I covered part of our cold, cloudy and windy swift night on June 2nd in the last blog, but as we move into week three in this blog (focusing on June 5-11th) thankfully the weather becomes much more friendly for the swifts and swift monitors alike!
Outside of Winnipeg we have reports from quite a large variety of places this week. We will head off to Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Souris, St Francois Xavier, Swan River, Dauphin, St Jean Baptiste, La Broquerie, Lower Fort Garry, Otterburne and Carmen to see what the swifts (and monitors) were up to.
I was in Swan River the nights of June 6th and 7th and so watched the newly repaired chimney at 518 Main St. This chimney was observed to have swifts in 2020 by Ken de Smet, and was repaired by the MCSI team in 2021. Unfortunately, I did not spot any birds using the chimney (or in town) in 2021, and the same trend continued in 2022. In better news, the owner of 518 Main St was awarded our Chimney Swift Champion award last year – the first of our outdoor plaques, and it was a pleasure to see the plaque up on Main St. A big thanks to Sean Charlebois for his work with the Chimney Swift chimney and outreach through the plaque up right on Main St.!
As I was leaving Swan River last week, I was able to meet up for coffee with the group of volunteers who monitor in Dauphin. It was lovely to chat and break up the long drive to Winnipeg! Unfortunately, being mid-morning, I didn’t get the time to go chimney-watching though. However, I did get a treasure-trove of MCSI datasheets!
On June 3rd Jan and Ken Wainwright watched the roosting chimney in Dauphin. They started hearing, and then seeing, swifts flying about at 9:00 PM. The first Chimney Swifts entered the chimney at 10:09 PM. The swifts continued entering the chimney in small groups until 10:18 PM, with a total of 44 individuals in the chimney at the end of the monitoring session.
On June 5th Marilyn Muller and Pat Start monitored the Watson Arts Centre. They had two swifts down the chimney, with two more swifts seen overhead in the area.
Then on June 6th both Dauphin groups were out for the last of the National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) nights. This time Marilyn and Pat were at the roosting chimney. This time it seems the majority of Chimney Swifts had moved on, with only seven swifts entering by the end of the monitoring session, and a further six swifts seen overhead (likely belonging to other sites in Dauphin).
On the same evening Jan and Ken were watching the chimney at the Hong Kong Cafe. They noted “lots of mosquitos” on their data sheet, which I think most of us can emphasize with! They had two swifts down the chimney from 9:47-9:48 PM, with another four swifts seen overhead.
Frank and Jacquie Machovec were also out on June 6th watching the two chimneys on the St Joachim Church in a Broquerie (also for NRMP). At the small chimney, they saw one swift miss a chimney approach at 9:24 PM. It did not try again at this chimney. At the larger chimney there was an exit at 9:18 PM, followed by an entry a minute later, and then an exit again at 9:23 PM. At bit complicated overall! As far as observations tell us, there were no swifts in either chimney by the end of the monitoring period… Frank and Jacquie ended the monitoring period with question marks along each of spaces in the summary lines at the bottom of their data sheets, and I don’t blame them!
Last but not least, Providence College in Otterburne was watched on June 6th for NRMP night by Ron Bazin. There are three chimneys at this site, and each one had quite a bit of activity! The chimney near the bell tower had an early entry and exit (8:39 PM and 8:42 PM respectively). Followed by four entries almost an hour later.
The large chimney on site had almost consistent use from 8:30 PM onwards. There were two earlier entries/ exits by one swift, before three swifts entered at 9:40 PM. There was one exit shortly after at 9:41 PM, before the last activity of four entries from 9:52-10:04 PM. This is a total of six swifts in this chimney.
Last, but not least we have Ron’s observations from the skinny chimney. Here we also had swifts entering and exiting the chimney throughout the observation period, with two exits and seven entries. This chimney ended up with five swifts roosting in it at the end of the night.
Glennis Lewis watched the west chimney on the Orange Block building in Brandon on June 8th. She had two flybys by Chimney Swifts, but no birds enter the chimney.
The same night Gordon Ogilvie watched the chimney on the Red River College building in Portage la Prairie. He saw no signs of Chimney Swifts.
