This week we have reports from Selkirk, Lower Fort Garry, Lockport, Southport, Brandon, Otterburne, Dauphin and Winnipeg.
At the Selkirk Mental Health Centre on August 4th, Nia Massey and Linda Adie had 8 entries and two exits at the yellow brick chimney. Based on the last few weeks there may have been feeding of young going on (although the timeline is a bit odd – but that ‘tis the swift mystery). If they were indeed feeding young, this could have been fledging!
Winona Hook was back at the Mental Health Centre’s yellow brick chimney on August 8th. She saw a lot of activity. There was a period of activity with an exit, entry and exit again from 8:30 – 8:33pm. After a brief break there was another period of activity with two entry/ exit cycles from 8:56 – 9:02 pm. She then observed three entries between 9:17 pm and 9:24 pm with one additional swift still flying overhead after the last entry
Also on August 8th, Gerald Machnee was at the Infirmary building chimney (at the Health Centre). He saw pretty consistent entry/ exit cycles from 8:35 pm to 9:07 pm (5 cycles) before two swifts ended up in the chimney at the end, with one additional swift still flying around after the two swifts had entered the chimney for the night. It still seems like the swifts are feeding young in this chimney.
On August 4th Gerald was at Lower Fort Garry. He had two exits and two entries at the Fort between 8:40 pm and 9:03 pm.
The next morning (August 5th) Rob and Barb Stewart ventured over to Lower Fort Garry for a 135-minute monitoring session in the morning. They saw two entries in which two swifts spent a long time in the chimney – approximately an hour and 15 minutes and 45 minutes (and the swifts were still in the chimney when Rob and Barb left). While Rob and Barb saw no definitive proof of fledged birds (no increase in swift numbers or ID through the flight feathers) this was certainly a change in behaviour compared to the quick feeding entry and exit pattern that was previously seen. Barb says, “Rests in the chimney are typical juvenile events; the activity decreases at a site within the first week post-fledging as adults don’t need to feed the young every morsel. It may be that fledging took place between Sunday to Monday. Time will tell…”.
Vicky was on Chimney Swift duty at the Fort for the roosting hour on August 6th. She had a lot of activity. She had five sets of entries and exits with no one in the chimney at the end of her monitoring period. Is there perhaps another chimney nearby that the swifts are using? Were the young in the chimney the entire time with an adult feeding them? Questions remained…
Moving on to August 8th at Lower Fort Garry, Barb and Rob were back for 40 minutes of daytime monitoring and then 70 minutes of roosting monitoring. This was quite the exciting session! Almost as soon as they arrived Barb and Rob saw a swift make two attempts to enter the chimney before a successful, fluttery entry. While the bird was making several loops around during the entry attempts, they were able to get a look at the wing margins – which were fully intact – so a fledgling confirmed! Shortly after entering the chimney the bird left again. Two more sets of entries and exits occurred during the daytime monitoring period. During the roost monitoring period there were two more sets of entries and exits. Eventually two swifts went down the chimney at 9:03 pm and 9:11 pm. Barb noted, “Entries tonight all involved circling of the building or reorientation around the faces of the chimney prior to entry. Entries seen previously in July involved direct approaches and entries – no circling/ reorientation was observed.” So, it seems to the best of our knowledge these were two fledglings using the chimney, and we know that adults sometimes relocate after fledgling. Now the next action item is to search for nearby candidate chimneys!
Bonnie Chartier and Tim Verbiwski monitored the St Andrews Lock and Dam maintenance compound on August 5th. The south chimney had no activity, but the north chimney had three swifts using it. The typical feeding entry/ exit style pattern occurred twice from 8:32 pm to 8:40 pm. Then at 8:44 pm and 8:56 pm there were two entries, followed by an exit also at 8:56pm, and then two entries. This ended the session with three birds in the chimney.
On August 4th Gordon Ogilvie and Janice Madill ventured out to Southport to monitor the Mynarski House for the roosting period. They saw one Chimney Swift using the chimney with an entry at 9:08 pm, an exit one minute later, and then entering the chimney for the final time at 9:19 pm.
On August 1st Millie and Margaret were walking past the Orange Block building in Brandon and stopped in for 10 minutes. Just enough time to see a Chimney Swift exit the west chimney!
