Because of the trees and because it is barely higher than the roof there is almost no spot where the chimney can be seen. So this evening I thought I would look at that spot and see if any swifts went there. Lo and behold at 9:20 I saw one swift go down there, and although I couldn’t actually see it enter the chimney it is the only thing that could have happened. A new site!’

Sites 2 and 3 – the historic anomalies, St Francois Xavier and Lanark Gardens
Some sites have been on the database for years but no one has ever recorded an entry by a Chimney Swift. Marshall Birch has been working on bird stewardship projects with Nature Manitoba and here tells us how he has finally managed to find swifts in some chimneys:

During an outing to visit Grant’s Lake and Delta Marsh IBAs, Tim figured we might as well stop by some potential Swift nesting sites which had yet to be confirmed. St Francois Xavier lies along Highway 26, around 30 km West of Winnipeg. The centrepiece of the town is the stately St. Francois Xavier Parish Church, built in 1900, and sporting and mighty intriguing chimney on the back. It had long been suspected as a Swift site, and we were here to investigate. Some time was spent on lookout (on the hottest day in recent memory), and after being repeatedly teased by Swallows, we decided there wasn’t anything going on and went to check out the oxbow lake before taking off. As we were returning to the car, the tell-tale call of Swifts was heard, and two were spotted above the church. We staked out shady spots to watch, and after about five minutes, I caught one Swift exit the chimney – the very moment Tim looked away to change position, of course. No entrance was seen, and while this amount of time spent in a chimney mid-day is unusual, its not unheard of. On a day that hot, everyone needs a bit of extra time to rest!’

And Marshall again

‘My first Swift search of the season was a successful one. Just South of Corydon, on Lanark Street, is a series of apartment buildings, which have been on the MCSI’s list for some time without any confirmation. What’s interesting about this site is that it encompasses not one but nine buildings, each with its own chimney, and some with two. While I was able to stake out a place in the back lane that provided a view of four chimneys, it became clear why this site hasn’t been successfully monitored. There were certainly Swifts in the area, but even if I had a position from which I could see all the chimneys, there could be an entrance in one in a split second as I glance at another – they’re that darned quick. As time went on and the realization that monitoring this site was really more like monitoring about ten at once, I began to lose hope. Noting that they seemed to be swooping mostly around one end of the area, I changed my position slightly and focused over there. Just as I did this, two Swifts slipped into a chimney in front of me. I’d say that a good deal of luck was at play this evening, though a history of interest in the site was what had led me there in the first place.

Site 4 and 5 – pure luck, the Granite Curling Club and the Pembina Rexall
Usually finding Chimney Swift habitat comes down to a combination of skill, knowledge and hours of work. Occasionally luck becomes the key factor in finding swifts. Here I give an account of finding a new site:

‘Arriving at work one day, Marshall asked whether there are known Chimney Swift sites near Balmoral Avenue as he had spotted 10 Chimney Swifts circling the area the previous evening. There was nothing in the immediate vicinity on the database apart from the new chimneys in Osborne Village. I decided to pop over to the area on my bike. The Granite Curling Club has a rather funky chimney with 5 flues on top. While passing this point, I saw a streamlined black object plunge into one of these flues – a Chimney Swift – that was one lucky chance! On another occasion, I saw a pair of Chimney Swifts plunge into a known site on Roslyn while waiting at the bus stop (thanks again Jake Peters for finding this site in 2015). Luck is sometimes needed in Chimney Swift world.’

And back to Marshall:

‘Luck played a key role in a site spotting a few weeks back while driving down Pembina. There had been suspicion that a chimney atop a Rexall could be inhabited by Swifts, though no sightings had been recorded. While driving by, Tim suggested I take a peek, and lo and behold, a Swift was just passing by the chimney. We immediately pulled over to survey the scene. At first it seemed like not much going on – there appeared to be a couple of Swifts in the area, but they showed little interest in the chimney. We were about to assume they were nesting elsewhere and take off when I spotted a black flash near the chimney in the corner of my eye. We hung around for another few minutes – long enough to witness the Swift reappear out of the chimney and to confirm it was being used. While instances of this sort aren’t that common, it’s amazing how often one can find Swifts if they’ve just got it in their head to keep an ear and eye out. Since getting involved with Swifts I’ve hardly gone a day without seeing or hearing a few somewhere around the city – but maybe I’m just extra lucky.’