Mike and Michèle Tumber were also out on June 8th in St Francois Xavier at the Roman Catholic Church. They had the usual two swifts down the chimney, but the swifts went into the chimney at quite different times – the first entry at 9:18 PM and the second entry was at 9:55 PM.
Luc Blanchette monitored at the St Jean Baptiste church on June 8th for the roosting period. He had a total of four swifts using the chimney. The first three swifts entered the chimney in typical fashion, but it took the last swift almost 15 minutes of constantly circling the church and aborted dives at the chimney before it finally dropped in at 10:13 PM.
New volunteers Karla Guyn and Jim Devries monitored at the Fur Loft building at Lower Fort Garry on June 8th. This site was last monitored on May 28th when Gerald Machnee saw a swift enter the chimney, then exit, before no other swifts were observed at the site. Similar to Gerald, Karla and Jim saw one swift in the skies over the site at 8:40 PM, but it did not go down the chimney for the night. After several years of consistent use, it looks like the swifts might be giving this chimney a pass this year.
Tim Poole was able to stop by Souris for a 90-minute monitoring session on June 9th. He did his best to hop from chimney to chimney in town and try to cover as many sites as possible in that time period. However, the swifts were not so obliging! He had a possible (but not confirmed) exit from the Chocolate Shop chimney, and an exit from the chimney at 25 1st Avenue West – these are both possible nest sites. No confirmation of swifts using the other 5 possible nesting chimney sites. At the end of the night, he did get quite a show, with 16 Chimney Swifts heading down the chimney on the United Church.
Jacquie and Frank were out at the Carmen Memorial Hall on June 9th. Last time they checked in at this site (May 24th) there were three swifts using the chimney. This time there was a single entry at 9:36 PM, but three more swifts were seen overhead.
Lots of swift action was also taking place inside Winnipeg as well.
First, we will start with a couple earlier reports. Blair Reid observed 188 St Mary’s Rd for the roosting hour on June 2nd (the cold night). I am sure it is of no surprise to those who read the blog last week, that Blair saw no signs of swifts!
Breanne Reinfort was busy helping to monitor the Chimney Swifts at 424 River Avenue for the first week of monitoring, but in weeks two and three she headed out to the Maryland Foodfare to monitor the chimney there. As of June 1st, it looks like the swifts might be setting up for a nesting attempt based on their behavior. She had two swifts at the site, but additional entries and exits prior to the swifts going down the chimney for the night. There were two entries at 8:36 PM, and then exits at 8:51 PM and 8:52 PM. The swifts entered for the night at 9:38 PM. There were four other swifts seen in the air.
When Breanne monitored the following week she once again had two swifts using the chimney, but the only entries were when the swifts went down the chimney for the evening at 9:40 PM. Just to add in a little (not needed) spice into Breanne (and the swift’s) evening, a Merlin came and hung around the site! Luckily it moved on about 10 minutes later with no casualties.
Blair Ried watched 340 Provancher on June 5th, and saw no activity at the site. He did see one swift about two blocks away that same afternoon. So close, but no cigar (for the “flying cigars”) in the area.
To help puzzle together our knowledge of Wolseley-area Chimney Swifts, Nicole and Cain Firlotte watched the Fleetwood Apartment chimney on June 6th. They had two entries at 9:29 pm.
Garry Budyk monitored the Watt St chimney on June 6th as well, and also had a pair using the chimney. He had one entry at 9:14 PM by a swift who was “chattering” as it headed down the chimney, and then a silent entry at 9:24 PM.
Jon Benson monitored 634 Broadway on June 7th. Similar to Breanne’s site, Jon saw some extra entries and exits that may be indicative of nesting behaviour starting at this site – hard to confirm though as it also may have just been the swifts getting settled for the night. There were entries at 9:17 PM and 9:32 PM, with both swifts exiting the chimney at 9:49 PM. After a couple of minutes the two swifts were back down the chimney at 9:53 PM and 9:55 PM respectively.