Both chimneys on the Orange Block building in Brandon were monitored on August 4th. Gillian and Gwyn Richards watched the north chimney. They had two birds leave the chimney at 8:53 pm and 9:10 pm respectively and then one bird go down for the night at 9:26 pm. Glennis Lewis took up her usual post on the west chimney. She had three swifts using the chimney for the night – possibly fledging or was there an extra swift at the chimney? It is hard to definitively tell at this site because two groups of swifts are using chimneys and possibly moving between them. Let’s see what is found out next week!
Frank and Jacquie Machovec watched the three chimneys on the Otterburne Providence College on August 4th for the roosting period. They did not see the swifts using chimneys 550 and 551. Instead, all the action was in the skinny chimney (552) with five entries. The first was early at 8:30 pm, followed by a swift entering every couple of minutes from 9:04-9:11 pm.
Also on August 4th Ken Wainright in Dauphin reports that despite the smoke haze and light drizzle, the Dauphin group went out but with no swifts seen. They tried again with better weather on August 5th. Ken reports “The new chimney 2021-08 (Hong Kong Café) was watched for a half hour and had 2 parents with a helper come and go, while the nesting chimney 2018-15 was watched for an hour and had 6 in/out cycles in an hour, so active feeding at both locations is very evident. Still lots of bugs, no snow or frost in the forecast so there is still time before migration from here anyways.”
Garry Budyk spent 67 minutes monitoring at 722 Watt St on August 8th. He had only one entry at 9:00 pm, mentioning that the approach was very different than what he had seen previously this year. Garry said, “The approach was from a lower angle and involved a very brief stall above the rim and then down the chimney. The entries I’ve witnessed before this have been from a high angle and straight in. This entry looked exactly like the juvies I’ve seen going down in previous years … so where was the rest of the family?” A good question indeed Garry! He thought that perhaps they may have been in the chimney before he arrived due to the high temperature and humidity that evening. Another possibility is that the rest of the family was roosting in a nearby chimney, which does sometimes happen after fledging is complete.
On July 29th Vicky was joined by Stephanie Bahamon and Teegan Gillich in watching the chimney at Chief Peguis Junior High for an evening monitoring session. The week before I had watched this chimney and had two entries, however on the 29th the only swift sighted was one flying over. They did hear constant chittering east of the school, but did not see any other swifts nearby.
With the (comparably) cooler weather on August 4th Vicky decided to do a blitz of various chimneys in the Fort Rouge and Osborne neighbourhoods with mixed results. She started her morning with a brief stop at 245 Bell Street but found that the chimney had collapsed sometime between last year and this year. Needless to say, this was a quick stop and the chimney will be on our list of chimneys that could use repair.
The next stop was already better in that it had an intact chimney! She watched 351 River Ave for just under an hour and saw between 1-10 swifts periodically overhead before two swifts exited the chimney just before her monitoring time was finished.
As she was making her way to her next site, she didn’t get very far at all when suddenly she saw a swift fly out of 350 River Ave! A new site! So of course she stopped to watch this site. Vicky writes, “I was surprised this was a nesting chimney since the hole is so small! I wouldn’t have watched it if I didn’t see that first entry when I was passing by”. Over the course of an hour Vicky saw four quick ins n’ outs. Then saw an extra swift come out of the chimney, before a swift went down at the end of her session. As this chimney has not been monitored previously, we are not sure what stage the nesting is at (although it certainly looks like nesting from the number and timing of visits) so I cannot speculate on whether the exit by the additional bird was a parent in the chimney or a fledged nesting.
After that excitement Vicky moved on to her planned next site which was 395 River Ave. She saw no chimney use but did see between 1-7 swifts in the air over 60 minutes. Unfortunately, that set the tone for the rest of her day.
At 94 Roslyn Road and Augustine Church she saw two swifts in the air and none using the chimney. At 415 Stradbrook Ave she saw 3- 7 swifts in the air and none using the chimney. At 411 and 375 Stradbrook she saw between 3-19 swifts in the air but none using the chimney.
Lastly, I had an interesting report come in through our online Chimney Swift reporting form. Sister Peters reported that a Chimney Swift was previously hanging onto her window screen on Furby St. Of course, I emailed her back as this is quite the unusual event! She had been reading and heard a gentle “thump”, looked over and there was a swift! Her screens are on the outside of the window, and her best guess is that the swift hit the window (slightly cushioned by the bounce of the screen) and held on for a rest before flying off again. I am not sure what a swift was doing down so low. Perhaps it was a fledgling still learning the ropes?
- Amanda
