Another week closes, and some big news from St Adolphe in our weekly update. Yes, we have swifts hatching this week! We also have some updates from around the province, from Lockport, St Francois Xavier and Neepawa among others.
Usually we end with St Adolphe, and Barbs weekly update, but this time it is really important to at least open with part of the update as Barb gives a terrific explanation of what is actually happening in the chimney right now:
‘Here is a reminder of some Chimney Swift biology to help you track activity at your nest sites:
- Hatching Day = Day 1 of feeding.
- Feeding brooded young lasts for 6-7 days; typically, 2 entry/exit cycles are seen in an hour. Last week Tim referenced brooding = the warming of young in the nest by adults. When the juveniles can regulate their own temperature, both adults can head out to forage…that is when the chimney will be “unattended”, reflecting the next stage of nesting.
- Feeding non-brooded young occurs between Day 6-7 and Day 28-30. Feeding rates are often 3-4 times per hour, or more, if a locally abundant food patch is present. Watch for longer duration-in intervals, = turnaround times, now that the same swift enters and leaves. The between-visit intervals are now going to be shorter than those seen in the feeding brooded young stage.
- At Day 28-30, the juveniles take their first flights outside the chimney as fledglings.
- Fledglings use the natal chimney for resting and are still fed there for a few days. However, daytime use of the chimney declines markedly over the first week post-fledging as the youngsters gain flight proficiency and become independent feeders.
- Roosting by the family group at the natal chimney will continue until pre-migratory groups come together in August.’
Now to that St Adolphe update:
CLUB AMICAL
On Monday July 1, between 10:10 – 11:30 AM, the SE pair had 2 entry/exit cycles; 1 minute duration-in interval; 41 minute between-visit interval; 1 minute duration-in interval.
The NE pair had a 30 minute between-visit interval and a long, 37 minute duration-in interval.
Hatching was indicated at both sites.
BRODEUR BROS.
Classic incubation exchanges were first seen Sunday, June 30. Hatching is likely to occur within the next 7 days.
CHURCH
Friday, June 28; 9:55 – 10:55 AM: 1 entry/exit cycle with a 2 minute duration-in interval; repeated approaches low to rim before flying off = “peer ‘n’ veers”. SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING.
Sunday, June 30; 11:15 – 12:15: 2 entry/exit cycles; intervals = 2 minute duration-in, 30 minutes between-visit, 8 minutes duration-in. WOW – HATCHING WAS INDICATED.
Wednesday, July 3; 12:00 – 1:00 PM:
12:14:51 entry
12:22:59 exit (8 minute duration-in interval)
12:25:08 entry ( ~2 minute between-visit interval)
12:33:32 exit (8 minute duration-in interval)
The sequence and timing of the entry/exit events indicated the site was unattended – the breeding pair were feeding non-brooded young! The peer ‘n veer events of Friday telegraphed hatching.
MAIN ST.
As of July 3, incubation is still underway and hatching is expected any time now.
In summary, as of July 3, all 5 nest sites in St Adolphe were active and 3 stages of nesting were evident. The SE and NE Club sites had brooded young while the Church site had non-brooded young (Day 6). Incubation was progressing at Main St and Brodeur Bros.
While some classic incubation exchanges and typical unattended site activity have been seen, there have been long stretches of disturbingly low activity. It is another hot, dry summer and airborne insects may be limiting. We welcome some rain and the ripening of food sources. There are many beaks to fill in the nests now!’
So there we have it, we have swifts hatching, and even more interesting, we already have non-brooded young.
Next we head to a brilliant effort in Osborne Village from Barbara and Phil. This area has long been crying out for a couple of locally based volunteers, and in 2019, we finally have two dedicated and skilled people in the area. Here is their report from the week:
‘Catch-up time in Osborne Village! Fresh from our contribution to Toronto’s CHSW data, we needed to catch up on watching in our neighbourhood.
You’ll see that both the Clarke site, and the Royal Oak apartments on River each had one entry, which I assume means that there is a nesting pair in the chimney.
I did a day-time watch at the Biltmore (395 River), and was rewarded with an almost immediate entry/exit. The 30% chance of showers changed to 100% rain, and since I came out without a jacket, I cut the watch short after the trees no longer provided shelter.
