Month: July 2021

Hello all! This week we are reporting on volunteers who conducted monitoring sessions last week (or earlier). It has been a busy time in volunteers getting their monitoring sheets to me, so we have quite a bit to cover this blog. Before we get started with last week, I would like to give a quick update on where the nesting swifts you monitor may be at. As you may know, Barb Stewart watches nesting chimneys in St Adolphe very carefully, and is able to estimate the age of the chicks in successful nests there as a rough road mark for the possible timing for other sites in Manitoba. On Tuesday the chicks in the Main St nest chimney were around 21 days old. Between 19-21 days old is when the chicks can start leaving the nest itself and start clinging (and climbing) the chimney walls. If you are a homeowner with chicks in your chimney, you may notice at this time that they get much louder and/or you hear the sound differently as the chicks may be closer (or further) from your fireplace as they move about.

And now onto the reports! We had volunteers monitoring in Dauphin, Carman, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry, Selkirk and Winnipeg last week.

A NEW SITE in Dauphin was identified last Friday! You think you know where your neighbourhood swifts are? Think again! The swift is a mysterious bird and a volunteer from Dauphin was able to tip Ken Wainwright off that swifts were using the Hong Kong Café chimney. Ken and Jan went down to take a look and said, “Almost immediately we had a swift exit the chimney. About 12 minutes later first one, then a second swift returned to go down the chimney and within about two minutes they both exited just as fast. It would appear they are very actively feeding young in this chimney”.

Frank and Jacquie Machovec monitored at the Carman Memorial Hall on July 21^st. They had three entries for the night. The first was earlier at 8:43 PM, followed by two entries at 9:17 PM. They also noted “No group flying or vocalizations were noted during the monitoring period, unlike in past visits”.

Last week we had the monitoring report on July 14^th for the west chimney on the Orange Block building in Brandon from Glennis Louis, and this week we have the corresponding report for the north chimney on the same building from Louanne Reid (along with Kathryn Hyndman and Gillian Richards). Louanne saw three Chimney Swift entries, one at 8:47 PM, one at 9:18 PM and one at 9:30 PM. I had a good chuckle at one of her report comments (8:43 PM – a fly…too many legs!). I have had this same thought earlier this year when I poorly chose a monitoring spot that had spiders nearby!

Louanne, Gillian and Gwynn were back at the Orange Block building north chimney on June 21^st, 2021 for a 100-minute monitoring session. This time they had one exit at 8:59 PM (so they would have started the session with a swift in the chimney) and an entry at 9:46 PM. Louanne had heard a mystery squawking/ begging bird during the beginning of her monitoring period when she was there alone. Once Gillian and Gwynn showed up with binoculars, they were able to figure out it was a Peregrine Falcon making the noises – perhaps why there was less Chimney Swift activity around the chimney this time? Ariel noticed a similar lack of Chimney Swift activity around a site near the Legislative Building in Winnipeg that also had a Peregrin around last week.

At the same time Glennis was monitoring the Orange Block west chimney again. She had solid string of entries and exits from two swifts from 9:19 PM almost every couple of minutes until 9:46 PM when both birds were in the chimney for the rest of her monitoring period. She ended up with four entries and two exits that evening.

Cal Cuthbert and William Rideout watched the Trinity Church large chimney in Portage la Prairie for 45 minutes starting at 9 AM on June 23^rd. They had two swifts go down the chimney with a flyover afterwards by one more swift.

Almost a month later Gordon Ogilvie and Janice Madill watched the large chimney on the Trinity Church for the roosting hour and had two entries, one at 9:35 PM and the other at 9:42 PM.

Gerald Machnee watched the southeast building chimney at Lower Fort Garry on July 20^th for a 90 minute period that included daytime monitoring and part of the roosting hour. He had an entry, followed by an exit at 8:30 PM and 8:31 PM respectively, and another entry at 9:11 PM and no more action by the time he ended his monitoring session at 9:40 PM.