Site 6 and 7 – good old fashioned endeavour and sleuthing, William and McDermot
I suspect most Chimney Swift sites over the years have been found thanks to good old fashioned boots on the ground looking up to the skies. Each year many of you are doing just this, heads to the skies. John Hays, a Nature Manitoba member has been doing just that:

‘Friday evening I went back to the area where I had seen swifts that afternoon. I watched the sky and a couple of chimneys from the Parts Source parking lot at Notre Dame and Isabel for more than an hour, about 8:30 till 9:45. I saw no Swifts. Still curious I tried again Saturday evening at Isabel and William and found swifts flying every few minutes. I could not count more than 6 at a time in the air. I watched the chimney on 442 William from about 8:20 till 9:50. At 9:44 I saw 2 swifts enter the chimney and another at 9:45.’
and:
‘Since monitoring the chimney at 442 William I have been dropping by there and two other spots nearby, hoping to see a daytime entry or exit. Yesterday, July 2nd, my time invested payed off. At 4:46 PM after looking at a chimney for about 10 minutes I had an entry and within a minute an exit. I stayed for another 40 minutes but did not see another exit or entry, although swifts were flying by. This happened at the chimney on the northwest corner of the old warehouse at 579 McDermot ave. A clear view of the chimney is had from the corner of Bannatyne and Lydia. This morning I went back at 10:40 AM and had the first entry at 11:23 AM and exit at 11:28. Had to wait till 12:29 PM for the second entry and 12:48 for the exit.’

Sites 8 and 9 – using technology to find Chimney Swifts, Osborne Village
Where possible, I have been using Google Satellite Images and Street view to find information on swift sites. The quality of these images especially in larger cities like Winnipeg and Brandon, is such that they can show whether there is a gaping hole in the top of a chimney or not. This could in theory then be used to point new volunteers to possible monitoring sites. In a few cases this has led to discovery of new sites for swifts. Back to Marshall:

‘I’d been out to investigate a site from the MCSI database in the Osborne Village area one night. While no entrances or exits were seen, it was notable how many Swifts were in the area. This got us thinking that there must be other nest sites in the vicinity. Using Google Earth, Tim scanned aerial images of the neighbourhood and came up with four potential sites – they seemed to be the right size and looked uncapped. Several evenings were spent lurking about back alleys, scoping out chimneys. Of the four, two proved to have no activity, while there were entrances spotted at two of the locations. A 50/50 success rate ain’t bad for guessing sites based on aerial images, and certainly confirms validity for the technique!’

–Tim Poole

Just as the “Heading Into The Home Stretch” edition was being beamed up to Frank, our webmaster, the postal service and web server delivered a delightful array of messages. Unfortunately, with a “black and white bush kitty” delivering a smelly spray to our naïve 14 month old golden retriever, skunky cleanup duties took over. Here are the news items submitted from that fateful night of July 26 through to the end of the month…

John continued his diligent tracking of two City Centre nest sites on July 24. In the morning at 41 Princess, John saw 6 entries and 6 exits in 78 minutes – two consecutive entries and, later, two consecutive exits confirmed that feeding non-brooded young was well underway. In the early afternoon at 579 McDermot, the 2 attending adults made simultaneous, or nearly simultaneous (less than a minute apart) entries and exits. There were 4 entries and 4 exits seen in 42 minutes = excellent care giving effort to non-brooded young. All the best for successful fledging at your nest sites John!

On July 25, the St James squad snagged roosting hour counts for all four of their sites. We certainly appreciate the ongoing efforts of these volunteers during the busy summer months! Here is what Jake, Donald, Anna, and Adolf saw:

• Carillon Tower- 3 entries
• Kings Theatre – 3 entries
• 1780 Portage (new site east of the Carillon) – an entry/exit cycle was seen followed by an entry. This appears to be a nest site.
• Assiniboine school – 61-63 roosting; “activity was very similar to that on 21 July: a buildup of the flock whirling over the school beginning at about 9:48 to 9:50.” There were single entries at 9:40 and 9:48 PM, then between 9:50-9:57, the others descended including a “bulk entry of ca. 20 birds”. That is a real challenge to count. It will be interesting to see if any pre-migratory increases start soon at the Assiniboine School roost.

Tim went to check out John’s City Centre William Avenue. site on July 26. The day was sizzling with more than high temperatures – the discovery of new site 2016-15 took place “…while heading back down William I noticed a chimney on 471 William just emerging from the rooftop and a swift overhead. What d’you know, the swift entered at 1310.” Congratulations Tim on identifying yet another active site for the critical habitat registry!
Now Tim might have taken heat in a different fashion, but I hope Chimney Swifts added to the charm of a special anniversary dinner instead of being a distraction…on July 26, swifts were seen regularly from an outdoor patio on Corydon and one descended toward a Dorchester chimney. A post-prandial walk featured 20 swifts flying about Lilac and Grosvenor. Aerial activity over a couple of homes near Edderton Park was particularly “crazy”. If you are in the vicinity, this hot spot appears to be great Chimney Swift habitat.

