Start of Summer Monitoring Updates
Hi folks! Here’s a summary of what’s been going on in the Chimney Swift world the past few weeks, including an update on our priority sites. At the end of this blog, you will find an updated list of which priority sites still need to be monitored.
Let’s start with Winnipeg. Aynsley, our program assistant, has spent time this past week checking out different priority sites around Winnipeg to check for any use by Swifts. On June 21, she visited Valhalla Gardens in North Kildonan and while she saw 2 Swifts hanging around, she did not observe any entries or exits. On June 22, she visited 3 sites on River Ave in Osborne. While she did not observe any entries or exits at 444 River Ave and 280 River Ave, she did observe 1 entry and 1 exit at 277 River Ave which means that site is now confirmed to be used by Swifts and is crossed off our priority list to monitor.
On June 13, Gwen, Pam and Marilyn checked out the chimney at 139 Market Ave. They observed a group of up to 6 swifts flying around before sunset. At 9:06pm, 2 Swifts flew into the chimney. On June 16, Doug and Francene monitored at the Old Grace Housing Co-op but did not see any Swifts. Jon has been monitoring the chimney at 634 Broadway, and has observed a pair of Chimney Swifts regularly using this chimney. Garry has been watching the chimney at 722 Watt Street. On June 18, he observed 1 entry 54 minutes into his monitoring session. The Swift still had not exited by the time he wrapped up his monitoring session 15 minutes later. Over at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, there is a pair nesting in the artificial tower.
We’ve had a few pairs of eyes in the sky in the St Boniface area. Blair has visited several priority sites, and while he did not see any activity at 865 Tache Ave on June 21, 531 St Mary’s Rd on June 20, and 864 Marion St on June 16, he did observe a pair using the chimney at 847 Marion on June 20! That means another priority site is crossed off our list.
Blair has also been monitoring his ‘usual’ sites in St Boniface. Between June 11-14th, he observed a pair of Swifts using the chimney at all 3 of the following sites: Kaljieb Electrics (690 St Joseph St), Springs Christian Academy (261 Youville St), and Nelson McIntyre Collegiate (188 St Mary’s Rd).
Also in St Boniface, Alyssa noticed 5 Swifts overhead on June 8 while walking on Provencher Blvd so decided to investigate and watch the chimney at 690 St Joseph St. On June 9, she observed 2 Swifts entering this chimney and even caught a video of the entrance, supporting Blair’s observations at this site.
On June 19, Frank also checked out 531 St Mary’s Rd (Riverside Billiards), and like Blair, did not observe any Swift activity. He did however note that the chimney at this location is a nice brick one and is located across from the Red River, seemingly a lovely place to reside! Where are ya, Swifts?! Maybe the rent is too high… Those waterfront views aren’t cheap, even in the bird world it seems!
Frank also monitored Paramedic Fire Station No. 9, another St Boniface priority site, on June 22. He observed 2 Swifts entering the chimney, thus crossing another site off our list! Thanks, Frank.
On June 17, Tim had a day full of various Swift encounters. He observed an exit at the chimney at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate (where Blair has also observed activity), as well as an exit at the Good News Fellowship. Next was a stop at 424 River Ave – Interestingly, he observed 41 exits between 10:57 and 11:00 am. Not too far from there at the Donald and River Ave intersection, he observed a Swift making several attempts to grab twigs off a tree. The next day on June 18, he observed an exit from the old Rexall Pharmacy on Pembina.
Down in St. Adolphe, Barb and Rob report that all 5 nest sites were still active as of June 20th. Here’s an update from Barb with the specific of what she’s been seeing, to give you an idea of what kind of information she takes note of to determine what stage of nesting the Swifts are at: ‘The Church and Main St pairs have had classic incubation exchanges = the best indication of incubation; the NE club pair generally have >50% attendance & I’ve seen one partner exchange <10 min between an in/out, so they are moving along the continuum; the SE club and Brodeur pairs are still <50% attendance, so can’t call them incubating yet.’