At the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound on July 21^st, 2021 Winona Hook and Tim Verbiwski saw quite a bit of activity with entries and exits into the chimney. At the north chimney they started the monitoring period with two exits, followed by three entries over about 30 minutes. Then an exit, and entry and another exit within two minutes. From 9:00 PM onward they saw four more entries and one exit – leaving them with five birds in the chimney at the end of the monitoring period. At the south chimney they have an entry followed by an exit at 8:30 PM with two swifts then entering the chimney for the night, one at 8:34 PM and the other 50 minutes later.

In Selkirk Ray Peebles and Sybil Finnson monitored from 9:00-10:00PM at 367 Main St on July 15th. No swift activity was seen.

The rest of the Selkirk group was also monitoring on July 21^st at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and in town. Gerald Machnee and Robert Hempler watched the Big Stack replacement tower (2021-T04), the east tower (2021-T02), the west tower (2021-T01), the infirmary attached tower (2021-T03) and the infirmary chimney (2014-2). See last week’s blog for a map of the site!

There were no entries or exits in the east, west or stack replacement towers – just 1-2 swifts in the air around 9:00 PM. The infirmary attached tower had a quick entry, followed by an exit, followed by an entry all at 9:30 PM, and then a last exit at 9:45 PM – so no one actually spent the night there. There was the usual feeding pattern happening at the infirmary chimney, with many entries and exits happening from 8:26- 9:25 PM. The last entry was a 9:25 PM.

Nia Massey and Linda Adie were watching the Yellow Brick chimney at the Mental Health Centre. They also had entries and exits every 5-10 minutes – which is unusual for this chimney. There was no daytime action here previously to suggest nesting use (or even consistent roosting use). The chimney ended up with two swifts at the end of the monitoring period. Hopefully time will tell us what is going on here!

Moving on now to Winnipeg…

From earlier in the year (June 8^th) James Chliboyko watched the 424 River Ave roost in the Osborne Village. He was there from 9:30-10:00 PM but counted all the 100 entries between 9:30 and 10:00 PM. He noted it was hard to get a count – makes total sense!

On June 9^th Ward and Marlene Waldron also observed the roost at 424 River Ave for just over an hour. They counted 193 swifts entering the roost. Ward and Marlene also spent just over an hour around sunset watching the two Arundel Apartment buildings on June 12th. They observed one bird go down the chimney at 780 Elizabeth St and two birds head down the chimney at 790 Elizabeth St.

For an incidental report, I had a phone call from Judy Anderson – who had been walking near Augustine United Church near sunset on July 11th, and estimate 35 Chimney Swifts flying to and fro, but said there easily could have been 3-4 times that amount. Not surprisingly she decided to hang out and watch them for a while! It is likely she was seeing some of the swifts from the 424 River Avenue roost.

While not actually monitoring Tim Poole caught an entry at 277 River (Royal Oak Apartments) on July 18^th while getting into his vehicle! He had previously noted around six swifts flying over the area.

On July 18-20^th Phil and Barbara Barnett did a great blitz of daytime monitoring at most of our known Chimney Swift sites in the Osborne Village area. On the morning of July 18^th Barbara watched the Royal Oak Apartments for an hour. At 9:16 AM and 9:18 AM she caught two entries, followed by two exits at 9:26 AM. Then a surprise third exit at 9:42 AM! After that two swifts went down the chimney close together again (9:51 AM and 9:52 AM) and then left at the same time again (9:55 AM). At 9:56 AM there were three swifts overhead, which matches with the number of swifts she saw using the chimney. Were the pair of swifts practicing, hoping that synchronized chimney entries/ exits would be included in this year’s summer Olympics?! Just kidding, but it looks like there is a feeding pattern happening, perhaps with a helper swift on site.

On July 19^th Phil watched the Biltmore Apartments and Barbara watched the Rosemount Apartments (both on River Avenue) during the morning for an hour. Neither spotted any swifts using the chimneys but Barbara had between 4-12 swifts overhead and Phil had between 1-3 swifts overhead.

To wrap up their blitz on the morning of July 20^th Phil watched 105 Clarke St and Barbara watched 141 River Ave (west chimney). Phil saw two swifts flying west, but no chimney use. Barbara had an entry at 9:45 AM and an entry at 9:56 AM. She also had a swift fly out briefly at 9:58 AM which circled briefly but headed right back down the chimney.