Joel, in The Pas, had several sightings from June 17 to 23. He saw trio flying – ” 3 swifts together in territorial like chases”. After being out of town, Joel returned to sky gazing on July 7 but no sightings were made until the early evening of July 22 when 1 swift was seen flying “round and round the railway station”. On July 24 another sighting was made ~5:30pm, beyond the west side of town, while fishing (just like going to the Fringe Fest, heading to the fishing hole is a good multi-tasking pastime) – 2 barn swallows and a swift were pursuing a Merlin. What a great value-added sighting. As Joel summed up the 2016 season to date, “The swifts are here somewhere, but time and luck have yet to join forces.” We hope you identify the first active site in The Pas sooner than later!

The troops assembled at St Adolphe for a multi-site robust roosting hour session on July 27 (no Pokémon Gym battles were engaged in). Here is what we found:

Kathy and Rob (and the stinky pup) were at Club Amical –
SE Club Amical: feeding non-brooded young (fledging due August 6-7-8); 2 entry/exit cycles plus 2 roosting entries

NE Club Amical: nest failure site July 16 – feeding non-brooded young, Day 13; 0 entries/exits

Jacquie watched Brodeur Bros: nest failure site July 15 – feeding brooded young, Day 6; 1 roosting entry

Frank and Lewis monitored the non-stop action at the Church: feeding non-brooded young (fledging due July 30-31-Aug 1); 19 entries, 19 exits, and 2 roosting entries together at end of session

Barb looked at the Main St chimney: nest failure site July 16 – possibly feeding brooded young, Day 2; 2 entry/exit cycles; 1 roosting entry

In retrospect, signs of change were evident in St Adolphe. Helpers had not been at the two nest sites for a week and the maximum aerial group size declined from 5-6 to 3 swifts. I was quite shocked, however, to have no swifts roosting at the NE Club and only 1 roosting at Brodeurs and Main St. Way back in the early monitoring years (2007-2010), all the swifts would hang around in St A through August and often form a pre-migratory group at the Church or another successful site. In more recent years, unsuccessful breeders would stay through the first week of August at least – once a fledging took place at some site, unsuccessful breeders seemed “cued” for release and then they left the community.

Margaret and Millie’s site in Brandon gave us the first indication of early withdrawal/relocation for unsuccessful breeding birds in 2016. They had reported 0 roosting swifts on both July 18 and 24.

The million dollar question is “where are these unsuccessful breeders going?”

Tim was following a hunch again on July 28 while “passing the Flag Shop this evening and thought I would stop and take a look on the off chance of activity. Turns out it was a good decision. About a minute after leaving the car at 7:29, a swift enters the chimney. Approximately 30-40 seconds later a swift left, swiftly followed by another about 15 seconds later.” This site has been in our database since 2007, routinely has a small number of occupants, and is likely a nest site.

As noted in our previous blog, Margaret and Millie were planning a trip to Souris. They visited on July 28, after checking their line of bluebird nesting boxes ~ another great volunteer activity! A group of 12 Chimney Swifts were flying around which was a welcome sight. Margaret and Millie “drove around and found the chimneys where swifts had been seen and spent some time at the museum and the Rock Shop hoping to see an entry. No luck. We did see swifts high in the sky while in the vicinity of the museum but most of the action happened between 7:30 & 8:45 in the vicinity of St Paul’s United Church, Kowalchuk’s Funeral Home, and west. The swifts were flying low and quite vocal – none appeared to be taking any food to any young!” Thanks so much for your recon report Margaret and Millie. The situation in Souris merits further monitoring, so we would appreciate suggestions for local volunteers who might be recruited.

Jake was at his 94 Roslyn Rd site on the evening of July 29. He saw 6 entry/exit cycles then 2 roosting entries – fledging is at hand!

Ken and Jan, up in Dauphin, were also out for the roosting hour on July 29. One swift appeared 20 minutes into the session, then at the 45 minute mark, “swoosh – a whole bunch” showed up. Two swifts entered followed rapidly by 17 more; 1 swift was in the air at the end of the monitoring session (19 roosted; 20 seen). Ken’s impression was that the large group of swifts could be a migratory group. The solstice head count in Dauphin was 4-6 seen in the air. The northern swifts seem to be on the move…

Gord and Janice took on a special assignment, heading to Manitou on July 29. Remember the backstory that Ken had identified swifts in this community during his July 4 recon. Janice and Gord’s time was well spent as they discovered new site 2016-16 – 338 Hamilton St, St Andrews United Church. During the robust roosting hour session, 4 Chimney Swifts were seen in the air and all 4 roosted in the Church chimney.

