The Return of the Chimney Swifts & 2024 Monitoring Information
It’s official, the Chimney Swifts have returned! Three swifts were seen in the River Heights area of Winnipeg on May 6, according to an eBird report. In St Jean Baptiste, Luc reported observations of one swift on May 7 and May 8, and three swifts on May 9 (eBird). On May 8, Barb went on a swift quest in St Adolphe and found a group of 5 Chimney Swifts, feeding low over the town sky. Also on May 8, two swifts were spotted in St Agathe (eBird). On May 9 there was another report of a swift in Winnipeg, this time heard over Assiniboine Park (eBird). Keep reporting those sightings!
Just a reminder thatour volunteer appreciation/season kick-off event is happening next week on Tuesday, May 14at Assiniboine Park! You can find all the details on this exciting event in last week’s blog post. Please RSVP on Eventbrite at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mcsi-volunteer-appreciation-season-kick-off-night-tickets-895479823257
Alright, time to get into monitoring gear!
2024 Monitoring Information
You can now find the datasheet and protocol for 2024 on the ‘Resources and Links’ page of our website. The protocol is where you will find full monitoring instructions, including start/end times, duration, safety information, instructions on how to fill out the datasheet, etc. In the protocol, we also go over the differences between roost hour monitoring and daytime nest monitoring, and what type of monitoring is best based on the time of year.
Here are some key pieces of information:
- New this year, we are asking all volunteers to fill out our Volunteer Sign-up Form.
- Volunteers can choose the schedule and frequency that works for them. Whether you are available to monitor once, twice, or more, the data you collect is valuable.
- The MCSI coordinator can help match you with a site to monitor based on your location, availability, and desired time commitment.
- The National Chimney Swift Roost Survey dates for 2024are May 22, May 26, May 30, and June 3. If you’re free to monitor a roost site on any of these dates, let us know.
- We will be holding a few monitoring ‘blitzes’ throughout the season. The goal of these scheduled blitzes is to monitor as many sites as possible on a given night.
- Our June monitoring blitz will be on Wednesday, June 19. If you are free to participate, let us know!
Like last year, we have a list of priority sites to monitor. These priority sites are chimneys that are currently protected but haven’t had confirmed use by swifts in a few years. We want to reaffirm these sites as important Chimney Swift habitat, by checking if Chimney Swifts are using these sites to roost and/or nest. We will match volunteers to these sites based on their availability and location. In an upcoming blog post, we will share our full list of priority sites, and do a deep dive on what these priority sites are.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions, and don’t forget to fill out our volunteer sign-up form (for both new and returning volunteers): MCSI Volunteer Sign-up Form – 2024 (google.com)
Thank you, dear volunteers! We are deeply appreciative of your support and truly couldn’t do this without you.
Happy Swift-ing!
-Marissa