I moved on to 118 Scott in the afternoon, and while there was some overhead activity, there was no activity in the chimney. I did have a great conversation with a local resident who was very interested.
In the evening I watched 351River (Rosemount Apartments) for the first time. One entry there. Phil watched 6 Roslyn (same back lane) which is not on the data base. No activity there, but he had a better overhead view of the area, so saw the birds that I could only hear. ‘
An excellent update, and we have covered almost every known site in that area thanks to Barbara and Phil!
Mavis has also been watching in this area as she can see one of the 424 River chimneys form her apartment (in keeping with these chimneys, she can only see one):
‘Although I’ve been watching and recording a few times, I have yet to see any Swifts enter the chimney that I can see. I see them fly around it, but haven’t seen them go into it. They are so fast that I can’t guarantee they aren’t going in – just that I’m not seeing them go in. There are up to 6 Swifts that I see flying, but mostly 4 when I am watching.’
Next to the Kildonans. Frank led a group to West Kildonan/the North End on Wednesday and returned with this, slightly damp, swiftless report:
‘Lewis Cocks, Jacquie and I went in search of swifts in the North End.Temperature was only 18C, and there was a noticeable absence of bugs at both sites we checked.
At the chimney at 123 Matheson Ave E (Etz Chayim Congregation), no swifts were seen or heard.
At the two smaller chimneys at 50 Mac (Seven Oaks House Museum), Lewis had two high fly-bys but no entries were recorded.
We curtailed observations at sunset due to rain.’
The following evening, Tim had an absolutely banker of a new site, the Immaculate Conception Parish on Austin Street in North Point Douglas. He had previously taken a couple of excursions in this neighbourhood during June and noted that there were swifts around this chimney. Surely then a new site was guaranteed to be confirmed? Well, apart from a couple of late high flyers, the evening ended in dark disappointment as no swifts were spotted using the chimney. An odd evening given that the chimney looked very impressive! Tim did though have better luck on a brief excursion on Saturday evening:
‘I went to buy ice cream just now, and as you do, I tracked a swift into a new location in a private house opposite the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre.’
On Thursday, Lynnea and Adam decided to do a multi-site check. They watched the Roxy Lanes on Henderson for 20 minutes but eventually got annoyed looking at pigeons on the chimney (they were later advised to watch tight, as they may have seen said pigeons getting dive-bombed). The moved onto the Valhalla chimney and were rewarded with an exit. Onwards to Archiibald Storage and 2 entries. The roll thus ended at the Niakwa Plaza on Archibald as it was probably a little late by the time they arrived. Zero swifts noted here.
Blair had tried a new site in St Boniface as well, this time on the 2nd:
‘This week I checked out a new chimney at 381 De La Cathedrale.. Although, it looked like a good 3.5 by 5 brick chimney to me, no swift activity was observed on this evening.’
On Canada Day, Gerald had a great evening at Lockport. There were 6 entries and 1 exit on one chimney at the Manitenance Compound and 2 entries at the other.
In St Francois Xavier we received this Wednesday report:
‘Mike was on his own this evening for monitoring night and he was very excited to report something very interesting when he got home. For the first time this year, he witnessed 4 swifts enter the chimney to roost for the night. We had seen 4 in the air before but we were under the impression that only one pair was using this chimney….seems we were wrong about that. The first one entered at 9:32pm followed by a pair together 12 minutes later then the last one 1 minute after that. No exits were witnessed this evening.’
Gord in Portage la Prairie lucked out on Wednesday, with zero swift activity at Olina’s and the MTS Building.
Back to Tuesday, and Tim was in Neepawa this time during the morning:
‘I was in Neepawa earlier. Spent 80 minutes at the hospital and got one sighting. Elusive! I then headed across town, found a pair low flying low over the Safeway parking lot. They were still taking nesting material from a tree. At one point it looked like there were several swifts in the air. Unfortunately I did not find where they took the nesting material. Lots of private houses south of the highway which look good.’
This is still proving a challenge – getting a swift to fly into a chimney in Neepawa!
Keep the reports coming. Next Wednesday, we are looking for any volunteers who fancy a trip down the highway to Emerson. Please email us if you are interested in helping to find swifts in the south.
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