Moving ahead one day and onto the final stage of nesting, I am happy to announce that fledglings were seen mid-morning of Saturday, July 30 at the St Adolphe Church. On the previous morning, many “strafing run” approaches to the chimney were seen plus adults were dropping down then veering off close to the rim. I interpreted the behaviour to be what the Kyle’s describe as adults luring the juveniles close to the top of the chimney just prior to fledging.

On Saturday morning, the identification of a fledgling could not have been easier – I sat in my chair and stared up, only to have a low, slow flying swift oblige me with an easy view of its trailing wing margin. It was INTACT – no moulting discontinuities were seen. After watching groups of birds fly around the area and seeing escorted, cautious but competent entries into the chimney (no tumbling misses), I realized that these were not first-flights. My best guesstimate is that 2, perhaps 3, fledglings were airborne sometime on Friday, July 29 AFTER I finished monitoring for the morning OR fledging had taken place very early on the morning of the 30th.

Checking in St A again during the morning of July 31, I saw 2 juveniles jostle for position during their near simultaneous entries to the Church. Good news continued as the SE Club Amical young were being fed; at Day 22, the juveniles should have been out of the bowl of the nest and onto the wall of the chimney. That boded well for the severe storms which were predicted to finish off July’s awful weather events…Rob and I managed an evening session at the Church on July 31 – we saw a juvenile in flight and the roosting count was 3. In a few days, another robust roosting hour count should help confirm the number of fledglings at the Church; juveniles often head into the chimney to rest well ahead of the roosting hour curfew so it can take up to a week to get an accurate census.

Garry also checked out his Watt Street nest site on July 31. It was a profitable trip as Garry noticed entries which were “slower, less-direct, more horizontal approach, with a very brief stall at the rim”. Fledging has taken place likely! Thanks Garry for tracking this site over the season – it is useful to gauge the breeding success of Chimney Swifts throughout Manitoba to understand the provincial situation.

Frank & Jacquie, Tim, and Lewis took to the road for a multi-site recon at Otterburne on July 31. Jacquie and Frank have wondered about the convent and church sites across the river from Providence College. Jacquie and Tim became blood donors to a flock of mosquitoes while they watched swift-free air space. Lewis and Frank had a civilized monitoring session, replete with classical music. Their monitoring results for the three Providence College chimneys – relative to previous sessions – are:

Site 550 – chimney near bell tower: 2 roosting on July 18 and 0 roosting on July 31; there was never any real nest building activity noted by the end of June, so I would say that a breeding attempt was never underway. There they are gone.

Site 551 – fat chimney: 11 entries, 5 exits and 6 in for the night on July 18 = an unusual (ok, weird) number of birds for a nest site, but too much activity for a typical roost; there were 4 entries and 3 exits and 3 in the chimney on July 31. Net loss = 3 swifts. Should we designate this as a roost site for 2016 and consider that some birds have dispersed? Another monitoring session would be useful to figure out what is going on.

Site 552 – skinny chimney: 12 entries, 8 exits, and 4 roosting for the night on July 18 = breeding pair + 2 helpers? OR a small roost?; there were 13 entries, 12 exits, and 3 roosting for the night on July 31.There were three instances of 2 entries and 2 exits occurring very close together – more so than on July 18. Given the date, high level of activity, and clumping sequences, fledging may be at hand…however, juveniles were not obvious…this does appear to be a nest site, so a follow-up monitoring session within the next 10 days would be useful.

Frank and Jacquie are planning another trip to Otterburne to help decode the end of July activity. Good luck!

That’s a wrap for July – thanks everyone for such a strong monitoring push this past week.

August may not be a full month with Chimney Swifts in Manitoba after all. We have had indications of early withdrawal of unsuccessful breeding swifts from nest sites. The northern most roost is approaching a secondary pre-migratory peak for the season.

Many questions remain about the current Chimney Swift activity at both nest and roost sites. As usual, the swifts lure us to monitor yet one more time…

Barb for the MCSI team: Frank Machovec, webmaster; Tim Poole, Habitat Stewardship and Outreach Coordinator; Christian Artuso, Ron Bazin, Neil Butchard, Lewis Cocks, Ken De Smet, Nicole Firlotte, and Rob Stewart, Steering Committee Members.

Bit late to the party, but I thought I would share a few photos from the successful swift viewing evening from June 20th. In total 24 people attended, including the regular crowd of dedicated volunteers (David, Adolf, Beth among others). We even managed to drag some locals on a night time stroll over to watch the developing spectacle. Our counters at the main chimney estimated that 70-71 Chimney Swifts had entered the chimney (including some exiters, which was somewhat surprising). A video of the evening put the final total at 71. Great job Jacquie and Frank and the others helping them!

Here are a few photos. We will certainly be doing this again in 2017!