On July 21^st Tim visited the chimney on the Scarsdale Apartments (downtown Winnipeg) from 8:40- 9:26 PM and saw further behavior that looked like nesting was happening (which Ariel also observed last week). He assumed there was a swift in the chimney when he arrived, as his first sighting was an entry, followed by two exits. Two swifts were down the chimney when he left. He also took a quick pit stop at the 424 River roost on his way home and counted only 13 swifts there – but also mentioned that he was there a little later than ideal and only for a short time.

I conducted a monitoring session at Chief Peguis School in Winnipeg on July 21st. It was an early night for the swifts – I arrived during the “daytime” monitoring period (i.e. the 30 minutes before the roosting period started) to see if there was any evidence of nesting. However, instead two swifts went down the chimney early at 8:47 PM for the night. Luckily, I had a bit more entertainment for the night when five more swifts flew overhead before heading off to the south (where there are other known Chimney Swift chimneys).

On July 23^rd Blair Reid monitoring Nelson McIntyre Colligate during the daytime for 90 minutes and saw no Chimney Swift action. As he thought this meant that the swifts could be using the site for roosting only, he also went back the next night during roost monitoring time, but once again, no swifts showed up.

Thank you to all the volunteers for hanging in their for us during the week of hot and smoky weather! Stay safe with your Chimney Swift monitoring and have a great August long weekend!

• Amanda Shave

Hello and good day! It sure was a hot week for chimney Swift watching. From what I have found out, this extreme heat wave was from a climate phenomenon called a heat dome. It basically comes from the build up of hot air coming from the ocean. That air, like a moving cloud, hovers over the country. You could think of it like a pressure cooker, where the heat waves are trapped under the lid. Despite the hot temperature, I spent most of my weekend outdoors with my family. I hope everyone else had something to distract yourselves from the heat, like some chimney monitoring!

In this week’s blog, we have data from Selkirk, Brandon, Lockport, Lower Fort Garry, St. Jean-Baptiste, Souris and Carman.

We start the blog with Amanda! Amanda has quite a bit of collected data. She was out at the St Jean-Baptiste Parish Church on June 11 for an abbreviated daytime monitoring session. There were no Swifts but other aerial insectivores (Purple Martins and Tree Swallows) were seen. On June 14, Amanda watched the Mount Royal Apartments and the Silver Heights FoodFare chimneys (both can be seen from the same spot) during the roosting period. At the Mount Royal apartments in Winnipeg there were four Swifts flying in the vicinity with four entries and two exits. In the end, two Swifts remained in the chimney. At the Silver Heights Foodfare location, there were a total of 6 entries between the two Swifts, with two using the chimney for the night. Skipping to the morning of June 23^rd at Lower Fort Garry, we had one exit at a chimney and no entries after 90 minutes. Two Swifts were accounted for in the air.

Amanda was out near Souris and Melita last week doing early morning grassland bird surveys, and so checked out some of our southwestern Chimney Swift sites with 20 minute daytime monitoring sessions. First up is Souris. On June 25, there was one entry at a private residence on 5^th Ave West and one entry at the Chocolate Shop Restaurant. There were no entries at the Rock Shop, Lagasse Art Studio and the Whistling Donkey Pub that day. On the 26^th, still in Souris, Amanda checked out the Kowalchuk’s Funeral Home and the Chocolate Shop Restaurant again. They both had no entries during those monitoring sessions, but the Whistling Donkey had one quick and quiet exit that was spotted as she walked back to her car. Souris has a fairly large swift population, with the chimneys (that we know of) clustered in an area around First St and Crescent Ave, so there were almost continually a couple of swifts overhead.

