We will start our monitoring round-up at Manitoba’s largest roost. On Saturday, Lynnea, Adam and Lynnea’s mom (we have the numbers not the report with names), decided to take in an evening of swift watching at Assiniboine School in St James, Winnipeg. 155 swifts later, and it would seem that we still have a very large roost in Winnipeg. A day later, Christian counted 8 extras during the NRMP monitoring night, 163 in total. Lots for the Assiniboine School counters to chew over on Thursday!
Christian sent us a wee video and we decided to upload it. This gives you a good idea of how complicated it can be to count birds at these larger roosts, with birds doing ‘fake entrances’ swinging down below the chimney, and then tumbling into the chimney in a sudden mass of bodies.
and we decided to upload it. This gives you a good idea of how complicated it can be to count birds at these larger roosts, with birds doing ‘fake entrances’ swinging down below the chimney, and then tumbling into the chimney in a sudden mass of bodies.
Down the road, Frank and Jacquie managed a joint stakeout at the Moorgate and New Silver Heights. Frank reported on their behalf:
‘Eventually, four CHSW entered the Moorgate chimney (and they all stayed there this time). There must have been a swift in the chimney at the Silver Heights when we arrived. We subsequently had one entry and two exits; presumably the chimney was deserted when we left. Jacquie and I witnessed an odd incident. Note: Two CHSW were seen tumbling in the air (courtship/ aggression ??) near the Silver Heights Apartments at 21:10. Mere centimeters (literally!) from Portage Avenue, the pair broke contact. One CHSW narrowly missed the pavement and one struck Portage Avenue; it was momentarily dazed before flying off. Fortunately, there was a break in traffic.
An interesting evening, indeed.’
Kelsey and Tim W. were watching the Mount Royal Apartments and the Foodfare on Portage, just a little further west. Both these chimneys hosted two swifts, a very neat number for a future breeding attempt (we hope).
Continuing with Winnipeg, Blair noted four swifts in the air at 690 St Joseph’s in St Boniface. Only two entered the chimney. On Monday 27th, Blair decided to check out a couple of other chimneys, eventually deciding on 393 Marion, the Marion Hotel. Here is the report:
‘After about 10 minutes I saw a swift, then another and then another. I saw only one at a time so I did not know if it was the same swift. I recorded three entries between 9:33 to 9:44. Two may be young ones from last year as they hesitated and circled a bit before entering. The two at 690 go right in and so did the third swift tonight.’
This is excellent news, and shows the value of doing extra monitoring nights!
A bit of a recap report also came in, Justin recorded zero swifts at Good News Fellowship in St Vital on the 22nd.
Nicole and Cain reported in from the Fleetwood in Wolesey:
‘We had 2 less than graceful silent entries at the Fleetwood tonight. 8:54 and 9:22. I commented to Cain that I was surprised at how silent our birds were this year no chittering just silent drop ins. He responded that Batman does not let people know where the bat cave is…Mike drop.’
Indeed. Mette in the Old Grace Housing Coop reported on Sunday that they are still awaiting the first activity in this new site.
To Kildonan, and Marsha and George were back at their new site, sending the following report:
‘yeah…2 chimney swifts observed entering the chimney at the new site 1400 Rothesay in North Kildonan tonight May 26th..’
Rudolf sent this from East Kildonan:
‘I went to check for swift activity at the Northdale Shopping Centre on the 25th. No action between 9:15 and 9:30. It may have been too cold and windy and the birds may have turned in early. However, I heard one or two nearby earlier that day and again today. Also, on 24 May I heard a bird over Nordale School in Norwood Flats.’
A quick check on Google and we are very excited about the Nordale School. Google Earth shows an open chimney on the roof. If you are interested to go and check it out, we are happy to encourage you!
To Fort Rouge now. Leah watched 915 Corydon on the NRMP night. This regular site is still to be occupied this year, with 3 swifts seen high in the air. She made one possibly very telling observation:
‘Look like they are still heating the building (at least on 26 May). I have seen pigeons hanging out on the edge of the chimney for several days, probably for warmth!‘
If anyone has any views on this, we would be interested in hearing them….
Janice and John did not see any swifts around the old Academy Bowling Lanes. Barbara and Phil watched two swifts enter 271 River. Barbara added:
‘My surprise flyover was a pair of Sandhill Cranes flying fairly low towards the north east, over the midtown bridge area.’
Over at the midtown bridge area, Tim eventually watched a single swift drop in at 303 Assiniboine, a roost which has failed to spark this spring. Not seeing the cranes, he did pick up a pair of Bald Eagles, and more bizarrely, had a nice chat with a guy picking grass to feed to his rabbit!
In Fort Garry, Gary did not see any action at St Johns, and Kirsten and Doug saw no swifts at the Flag Shop on Pembina. Both reports were form the 25th. Hopefully this area will see swifts on Thursday.