Tim Poole

We are heading into the home stretch…the end of July is in sight and the calendar is getting ready to flip over to August – our last full month with Chimney Swifts in Manitoba. It is time for a nest site update and a review of the remarkable developments made by our volunteers. Monitors continued to track nest site progress and roost site dynamics. The number of newly discovered active sites for our critical habitat registry has swollen in July. Here’s what happened…

Our last blog update focused on nest sites and how to identify hatching and feeding brooded young; there is a subtle transition from one entry/exit cycle per hour seen during incubation to two entry/exit cycles per hour for the feeding brooded young stage. On Day 6-7, juveniles can regulate their own temperatures. Then, both parents can leave the chimney to forage. The key to identifying the feeding non-brooded young stage is consecutive entries or exits.

Saturday, July 9, Day 7 at the St Adolphe Church (hatching took place on July 3); 9:50-10:50 AM:
10:15:51 entry
10:22:24 entry = two consecutive entries; the nest site was unattended from at least 9:50 AM to 10:15 AM
10:23:05 exit – one swift is in the chimney
10:32:31 entry – two swifts are in the chimney
10:32:51 exit – likely a partner exchange
10:45:40 entry – two swifts are in the chimney
10:46:05 exit – one swift was in the chimney at the end of the monitoring session

The feeding rate was 4 X per hour.

Around Day 21, the juveniles move from the bowl of the nest to the wall of the chimney. A lot of wing flapping takes place to exercise flight muscles. Eventually, mini-training flights take place up and down the chimney shaft. The adults start to draw the juveniles up to the rim of the chimney with repetitive entries and exits…fledging is the next important milestone.

Fledging occurs on Day 28-30. For the Church birds, the date range for fledging is calculated as July 30-31-Aug 1.

Calm mornings seem to be ideal for first flights outside of the chimney. Fledglings can be recognized by their intact wing margins – adults are moulting at this time of the year and have gaps or discontinuities in their trailing wing margins. Fledglings also fly lower in the air column, often with very rapid wing beats for slow air speed. Hesitant and, often, missed entries into natal chimneys are classic. There is a real skill set that needs to be developed to become proficient aerial foragers. For about a week post-fledging, the youngsters return to the chimney to rest during the day and be fed by the adults. This activity lessens and once daytime use finishes, it is time to shift back to robust roosting hour monitoring sessions to track site use before migration.

Unfortunately, there is a down side of up. Three of the five nest sites in St Adolphe failed in a rather catastrophic 2 day period. On July 15, the Brodeur Bros pair did not attend the chimney (Day 6, feeding brooded young). On July 16, the adults at both the NE Club Amical (Day 13, feeding non-brooded young) and Main St (Day 2?, possibly feeding brooded young) chimneys also stopped making daytime entries. Whether the nests were washed out by recent heavy downpours, or loosened then slipped on a time lag, or food supplies dwindled to critically low levels will be determined in the fall with a look into cleanout traps.

The up side of the down side was that local swifts re-dispersed. Helper birds came onsite at the Church July 18 -within two days of the nest failures. Helpers had been at SE Club Amical for the first week post-hatch (July 10-16). It becomes chaotic to move between all the sites in town to witness this dynamic behaviour! Hopefully, the swifts at these two sites will have positive breeding outcomes.

Now, onto the achievements of our Citizen Scientists…

On July 4, at 395 River Ave, Marshall watch 10 swifts in the air. Although some moved toward the chimney, no entries were made. Tim and Marshall did a quick Google Earth search and found 5 potential sites in the immediate area to scout out.

In St James on July 5, Adolf, Don, Jake, and Anna watched their three sites. Two swifts entered the Carillon; no activity was seen at Kings Theatre but a lot of activity took place at Assiniboine School – 70 swifts roosted for the night.

Also on July 5, the Selkirk birders were out to check their sites. The East Selkirk Hydro site was not included as no entries had been noticed for over a week.

• Dorothy, Robert, Gerald, and James, at the Large Stack, noted 15 entries but at least 5 were in air at the end of the session when it was too dark to see the rim. Gerald noted “We are not sure if they went elsewhere or entered in the dark.”
• Gerald and Robert counted 1 entry and 1 exit, but 0 roosting at the Small Yellow Chimney; it was too dark to see the chimney rim at end of the session, so it is not known if any of the stragglers from the Large Stack entered this site.
• Winona was at the Merchants Hotel and saw 1 roosting entry; 6 swifts were seen in air.
• Sharon and Carol at the Manitoba Ave site recorded 2 entry/exit cycles but 0 roosted.
• Robert, at the Infirmary, had another busy night with 7+ entries and 6+ exits; the last entry for the evening at 9:50 PM.

