June has arrived, and the swift reports keep coming in! Thank you to all of those that have been monitoring and submitting reports. While our four official MCSI/NRMP nights for the season are now done, we encourage you to keep conducting roost monitoring sessions whether at the same site you have been monitoring this year or in past years, or at sites that we have on our list as priority chimneys to monitor for use by swifts (to confirm ‘residence’ status). Click here to read our start of year blog which goes into more detail about what we mean when we refer to ‘residence’ status, and the different types of sites we want to monitor.
Here are some new updates since our last blog, starting with our Winnipeg sites:
On June 1st, Barbara Barnett observed 210 entries into the River Manor Apartments. A few days later on June 5th, Barbara and Phil observed 175 swifts enter the chimney. At the Moorgate Apartments, Linda Curtis observed three entries and one exit on June 1st, and two entries on June 5th. Jo Swartz and Richard Silverman watched the chimney in Assiniboine Park on May 25th and saw seven swifts flying around, with five swifts entering the chimney for the night. On May 28th, Jo watched the chimney again this time with Betsy Thorsteinson and saw four swifts enter the chimney. On June 5th, Jo and Richard observed three entries into the chimney. Beth Hiltz and Wolfgang Jansen watched the Assiniboine School chimney on June 1st and observed four swifts in the air and one entry into the chimney, while on June 5th, Beth did not observe any swifts enter the chimney. Blaire Barta submitted more reports from the Behavioural Health Foundation in St. Norbert, noting two entries on both May 31st and June 5th. Amanda Shave was able to cross another priority site off our list of sites to confirm use by swifts – She observed three swifts entering the chimney at Hilton House Apartments, which means it now qualifies as a residence for Chimney Swifts. Woohoo!
Things remain very busy in Selkirk. Winona Hook has been watching the Merchant’s Hotel, reporting two entries on both June 3rd and June 5th. At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) on June 1st, two entries were observed at T01 (tall tower), T02 (courtyard tower), T03 (infirmary-attached tower) and the infirmary chimney, while no entries were observed at the yellow brick chimney and T04 (powerhouse tower). On the morning of June 3rd, Gerald and Carol looped through SMCH and saw two entries into the infirmary chimney, and one entry into T03. Tim Poole and his team of students watched the SMHC towers in the morning on June 5th and reported seeing one entry into T01, no entries into T02, one entry into T03, one entry into T04, one entry into the infirmary chimney, and no entries in the yellow-brick chimney. Later on that day during the official roost monitoring session, volunteers observed two entries into each of T01, T02, T03, the yellow-brick chimney and the infirmary chimney, but no activity at T04. It seems that there is some nest building going on in some of these chimneys and towers, but we will need to keep monitoring to be sure of what is going on here!
As for Lower Fort Garry, Joanne Tuckwell monitored during the morning of June 5th, and observed two swifts entering into the Fur Loft, followed by two exits. She also saw two entries into the Men’s House chimney. Later on that evening, Gerald Machnee observed one entry into the Men’s House chimney and two entries into the Fur Loft chimney.
Barb and Rob Stewart have been busy keeping an eye on the swifts in St. Adolphe. After observing many daytime entries and exits at the Club Amical from May 28th to June 2nd, they suspected that nest building was underway in the northeast chimney. The southeast chimney is proving to be a bit more confusing, with some monitoring sessions resulting in zero activity and other sessions resulting in the observation of entries and exits and the swifts spending a lot of time inside the chimney (which can be an indicator of nesting activity). On June 6th, Barb and Rob noted long durations of time between entries and exits in the northeast chimney, suggesting that the swifts using this chimney have reached the incubation stage of nesting. It will be interesting to see what happens here in the next several weeks.
In La Broquerie, Frank Machovec monitored the church chimneys on June 1st and observed three swifts enter the large chimney and two swifts enter the small chimney. On June 5th, he saw three swifts enter the large chimney and one swift enter the small chimney.
In Dauphin, Ken Wainwright and crew observed two swifts enter the Malcom Block chimney, and four swifts occupying the chimney at once at Old Scott’s Hardware on June 1st.
In St. Francois Xavier, Mike and Michele Tumber watched the church chimney on June 5th and observed three entries into the chimney.
In St. Jean Baptiste, Luc Blanchette has been watching the church chimney. On May 31st, he observed 16 entries and three exits, with a maximum of 13 swifts in the chimney at one time. On June 5th, Luc observed 10 entries and three exits, with a maximum of eight swifts in the chimney at one time.
Our program assistant Aynsley has been monitoring the chimneys in Otterburne. On June 1st, she observed one exit from the chimney near the bell tower, two entries into the large chimney, and one entry into the skinny chimney. On June 5th, she observed four entries and two exits at the large chimney and three entries and exits at the skinny chimney. There was no observed activity in the chimney near the bell tower.
There have also been some sightings in The Pas, by Joel Kayer. On May 30th and 31st, he saw swifts flying in the sky near the VIA rail station in the afternoon. He heard some more swift activity on June 1st.
That’s it for the updates for this week! If you’re wondering about where and when you can monitor in the upcoming weeks/months, please send us an email! High on our priority list is to find volunteers to monitor sites that haven’t had confirmed use by swifts in the last three years. These sites can be monitored at any time of day for any duration of time – the important part is seeing a swift enter or exit the chimney, which will confirm its status as a ‘residence’ for Chimney Swifts. Amanda has already successfully confirmed two of these sites by observing swifts entering them which is very exciting! We will continue to tackle this scavenger hunt as a group throughout the summer. Next week’s blog will focus on this mission of ours, and will include a detailed a list of these priority sites. We also encourage volunteers to continue monitoring at your ‘usual’ site if you have one.
Whew, that was a long one. Thanks folks, we really couldn’t do it without you! Remember to send us your reports and observations at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com
— Cheers! -Marissa and Aynsley