Heading south, Blaire was out of luck at the St Norbert Behavioural Health Foundation. Rob and Barb sent in their detailed report from the church as follows:
‘As for Sunday, May 26th and NRMP-2, the day started in pessimistic fashion. A cold morning at 5 C.; again. It was raining; more soggy conditions for birds in general to start their day. It did make for a bounty of orioles at the orange slices…by dinnertime, the sun was trying to break through and the wind had died down. But it was still a chilly, 11 C start to monitoring at the St Norbert Parish Church. We had one sighting of a single swift about two minutes after sunset – it was heading in the direction of the Behavioural Health Foundation where Blaire sits. About three minutes later, a single swift dove into the Church chimney and that was the headcount for the night! Clearly not a high end night for seeing much…’
Presumably the one swift circled around and came back to the church.
Scott and Irene have not had the opportunity for observing the La Salle Swift soap opera yet this year:
‘Again no Chimney Swifts sighted. I believe the Swifts that had been spotted in previous years were of the English Chimney Swift family, and as such have followed the Brexit movement and have since left La Salle.’
That might refer to this (British) blog authors known views on the Brexit debacle….
Still on the southern theme, Luc had a bounty of six swifts in the air on the 28th at Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, although only three entered the chimney.
In Otterburne, Colleen and Mark were also left disappointed, not a single swift. The weather report on the reporting sheet suggested an early bedtime by the swifts, being cold and windy.
Heading east, and David had a disappointing night out in La Broquerie on the 26th:
‘Nothing to report. I guess they went in to roost before the viewing time. It was 9 deg and cloudy, though it cleared around sunset.’
Again, David returned to watch again the following evening, and sent this more positive report:
‘As I got nothing yesterday I went and had a little look this evening. I am pleased to say I saw 7 for sure in the air and maybe 8. At sunset they kept going down the chimney and then coming out again for another snack, so I lost track of how many were in vs how many I could see in the air – I wasn’t keeping notes!! 2 went in the small chimney. Anyway 7 is an increase of 1 from my last viewing which perhaps means they are still arriving from S America.’
In Lac du Bonnet, Cam and Diann also had a disappointing evening:
‘Swifts seen/ heard: zip nada zilch! Oh well, perhaps next time! There were a few more swallows than last time and they were more active and vocal. A pair of starlings is nesting in the eaves of Casey’s Inn, but they’re not close to the chimney. Numerous starlings roost every year in a nearby spruce but that hasn’t seemed to have affected the swifts in past observations.’
A quick report from Selkirk. Winona counted 22 entries, and 2 exits at the large stack in the Mental Health Centre, leaving 20 in the chimney. She also observed an entry and exit at the Yellow Building, but no swifts remained for the night. At the Infirmary, Gerald, counted only a single entry.
Now we head west. First to St Francois Xavier Church, and Mike and Michele:
‘The aerials were in full display this evening with 2 pairs of swifts in the air putting on quite a show for us. There was one entry of 2 swifts followed by a quick exit 15 minutes later ( canoodling?? ) before the final entry of 2 birds roosting for the night. The other pair were not seen again. I am now quite convinced that there must be another chimney in the area.
For the first time, the RCMP came to investigate us and asked us a million questions about what we were doing. Apparently, the church had been vandalized on the previous night and a local town person must have called, thinking we were acting suspiciously. Fortunately, I had the monitoring report sheet to show what sort of activity we were up to. I thought I had a pretty good explanation until he finally walked away satisfied, wishing us a happy evening of chimney sweeping!!’
Having met Mike and Michele, I really am not sure how anyone could suspect them of vandalism. Anyway, remember, we do still have lanyards and cards for anyone who wants them, just let us know!
Gord sent a report in from Portage la Prairie. There were three swifts in air at the Trinity United Church, and two entered the south chimney. Gord noted that there were still very few swifts in town.
In Brandon, new champions, Margaret and Millie, have still not seen any swifts. Dan has been keeping an eye out in Virden, and Cory in Pilot Mound, but swifts are still to appear in these places. My suspicion on all these western sites is that they could arrive at any day (eBird has reports in Melita).
The ever expanding Dauphin crew, Ken, Jan, Patricia and Mairne sent this report:
‘Just as a reminder, the 3 Dauphin swift chimneys are in a triangle that is less than a block between all chimneys so when any swifts fly over, they could be observed by one, two or all three observation teams. Again tonight like the last observation night, most activity occurred at the roost site but again one of the nesting chimneys had swifts go down for the night while the other chimney only observed birds flying in the area. The roost chimney had only (11) swifts go down and chimney 2018-15 again had (3) swifts go down, the end result though is that the total count has started to go down since the first day of observation, is it possible we have had our spring migration peak? Time will yet tell. As an aside, all but (1) swift went down after sunset with most within ten minutes of the end of the observation period. The weather on a whole has been quit cool and again tonight temperatures are dipping to very low single digits with some talk of “fr_ _ t” and our garden is just starting to come up and apple trees are just starting to blossom!’
Ken sent a photo the following morning of ice in his birdbath. Yes, May 27th was fr*sty’.
And that is the monitoring wrap-up. Please keep the reports coming. We love to get them, and we love to be able to publicise them in our blog! Now to a quick update on St Adolphe, and over to Barb Stewart.
