Hello!
It’s hard to believe it’s already mid-June. Many swift pairs will now be building their cup-shaped nests, which they make by gathering twigs and gluing them together using their sticky saliva. At this point in the season, there are many different monitoring options. You can keep monitoring your usual site(s), or you can check out sites that are on our priority list (more details on this below). If swifts are using a chimney to nest, they will be entering/exiting the chimney during the daytime. So, both daytime and roosting hour monitoring sessions are valuable. Monitoring a site once or twice can give a good snapshot into what is going on at that site, while monitoring the same site on a regular basis can give more detailed information on how that nesting attempt is going.
I really love this quote from Barb, which I shared on the blog last year as well: “Along the way your monitoring sessions will add puzzle pieces to the overall picture. Infrequent, short sessions gather puzzle pieces with snippets of information; these are very good for verification of site use. Frequent, lengthy sessions harvest more robust puzzle pieces that have more information in them; these are necessary for identifying stages of nesting.”
We are holding a monitoring blitz on Wednesday, June 19th. The goal for this evening is to monitor as many sites as possible. If you are free to participate, please let me know which site you will monitor or if you want to be matched with a site for the evening (please email mbchimneyswift@gmail.com).
Priority Site List for 2024
Every year, we have a list of “priority sites” (sites that are a high priority to monitor). These are sites where we haven’t confirmed use by swifts in several years. In many cases, these sites simply haven’t been monitored in a while. The main purpose of this monitoring is to investigate whether any swifts are currently using these chimneys. This information is valuable because it shows that these sites continue to provide important roosting or nesting habitat for Chimney Swifts (a species at risk) which in turn helps provincial and federal government agencies to protect these sites.
We’re looking for help from volunteers to tackle this priority site list. Here’s how you can get involved: Take a look at the list, pick a site or two that you would like to check out, go take a look to see if there any swifts using this chimney and let us know what you see! If possible, take a photo of the chimney so we have an update on its condition. Once we get a report from someone saying they’ve observed an entry/exit at a site, we will cross that site off our list. Like a scavenger hunt of sorts. Like last year, we will post an updated list on the blog every week so that volunteers can see which sites have been “checked off”, and which sites haven’t been confirmed yet.
This monitoring can be done at any time of day, for any length of time. Because we are only looking to confirm the presence of swifts in the chimney, the exact timing and duration is not as important as for official roost or nest monitoring. So if you happen to be near a priority site and have 20 minutes to spare to watch a chimney, that is great! That may be enough time to catch an entry or an exit.
You can use the datasheet as for all other monitoring (found here). As always, please make sure to fill out all the fields including the start and end time, the date, the site address, and any entries/exits.
We are working on a site guide for each swift site, which will include information such as where the chimney is located on the building, some photos, and suggestions of where to stand for the best monitoring vantage point. We have finished these guides for most of the priority sites – please send us an email if you would like this information for a specific site.
Three of our 2024 sites have already been “checked off” our list! Donna and Eugenia saw 2 swifts enter St Paul the Apostle Parish (2400 Portage Ave) on June 1. Cam watched Lanark Tower (555 Lanark St) during the daytime on June 5 saw 1 entry and 1 exit. Meredith watched Chief Peguis Junior High School on June 3 and saw 2 swifts using the chimney during the roosting hour. Woohoo!
Here’s our current list:
| Community | Neighbourhood | Address | Site | Observer |
| Eriksdale | – | 16 Railway Ave | St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum | |
| La Salle | – | 27 Beaudry St | Ste Hyacinthe Church | |
| Morden | – | 352 Stephen St | Pembina Hills Art Centre | |
| Swan River | – | 518 Main St | Commercial building | |
| The Pas | – | 380 Hazelwood Ave | VIA Rail Station | |
| Wasagaming | – | 106 Buffalo Dr | Dragonfly Delights Tea Room | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 100 Adelaide St | Immigrant Centre Building | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 222 York Ave | Brink’s Canada | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 91 Albert St | The Old Market Autonomous Zone | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Garry | 1022 Pembina Hwy | Cambridge Hotel | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 118 Scott St | Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 141 River Ave | Ludlow Court Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 245 Bell Ave | Children’s Education Funds Inc | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 260 Wentworth Ave | Lady Wentworth Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 272 Cockburn St | King George Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 280 River Ave | Moxam Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 411 Stradbrook Ave | Lancaster Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 526 Walker Ave | Clarence Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 834 Grosvenor Ave | Eugene Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 444 River Ave | Augustine United Church | |
| Meredith S. | ||||
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 25 Valhalla Dr | Valhalla Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 415 Edison Ave | L&B Towers | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 1025 Grant Ave | Grant Arms Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465A Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465D Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Cam T. | ||||
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 394 Academy Rd | Uptown Lofts | |
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 780 Elizabeth Rd | Arundel Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 790 Elizabeth Rd | Arundel Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 99 Birchdale Ave | Nordale School | |
| Winnipeg | St Vital | 531 St Mary’s Rd | Riverside Billiards | |
| Winnipeg | St James | 2285 Portage Ave | Foodfare | |
| Donna M., Eugenia G. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St James | 2415 Portage Ave | Essex House, pest cage | |
| Winnipeg | West Broadway | 198 Furby St | Harvard Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | West Broadway | 39 Balmoral St | Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | West End | 318 Home St | Mennonite Church | |
| Winnipeg | West End | 803 Erin Street | Elan Designs and Upholstery | |
| Winnipeg | West Kildonan | 31 McBeth St | McBeth House (A) middle chimney |
Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you would like some guidance about when and where to monitor.
We will catch up on monitoring updates next week.
Thanks!
-Marissa