Ken was scouting out a new location on July 5. In Manitou, he saw “3 swifts in the air over the centre of town & later two near the north end.” Ken suspects that multiple pairs of swifts are nesting in town.

Heading back to Winnipeg, Garry spent close to 2 hours in a neck straining session at 722 Watt St. on July 7. He was rewarded with three entry/exit cycles. Incubation or hatching? More on this site later…

After the scouting session in Manitou, Ken turned his attention to Stonewall on July 10. The tenth new site for the season was discovered during the roosting hour! Ken was expecting to see an entry at the Catholic Church but another Main St site was used. More chimneys in town are likely in use.

Gord gave us a shout from Maine on July 11 – he enjoyed seeing swifts in both Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. It’s lovely viewing swifts in any location.

Tim has landed an amazing Green Team employee for the summer. Marshall’s sightings have been reported in previous blogs but he gets a special shoutout with his discovery of a trio of new sites:

2016-11  Augustine United Church, 444 River Ave.; 2 entries, July 8
2016-12  Lancaster Apt., 411 Stradbrook Ave.; 4 entries, July 9
2016-13  Rexall Pharma Plus, 1295 Pembina Hwy, Fort Garry; entry July 14 (with Tim)

Great work this summer Marshall!

John was at one of his three 2016-discovered sites in the City Centre on July 10. At the McDermot site, 2 entry/exit cycles were made – young were being fed. There was no hidden component to the activity outside the chimney, “Had a little drama on the roof with a Merlin and 5 crows interacting which seemed to keep the swift from entering. It made 13 flybys in 16 minutes, only going into the chimney after the crows and Merlin had left.”

That wasn’t the end to John’s amazing moments…on July 15, between Fringe Fest plays, John took a lunch break to stare at a candidate chimney at 41 Princess St.  “What do you know, I had an entry and exit within ten minutes. Went back on the 17th and had 2 exits and an entry in a little more than an hour.” I suspect rim-staring behaviour would slip in nicely to the fringe milieu – well done John!

Adolf, Don, Jake, and Peter spent the evening of July 14 at the Assiniboine School roost. They saw ~4 early exits then steady entries to a maximum of 59 for the night (similar to June 28); the roosting numbers seem to be seesawing between 58 and 70 (solstice). The season long efforts of the St James monitors, who track roost numbers at the largest site is appreciated!

Garry was back at his Watt St site on July 17 to see regular exchanges every 1/2 hour. The adults were indeed feeding brooded young.

Our on-the-road specialists, Frank and Jacquie, were down in Otterburne on July 18. There was a lot of action and all three chimneys on Providence College were in use: 2 swifts entered the chimney near the bell tower; 6 went in the Large Chimney – a lot of entry/exits before the roosting hour indicated feeding non-brooded with helpers onsite but 6 is an unlikely number for a nest site. The swifts were flying very low all night, making shallow exits, therefore, some events may have been missed; 4 swifts used the Skinny Chimney – with four consecutive entries to start session, many exit/entries, and four final consecutive roosting entries, a breeding pair plus 2 helpers was indicated.

Late last summer, Blaire identified a candidate chimney at the St Norbert Parish Church. Lucy checked it out during the NRMP evenings and saw nothing more than friendly neighbours. The recent good news is that Blaire had 3 confirmed entries during the roosting hour on July 19; 1 likely entry was made as she was leaving the area. This chimney needs repairing so it is now on the list of possible sites to be attended to under Tim’s stewardship activities. Thanks Blaire for moving the status of the St Norbert Parish Church onto the active site list!

Rudolf has been travelling extensively this year, but found a slot to head to various sites to check out the activity. On July 19, 7 swifts were observed around the 690 St Joseph St. site.

Early in the evening of July 20, 8 swifts were seen in the East Kildonan area; one swift was seen to enter the site at 1030 Brazier but no use was seen at the 1010 Brazier site and Curtis Hotel sites. Impending weather may have contributed to the activity level…more on that shortly.

The morning of July 20 was auspicious for a couple of reasons. Tim and Marshall stopped in at the St Francois Xavier Church. After walking the grounds for a few minutes, Marshall detected an exit from the chimney. This was the first confirmed use of the chimney – it was monitored once in 2010 and no swifts entered or exited the chimney. The St F-X chimney is also in need of repair, so it benefits from being identified as an active site.

A notable weather event unraveled on the evening of July 20. A massive storm hit Manitoba in the early evening, spawning tornadoes in the Portage area. Monitors wisely took shelter that night, but were soon back at the chimney-sides.

On July 21, Adolf and Donald checked out Assiniboine School once more and had a count of 58 +/- 5. It is extremely difficult to count clumps of swifts which drop simultaneously into a roost site!

