The Chimney Swift season is starting to wind down…
We are back again with our weekly round-up of MCSI monitoring reports. The brief reprieve from the hot weather last week made it a much nicer time (in my eyes at least) to watch the swifts. I went for several evening walks to check on the swifts in my neighbourhood, but with no luck seeing them enter either known or some possible new chimneys, although they were out and about despite the light drizzle both nights.
And of course, I was not the only one out! This week we have reports from Selkirk, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry, Portage la Prairie, Brandon, Winnipeg, St Adolphe and Dauphin.
At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre the swifts continue to provide excitement and drama! First, we had nesting at the infirmary building chimney – pretty normal, right? Then, late into the summer we had a change in use pattern of the yellow brick chimney (see last week’s blog for a quick recap and possible fledging). Then, on August 11th myself, Gerald Machnee, Frank and Jacquie Machovec, Nia Massey and Linda Adie went to cover all the chimneys on the site. It was already an exiting night as it was interrupted partway through by a fast-moving storm, but it also got more exciting on a Chimney Swift front…
Gerald was watching the Stack Replacement Tower (T04) from 8:05 pm to 9:30 pm and he saw six entries and four exits in what certainly looks like the pattern of swifts feeding young. Back on July 15th, we did have a (seemingly) random daytime entry, as we had gathered talking after having watched the chimney for 90 minutes with no activity. So we have seen swifts use the tower earlier in the year, but definitely not this pattern of use! Gerald also drove by yesterday (August 17th) to do a quick daytime watch and saw an entry and exit within a couple of minutes of each other – is there perhaps a late season nest still active here that we only recently picked up on??
Speaking of those other nesting sites at the Centre – Frank and Jacquie Machovec were watching the infirmary chimney and the infirmary attached tower on August 11th. There was no activity in the attached tower, but four swifts were using the infirmary chimney, although only two stayed in the tower as the storm rolled through and for the end of the monitoring session. There were 11 entries and exits before that point. With four swifts – it now appears that fledging occurred!
Nia and Linda were watching the yellow brick chimney on the same evening. They also had a lot of activity. They had 10 entries and 8 exits. Three birds were using the chimney earlier in the monitoring period, however only two birds were in the chimney at the end of the monitoring session.
On the same night I was watching the west tower (T01) at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. I had a maximum of two birds overhead, but each time they looked like they were coming from the nearby infirmary chimney. No birds entered or exited the west tower.
On August 13th Robert Hempler was on a walk through the Centre grounds and noticed 3-4 swifts flying around awkwardly and subsequently entered the chimney. From the non-direct entry and awkward flight he believed they were fledged young – backing up what Frank and Jacquie had suggested a couple of days earlier.
On August 9th Winona Hook was at the Merchant Hotel for session that was half daytime monitoring and half roost monitoring – which got cut short with rain. She had eight entries and seven exits spread across two Chimney Swift individuals who both entered the chimney just as the rain started.
On August 11th Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski both watched the two St Andrew’s Lock and Dam maintenance compound chimneys. The south chimney was not used by the swifts. The north chimney had six entries and four exits by two Chimney Swifts. The two swifts entered around 8:50 pm just before the wind and rain began at 8:57 pm.
Next, we will move on to Lower Fort Garry, which was monitored several times last week. If you recall from last week, we have confirmed fledging of at least one bird on the site – as a full compliment of feathers (indicative of a young bird) was seen by Barb and Rob Stewart.
Gerald was there from 6:15-8:45 pm on August 10th. He had two swifts in the chimney with seven entries and seven exits over the monitoring period. The two swifts went down the chimney for the night at 8:20pm and 8:30pm.
On August 11th Rob and Barb were back at Lower Fort Garry for a morning monitoring session. Their goal this time was twofold – 1) to monitor the swifts and 2) to see if they could find any other chimneys in the vicinity of the fort that the swifts could be using. Although at least one fledgling had been confirmed, we have not seen the number of birds we expect (at least three – 1 young bird and two adults) since fledging. The adults and young will not necessarily stay in the chimney together, one or more individuals may move to different chimneys close by. This time Rob and Barb had three sets of entries/ exits in an hour. During their exploration for alternate chimneys, they found some good candidate chimneys, but more investigation is needed with Parks Canada staff to figure out if the chimneys run the length of the building or are closed on the inside.
Gerald was back to Lower Fort Garry on August 15th for an evening monitoring session from 7:15-9:10 pm. He had two swifts using the chimney.