Ron was able to spend some time monitoring in Melita on June 20. He noticed 6 Swifts in the air over the legion, and later did see 1 Swift enter the Legion Hall chimney as well as 1 Swift entering the chimney at 80 Ash Street (which is a new site). He also spent some time monitoring at the Antler River Historical Society Museum but did not observe any entries or exits.
In Brandon, the monitoring team of Louanne, Glennis, Sandy, and Gwynn and Gillian have been keeping an eye on the Orange Block building. On May 31, they observed 3 Swifts enter the North chimney. On June 7, there were no Swifts around, but this may be due to a thunderstorm earlier that evening. On both June 14 and June 21, 2 Swifts entered the North chimney. In addition to the monitoring at the Orange Block, we’ve received a few reports of Swifts observed in the airspace above Brandon. Kurt saw 1 Swift flying near 930 Victoria Ave East on May 30. Tim was in Brandon June 13-14, and noted at least 5 Swifts near the armoury in Brandon, as well as 4 Swifts around the new era school. These sightings by Tim suggest that the Orange Block is not the only site used by Swifts in Brandon. If you’re ever in Brandon, keep an eye out for Swifts and any possible Swift chimneys!
Moving northeast from Brandon, we’ve gotten exciting reports of Swift activity in Neepawa! On June 15th, Tim observed 2 Swifts entering the chimney at the Neepawa hospital, which is the first confirmed use of a chimney in this community. Kurt also observed 3 Swifts in the air in Neepawa on June 7 – his observation was near the Legion.
Gerald has been keeping us up to date on the many happenings over at Lower Fort Garry, Lockport and Selkirk.
Gerald was at Lower Fort Garry on June 12, and in addition to counting the chimneys (a whopping 15 chimneys were visible from his standpoint), he also remembered to count the Swifts! He noted several entries and exits by a pair of Swifts. At the Men’s House, he noted one exit at 8:15 pm, followed by an entrance at 8:34pm. Gerald returned to Lower Fort Garry on June 21. At around 8:40 pm, he saw 2 Swifts circling around the Men’s House. Gerald saw 1 Swift enter, but lost sight of the other one because of three cyclists passing by. Fortunately, Gerald’s video camera was on and upon review of the footage, Gerald was able to determine that the second Swift entered the chimney as well. At the Fur Loft, Gerald observed two exits, and ten minutes later observed an entry followed by another entry.
A man of many talents, Gerald took the opportunity to do some Chimney Swift outreach while at Lower Fort Garry. He briefed several cyclists and pedestrians on the Swifts, and even handed out some pamphlets – Thanks Gerald! If anyone else would like some factsheets/brochures to have on hand to hand out during monitoring sessions, please let me know and I will gladly get you some outreach materials!
As for Lockport, on June 15th, the monitoring crew composed of Fred and Nettie, and Tim noted 1 entry into the South chimney, and 3 entries into the North chimney. On June 19th, Winona and Sandi observed no entries into the South chimney, and one entry into the North chimney.
In Selkirk on June 13th, Gerald observed 2 entries into the apartment building at 361 Main St. A few days later on June 16th, Gerald checked 2 other sites in Selkirk, including 241 Manitoba Ave and one of our priority sites, The Lord Selkirk Hotel (420 Main St). While there was no Swift activity at 241 Manitoba Ave, Gerald did observe 1 Swift enter the Lord Selkirk Hotel chimney, crossing this site off our priority list. Woohoo! Also in Selkirk, Winona observed 1 entry into the Merchant’s Hotel on June 17th.
The Selkirk Mental Health Centre has been busy, as usual. On June 13th, Winona observed 2 entries into T01, Pattie and Dennis observed 3 entries into T02, Robert observed 1 entry into the infirmary chimney and 1 entry into T03, and Nia and Linda observed 2 entries into the yellow brick chimney and 1 entry into T04. On June 19th, Gerald noted 2 entries into T01, Pattie and Dennis reported 1 exit followed by 3 entries into T02, Robert noted 2 entries, then 1 exit, then 2 more entries into the infirmary chimney and 2 entries into T03, and Nia and Linda saw 1 entry into T04 and 3 entries into the Yellow Brick chimney.