Jake was out at his Roslyn Rd. sites on July 21 and 22. A pair was onsite at each of the 94 Roslyn Rd and 100 Roslyn Rd locations both nights.

On to July 23 and back to Garry’s Watt St site. There was crazy busy action during a 45 minute observation period when 13 entry/exits were made! A highly abundant local patch of insects was likely fueling the activity.

Paul Goossen posted an update on Manitoba Birds – Last evening (23 July) my wife and I took a drive out to Darlingford and Manitou. It didn’t take too long after arriving at the Darlingford School Heritage Museum to see a Chimney Swift exiting the chimney at 1955 h. Thirteen minutes later, two were seen flying in the vicinity of the Museum and at 2010 h and 2012 h, each swift made an entry into the chimney. About a minute after the last swift went in, both exited separately. Their behaviour suggests they have young.

In Manitou I watched a couple of chimneys along Park Avenue just off Main Street. We arrived just before 2100 h. No swifts were seen or heard after 20 minutes of observing. It maybe we didn’t watch long enough, or the chimneys are not being used. More scouting and observing is needed to find out where the swifts in Manitou are roosting and/or nesting.

Back to Selkirk updates:

July 12: Winona had very active entry and exit events at the Merchant Hotel; the high level of activity continued on July 19 suggesting a nest site has progressed to the stage of feeding non-brooded young.

July 18: Robert, at the Infirmary, had 12 entry and 12 exit events which also suggested feeding non-brooded young.

July 18: Sharon and Carol saw 4 swifts flying around their Manitoba Ave site but no entries/exits were made.

July 18: Gerald and Robert at the Yellow Brick Chimney, for a robust roosting hour session, saw 8 entry and 6 exit events – 3 swifts were inside at one time = a helper may be onsite.

July 18: Gerald and Robert also monitored the Large Stack where 17 swifts roosted for the night; the roosting count was similar to July 5 when 15 swifts roosted but 5 were still in the air at the end of the monitoring session.

Margaret and Millie, have been going the extra mile to track swifts at their nest site in Brandon. On July 14, 2 roosting entries were made but on July 18, no entries or exits were observed. Checking in again on July 24, no swifts were seen – the swifts have abandoned the nest site after an unsuccessful, short lived breeding attempt. On June 21, entries/exits at this site indicated that nest building was underway but by June 28 roosting entries only were seen. Margaret reported huge amounts of rain fell in the Brandon area and that could certainly affect positive nesting outcomes. We are fortunate to have Margaret and Millie head off to Souris now to check in on Chimney Swifts before the season ends!

Your opportunistic observations, monitoring data, and site discoveries are important inputs to the MCSI program. Through your efforts, we are making steady progress in understanding roost site dynamics and nest site success. Importantly, the distribution of Chimney Swifts in Manitoba is becoming better known. With the identification of active habitat by monitors, the stewardship aspect of MCSI activity can follow. Please keep your reports coming in and let us know about candidate chimneys requiring repair!

It should be noted that the artificial tower in  Saint Adolphe is getting a lot of attention in recent days. It seems that the tower may not be attracting swifts, but it is attracting pocket monsters, or those looking for them. There have been more folks standing in front of that structure over the last two weeks than in its history!

Happy Swifting, Barb for the MCSI Team.

JULY UPDATE: NEW BEGINNINGS

To our monitor’s credit, new sites are still being discovered and reported. Adding to our habitat inventory, and registering his second new site of the season, John reported the use of an old warehouse chimney at 579 McDermot (City Centre area of Winnipeg). John was monitoring for over 2 straight hours to document the July 3rd activity, “This morning I went back at 10:40 AM and had the first entry at 11:23 AM and exit at 11:28. Had to wait till 12:29 PM for the second entry and 12:48 for the exit.” With an entry/exit exchange once an hour, incubation is indicated at a nest site. Excellent work John!

John also had an interesting observation – “Crows were on and off the chimney many times as I watched. They appeared to look into the chimney but I saw no indication that they went in. Do you think they are a danger to the eggs or chicks?” Chimney Swift nests usually are 10-12′ (or lower) below the rim of a chimney. It would be difficult for a perching crow to reach ‘n’ grab a snack out of the bowl of the nest. Once big birds go into a chimney, either by choice or accident, they usually don’t get out (dead pigeons etc. have been seen in the cleanout traps of many chimneys) and there may be some collateral damage to swift nests on the way to the bottom. However, birds perching on the rim prevent swifts from using the chimney on their own schedule. I have seen pigeons and starlings sit on rims for up to 15 minutes and adult swifts have been put off entering – they veered off and repeated an approach. The drive to feed young is strong, so some swifts will eventually blitz past the intruder during a kamikaze entry. The reverse holds true also – adults may be pinned inside longer than they might normally stay and can blow past a bird on the rim with a meteoric exit. I have never seen a bird of prey sit on a rim, so that may be a game changer. Raccoons inside a chimney could dislodge nests and eat eggs or young juveniles. Pruning tree branches to prevent them from overhanging the chimney opening, and putting metal flashing or a collar around a chimney, helps to keep the pesky mammals out.