Jeope Wolfe was also back in Wolseley at the Lothian Block Apartments on June 8th. Jeope noted “Very few sightings in the air tonight, a few distance audibles outside of visual range. At 9:08 PM and 9:15 PM three swifts were spotted, quite high… at 9:35 PM two swifts descended to the chimney and banked off at the last moment, then returned for entry at 9:37 PM”.
We had a great observation submitted by Gwen Armbuster, a new volunteer, on June 6th. She reported “Three Chimney Swifts were observed for over an hour flying very high covering quite a large area. They were chattering all of the time. I was sitting on a rooftop patio and had prime opportunity to observed. Around 9:30 they all went into the chimney at 139 Market Ave. I also observed this on June 3rd and June 4th.” Sounds like Gwen has the ideal swift viewing location! This is a site that we had not monitored yet this year, so this report to great to hear.
Peter Douglas watched the St Anne’s Church chimney in St James on June 1st and June 8th and saw no sights or sounds of Chimney Swifts.
Unknown to us, and to each other (I assume) on June 8th at 690 St Joseph Street both Jim Chliboyko and Blair Ried were watching for swifts. It gave us an excellent idea of their accuracy! Jim noted one swift enter the chimney at 9:26 PM, and Blair pegged the same swift heading down at 9:27 PM from his vantage point.
The saga continues for Blaire Barta at the Behavioral Health Foundation. You may recall from past blogs that Blaire has been seeing swifts on a regular basis during the day, but then they clear out at night. Well, it seems that they swifts have heard Blaire’s confusion and finally on June 8th they decided to start using the chimney! She had a total of five swifts overhead early in the monitoring period. At 9:38 PM she had one entry and just a minute later two more swifts entered the chimney. After that all was quiet and the remaining two swifts were not seen again. It is still anyone’s guess if the swifts are here to stay for the summer now, but at least Blaire finally saw them use the chimney!
Ron was back in Winnipeg for June 8th to monitor the Archibald Storage building’s chimney. He had three swifts enter the chimney starting at 9:38 PM and ending at 10:00 PM. Prior to the swifts heading down the chimney, he did not see them in the air above for most of the monitoring period, and no additional swifts were observed.
Gary Franzmann and Marj Kendall monitored for Chimney Swifts on June 8th at 1295 and 1181 Pembina Highway. They mentioned that it was a “beautiful evening” but unfortunately there were no swifts in sight.
Marilyn Bowles and Pam Lucenkiw monitored the chimney at the St Mary’s Road United Church. They did not see any birds that were 100% identified as Chimney Swifts (there were three birds high in the air, that looked more swallow-like). However, a neighbour to the church told them that they had seen two Chimney Swifts drop into the chimney several days later – so Marilyn and Pam are going to keep watching!
On June 9th Randy Mooi was watching the chimney at the Montessori School in South Point Douglas from 7:50-8:40 AM. He mentions “I saw no entries, but did have swifts come over the building, usually in pairs but occasionally as many as five birds about every five minutes”.
Tim Poole did some drive-by birding at the Moorgate Apartment on June 9th. He passed by at 12:45 pm on June 9th and saw one swift exit the chimney. This site was watched just a couple of days earlier (June 6th) during the last NRMP night by Linda Curtis, who saw three swifts go down the chimney for the night. It appears that this chimney is possibly both a roosting and a nesting site.
We’ve also got some updates from both Wildlife Branch staff and volunteers from the Old Grace Housing Co-op on the monitoring sessions that have been going on there. Monitoring took place on May 15th, May 20th, May 22nd, May 26th, May 28th, May 29th, May 31st, June 1st, June 2nd, June 3rd and June 9th. Despite starting to hear swifts on May 22nd, there have been no entries into their artificial chimney. The Fleetwood Apartment and Lothian Block Apartment are quite close to this site, so hopefully if these swifts can nest successfully this year, perhaps next year the fledged young would choose the Old Grace. A big thanks to Tim Poole, Aynsley Woods and Aditya Ghandi from the province and Doug Smith, Sandra Hardy, Francene Adelmann, Debbie Lake, Bonnie Thiessen and Glenn Morison from the Old Grace Coop!
That’s it for this monitoring round-up! See you next week with more update.
- Amanda Shave