Over in the Portage La Prairie area, Gordon watched the Rufus Prince Building on June 8 and observed 11 entries and 1 exit. Not far from Portage near Southport, Carrie reported 2 Chimney Swifts in her yard on June 16th which is her first sighting in this area in nearly 5 years! The nearest breeding chimney is in Southport, about 3 km away.
In Steinbach, Frank spent some time watching the hospital on June 13. Here’s what he saw, in Frank’s words: “The good news is that three CHSW were visually and vocally in the area, but I did not see any entries. On three occasions, I saw CHSW so close to the chimney that I initially thought they were rapid entries or exits. At 21:31 one CHSW veered away from the left chimney vent at the last possible instant (and apparently never returned).”
Up in The Pas, Joel has reported lots of activity. On June 2nd, he saw 4 Swifts over Bignell Ave, with 2 Swifts gathering twigs before disappearing. On June 9th, he saw 2 Swifts over Bignell. On June 16th, he saw 1 Swift enter the Frontier Apartments building, at the corner of 3rd and Ross Ave. Later that day, he saw 2 Swifts fly over the Wescana, not far from Via Rail.
Alright, to sum that up… With the help of you incredible volunteers, since our last update we’ve managed to confirm use by Chimney Swifts at an additional 4 priority sites, including 420 Main Street in Selkirk (Lord Selkirk Hotel), and 3 sites in Winnipeg: 277 River Ave (Royal Oak Court Apartments), 864 Marion St (Fire Paramedic Station No. 9), 847 Marion St (formerly EuroCraft Office Furnishings). That brings us to a total of 7 confirmed priority sites this year!
If you need a refresher on our priority site monitoring plan, check out last week’s blog post. Here’s an updated list of our priority sites to monitor for the summer, with these newly confirmed sites crossed off the list:
| Settlement | Neighbourhood | Location | Site | Observer |
| Manitou | . | 338 Hamilton St | St Andrews United Church | |
| Morden | 325 Stephen St | Pembina Hills Art Centre | ||
| Gerald Machnee | ||||
| The Pas | . | 380 Hazelwood Ave | VIA Rail Station | |
| Wasagaming | 106 Buffalo Dr | |||
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 222 York Ave | Brink’s Canada | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 222 York Ave | Brink’s Canada | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 803 Erin St | Elan Designs and Upholstery | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 520 William Ave | Living Gospel Church | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 520 William Ave | Living Gospel Church | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 33 Kennedy St | Lincoln Towers Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 100 Adelaide St | Immigrant Centre Building | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 348 Assiniboine Ave | Redboine Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 91 Albert Str | The Old Market Autonomous Zone | |
| Winnipeg | Daniel McIntyre | 239 Colony St | The Florida | |
| Winnipeg | East Kildonan/Elmwood | 325 Talbot Ave | Riverwood Church Community Firehall | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Garry | 1022 Pembina Hwy | Cambridge Hotel | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 411 Stradbrook Ave | Lancaster Apartment | |
| Aynsley Woods | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 105 Clarke St | My Place Realty | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 272 Cockburn St | King George Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 118 Scott St | Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 280 River Ave | Moxam Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 245 Bell Ave | Children’s Education Funds Inc | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 834 Grosvenor Ave | Eugene Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | 444 River Ave | Augustine United Church | |
| Winnipeg | North End | 935 Main St | Ukrainian National Federation | |
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 25 Valhalla Dr | Valhalla Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | 465A Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | 465D Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | 1055 Grant Ave | Grant Wilton Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | 890 McMillan Ave | Milan Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 1310 Archibald St | Niakwa Park Plaza | |
| Blair Reid | ||||
| Frank Machovec | ||||
| Blair Reid | ||||
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 99 Birchdale Ave | Nordale School | |
| Winnipeg | St James | 2160 Portage Ave | Stanley Park Apartments | |
| Amanda Shave | ||||
| Amanda Shave | ||||
| Winnipeg | St James | 2415 Portage Ave | Essex House, pest cage | |
| Winnipeg | St Vital | 531 St Mary’s Rd | Riverside Billiards |
As always, please let me know if you’ve got any questions or feedback! You can reach me (Marissa) at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com.
Stay cool out there, and happy swift-ing!
-Marissa