Next is early evening monitoring in Melita on June 30, each site again watched for about 20 minutes each. Amanda monitored at the Melita Legion where there was one entry and one to three Swifts flying overhead. The Agriculture building on Main St had was one entry as well. No entries at the hospital chimney but there was another quick and quiet exit. This site was tricky due to the abundance of Purple Martins! There were Martin houses put up next to the hospital and it was clear that it is an excellent spot for a variety of insectivorous birds. Next was Antler River Museum, with only sightings in the air. From our past data, the Museum appear to usually be a roost site (as opposed to a nest site), so it is not too surprising that no one entered during the daytime monitoring period. Unfortunately waking up at 4:00am for grassland bird surveys is not conducive to staying up after sunset for Chimney Swift work!

Despite the cows being excellent Chimney Swift monitors, no swifts were seen in this tiny chimney.

On June 12, we had Marlene and Ward watch the Arundel apartments. In the evening, there were two entries. One at 9:37, and then another ten minutes later. At its 2^nd chimney, it had one entry at 9:35.

Now we go over to the Selkirk Mental Health Hospital center, with its many chimneys! Starting with Tim on June 18^th, the infirmary tower had an exit, followed by an entry and another exit within 15 minutes. Perhaps nesting is occurring! The tower attached to the infirmary had no entries, but the large tower chimney had one entry and exit within two minutes. A total of seven Swifts were flying over the whole building.

We then hear from Robert for the night of June 23^rd, our final MCSI night. Two entries at the infirmary tower, zero Swifts from the tower attached to the infirmary, but a max of eight Swifts could be seen overhead.

On June 27, Nia and Linda watched the yellow brick chimney during the night. No Swifts entered the chimney, but there were two at the Stack tower that went in at the same time. One to five Swifts were overhead.

Gerald, Winona, and Robert also all watched the sites on the 27^th. First, over at the west chimney there were no entries. At the east chimney, no entries. The infirmary attached tower had one entry at 9:58 pm, and the infirmary chimney itself had two separate entries. Around four Swifts could be seen flying overhead the Hospital center.

Ray and Sybil over at 367 Main St. Selkirk, had three entries on the night of June 27^th. If I remember correctly, there were eight last week! I wonder where they went. 

Gerald staked out the Merchant’s Hotel on the night of the 29^th. There was one entry at 9:45 pm, and the swift stayed in the chimney for the rest of the monitoring period. Gerald also went to Lower Fort Garry in the afternoon and evening. The afternoon had two entries and one exit. The evening had one entry at 8:42. On the night of the 30^th, together with Tim, they watched the site in Lockport by the Lock and Dam Maintenance compound. The south chimney had three entries, and the north chimney had one.

 Backing up to June 22, we have Ron watching the St. Norbert RC Church for the evening. Three entries were made, all at different times. With an exit for each entry, except the last one.

On the morning of June 26, there was Ariel, who watched over at Kaljeb Logistics. There was one Swift entry at 1:49. There was a total of three flying overhead.

Frank and Jacquie visited Carman Memorial Hall for the evening of the 30^th. While unfortunately there was no Timmies on offer in Carmen they were able to make do (and even saw some swifts)! There was an entry and exit, within 20 minutes of each other. And then, four Swifts made entries right after 10 pm. Frank and Jacquie expect that there is at least one other site being used by Swifts in Carman. We have historical records of some residential chimneys being used in past years, so perhaps one of these sites is where the extra swifts are spending their time.

At Kaljeb Logistics on the 30^th, there were five entries during the daytime. Two Swifts entered at 10:20, then both left at 10:24. Again at 10:55, they entered and exited again at 11:12. After working in pairs, one Swift went solo, entering the Chimney and exiting again. The other Swift did not come back for the rest of the monitoring period.

Over in Lower Fort Garry, I was finally able to meet a fellow Swift watcher! I had the pleasure of meeting Leah on the 2^nd of July. Leah had stayed an extra hour after I left. This gives us a solid three hours worth of a single observation period. Starting with my info from 8:10, a Swift exited the false chimney and soon returned within four minutes. At 8:41, a Swift exited the chimney and came back at 9:56.  Leah caught a Swift making an entry at 10:54 and departing soon at 10:56. However, it could be possible that we missed some entries, since the bench was quite close to the Fur Loft chimney. I only ever watched Chimneys from a far distance, so it was very neat to see the entries and exits up close!