In Portage la Prairie we had Gordon Ogilvie and Janice Madill watching the two chimneys on the Rufus Prince Building during the roosting hour on August 11th. There was only one entry a couple minutes after sunset in the middle chimney (2017-29.1). Most of the activity was happening in the south chimney (2017-29). There were three entries and exits by two Chimney Swifts before the two birds went down the chimney for the night around 9:00 pm.
In Brandon, Glennis watched the west chimney of the Orange Block building on August 10th during the roosting hour. She had seven entries and five exits – so a lot of activity. At the end of the night there were three birds in the chimney. She also had a lovely view of a double rainbow! A bit of an extra reward for the worthwhile monitoring of Chimney Swifts!
Gillian and Gwyn Richards watched the same chimney the next night (August 11th), also during the roosting hour. They saw 6 entries and four exits, and also had three swifts in the chimney at the end of the evening. Interestingly, at the end of the evening the timing of the swifts on both August 10th and August 11th was almost identical. On August 10th there were entries at 9:10 pm and 9:12 pm, an exit at 9:13 pm and then two entries at 9:21 pm and 9:23 pm respectively. On August 11th there were entries at 9:12 pm and 9:13 pm, and exit about 30 seconds later at 9:13 pm and then entries at 9:20 pm and 9:24 pm. These swifts certainly seem to have consistent bedtime routines!
Ariel Desrochers was out and about in Winnipeg monitoring at a couple of different sites. On August 4th she visited the Grant Arms Apartment for a morning monitoring session. Tim Poole had previously had an opportunistic sighting of a swift using the chimney, and I had seen swifts flying nearby, but Ariel had no luck that day seeing swifts at all. A bit later that same day Ariel tried out the Flag Shop chimney on Pembina Hwy, also with no luck.
After being in the St Boniface area earlier for non-Chimney Swift related reasons and seeing Chimney Swifts in the air Ariel decided to watch the St Boniface Cathedral chimney (2019-47) to see if the swifts were using the church chimney during a morning monitoring session on August 10th. She did see two swifts that were flying south and west of the church but no swifts entered the chimney she was watching.
We also have several observations from Blair Reid to report. Blair watched 261 Youville Street. On August 4th during a daytime monitoring session he saw three sets of entries and exits. In the first exchange two swifts entered and exited and the third time only one swift entered and exited. While only two swifts appeared to be using the chimney, up to four swifts were seen in the air. Blair was back at the site during the roosting hour on August 11th for 50 minutes. He wasn’t able to get in the best position to watch the chimney but saw two entries for sure, and maybe a third. Of the entries, the first bird went straight in, while during the second entry the bird was first flying around the chimney before hesitantly entering the chimney. While not confirmed, the second entry does seem like a fledgling swift. The last possible entry was blocked from view by a tree – a challenge many of us have faced when trying to monitor a chimney!
On August 10th Blair watched 690 St Joseph St for 30 minutes of daytime monitoring and an hour of roosting monitoring. He had two exits at 7:52 pm and 7:53 pm and then one bird entering for the night at 8:40 pm.
Vicky also did some Chimney Swift monitoring across Winnipeg since our last blog post. On August 5th she was at 24 Edmonton St for an hour. She saw a swift flying quite far away from the site twice, but no swifts using the chimney. She was also in the area monitoring during the last week in July and noted that there were noticeably fewer swifts in the area compared to the previous week. On August 6th Vicky was at the Holy Trinity Catholic Ukrainian Church in the late afternoon and also saw no swifts.
On August 9th Vicky watched the Lady Wentworth Apartments from 9:40-10:15am and had two swifts exit the chimney at 10:08am and saw a further two swifts in the air. She was stymied by an approaching storm and unfortunately had to cut the monitoring period short.
On August 10th Vicky did a blitz of Chimney Swift monitoring at several buildings in the Exchange District during the morning and early afternoon. She saw no signs of swifts around 91 Albert St or the 52 Albert St (Gregg Building). At her last stop of the day, she was able to watch two chimneys at once at 71 Princess St and 33 Princess St (Peck Building). There were two swifts flying around, and she was able to see one exit and then one entrance into the Peck Building chimney in the hour she was monitoring.
For her most recent monitoring she went out in the Corydon area. She saw no swifts at 481 Corydon (an Apartment building), but did see seven swifts flying over at 272 Cockburn St (King George Court Apartments).
–Amanda Shave