Ken, a member of our MCSI steering committee, has been out in Manitou recently. We have not had scouts in this town before. We will have details soon of Ken’s impressive sighting of Chimney Swifts using a site!

Now, other new beginnings start with the hatching of eggs…

There is always something new to learn or to remember that which has been forgotten. While it is useful to use standard date ranges and behaviour activity to identify stages of nesting, the transitions may not be crisp and distinct – that is the swifts may feather (sorry, bad pun intended) the progression between stages of nesting with “iffy” – “I wonder what they are doing now?” activity.

On Sunday and Monday (July 3 and 4 respectively), I arrived at the Church and NE Club Amical chimneys to discover feeding of hatchlings was underway! WAIT A MINUTE – I thought I was leading the big hatching events by a couple of days. Back to the datasheets: during some monitoring sessions, a few incubation exchanges were evident but unattended periods also were seen. The swifts were not “tight” on their eggs. It became apparent that by using the classic “one partner exchange per hour” rule, I underestimated the onset of incubation by 2 days. Fast forward to the home computer where I pulled up a species account for Chimney Swifts on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chimney_Swift/lifehistory  “Incubation period: 16-21 days.”  That explained it. Do note the difference between the previously advertised, more widely accepted, range of 18-21 days.

Both pairs of swifts hatched out their eggs in just 16 days. What indicated the presence of hatchlings? It was an increase from the typical 1 entry/exit event per hour seen in incubation, to 2 entry/exit events per hour.

Take a look at the monitoring data for the Church, Sunday July 3, 1:19 – 2:24 PM:

• 1:27:20 entry
• 1:28:07 exit
• 1:56:00 entry
• 1:56:18 exit
• 2:20:30 entry
• 2:21:13 exit

There were intervals of ~28 and 24 minutes between visits (time from an exit to an entry), and very quick partner exchanges (time from an entry to an exit; this is also known as the “turnaround time” or “duration in” interval for single bird entry/exit sequences – more on that below).

Here is what happened at NE Club Amical, Monday July 4, 10:48 – 11:53 AM:

• 11:01:42 entry
• 11:02:06 exit
• 11:17:34 entry
• 11:19:03 exit
• 11:49:52 entry
• 11:50:15 exit

There were intervals of ~ 15 and 30 minutes between visits; partner exchanges took between ~30 – 90 seconds.

Once hatched, the juveniles cannot regulate their body temperature, so they are covered, or brooded, by an adult. This stage of feeding brooded young lasts 6 or 7 days (Day 1 of feeding = day of hatching).

When adults no longer brood their young, both adults can be out of the chimney foraging at the same time. At this stage of feeding non-brooded young, you will see consecutive entries or exits as the adults come and go – there is a lot of variability for the “between visit” and “duration in” intervals. Feeding rates may increase to 3-4 times per hour, or more, if a locally abundant insect patch is available.

At approximately Day 21-22, juveniles move out of the bowl of the nest and cling to the vertical wall. They start to practice flying up and down the shaft of the chimney to strengthen their flight muscles. The time soon comes to move beyond the confines of the nest site.

Fledging occurs at Day 28-30 and, for swifts, is defined as the first aerial excursion outside of the chimney.  I have seen fledging delayed until Day 32 by persistent, high winds. During the first week after fledging, the juveniles will return to the nest site often to rest and be fed by their parents. Thereafter, flight proficiency, and independent feeding skills, develops quickly and the daytime use of the chimney ends.

Elsewhere in St Adolphe, the eggs in two more nests – SE Club Amical and Brodeur Bros. – are due to hatch within several days. I am tracking those sites closely now that I have been reminded of 16 day incubation periods!

A, presumably, young pair finally arrived mid-June at the Main St site. Last week, they seemed close to settling on eggs; incubation exchanges were seen. This week, the two were mostly out of the chimney, racing about town with the characteristic “V” wing position of pair bond displays. The pair may be staking territory out for next year more than trying to settle into a serious breeding attempt this year. Time will tell.

I will provide some monitoring updates to track the progress of the breeding St Adolphe Chimney Swifts during July. The roost site dynamics are important to follow too, so we’ll keep checking in on the non-breeding portion of our Manitoba Chimney Swifts.

Happy Swifting ’til next time, Barb.