I also checked out a site in the morning of July 5. Over at the Eugene apartments, I thought I made out two entries. It was hard to tell, since the chimney is in the middle of the apartment building, but I saw the Swifts spreading their wings out and glide, like how they usually enter chimneys, so I am confident in the entries! Between one to six Swifts could be seen circling around the area.

In Brandon, we have Glennis, Gwynn and Gillian, who watched the Orange Block building chimney on July 4, in the morning. There were two entries in one of the chimneys for sure. There was another pair, but they have yet to pinpoint its chimney.

Thank you for joining me and reading this week’s blog. I will hear from you all next week!

• Vicky

Hello and good week to everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your summer and taking are of yourself. This week’s blog covers the last MCSI night, and to everyone who consistently sent in data for the MCSI nights, thank you for all your good work!

Back to the Swifts, we have some interesting entries coming from Selkirk, Brandon, St Francois-Xavier, La Salle, and Lockport!

Let us start off with David! David watched the Mennonite church’s chimney back on May 26 for the first MCSI night, where no Swifts were apparent. On the June 2^nd for the 2^nd MCSI night, there was one entry at 8:31 pm. Lastly on June 9^th, for the 3^rd MCSI night, no swifts were in view. This site has little activity, but at least we can confirm that its being used.

Sophia went over to watch the big roost at the 424 River apartment site on the 14^th in the evening. Starting from 9:35 pm, Swifts made entries throughout the period, with 9:56 pm being their peak entry time. A total of 111 were accounted for.

For a MCSI night, Mike and Michele watched the St. Francois-Xavier RC church on the 16^th. There were three entries, but only one remaining in the chimney by the end. On the 5^th MCSI night, there were four entries that night. However, it seems like only one pair used it as a roost, while the other pair flew elsewhere for the night. Through the night, there was some exciting views as well. They had an American Kestrel perched on its favorite spot and a fox trotting into the cemetery. What a good night indeed.

We have Barb, Rob and Qilliaq (the Swift questing pup) watching the Catholic church over at La Salle. On the 21^st, The three started the stake out at 7:08 pm. On a nice grassy expanse away from traffic, and a friendly neighbourhood, the night was quite peaceful. There was a total of four entries in the chimney. There was distinctively one pair moving in and out together, while a single swift was going in and out at opposite times than the pair. It may be a possible helper Swift.

Gerald went to check out the Lower Fort Garry site for the evening of the 22^nd. There were two entries in total, with one remaining for the monitoring period. Many barn swallows were noted as well.

Jon went out to the apartments on Balmoral in Winnipeg on the night of the 23^rd for MCSI. In a nice grassy spot, the view of the chimney was perfect to catch two Swifts entering the chimney. Jon noted some Swifts flying low behind 39 Balmoral, which would be 37 Balmoral. Perhaps 37 Balmoral’s chimney is being used as well. Only time will tell!

Another on MCSI night, we have Lynnea who watched a new location she discovered with some perfect swift chimneys on McBeth St in Winnipeg, however no Swifts were around either.

Ron went over to the Marion Fire Hall again for MCSI night. There were two entries in total for the night. One at 9:02 and 9:27 pm. They both entered quietly and swiftly. Seems like there was activity noted over at 847 Marion St.

Gordon, watched for swifts over at the old Women’s Jail in Portage la Prairie on MCSI night. He had a single entry at 9:07 pm. There were a few flying above, but they did not roost there for the night.

For MCSI night at Selkirk, we have Tim over at the new artificial tower. There were two entries in the chimney. Before we head on to Gerald’s summary, Tim let us know that it has been a strange night at the other locations. Here is what Gerald reports: Over at the yellow brick chimney, there was an entry, however soon left and was not found coming back. Over at the West chimney, there were two Swift entries, and in the east chimney and infirmary attached tower, no Swifts. Besides the Mental Health center, over at big stack replacement, there was one permanent entry. At the Merchants hotel, there was one permanent entry, and finally the apartment on Main St, had two Swifts come on in.

What is a better way to start the monitoring period, than with a cup of timmies? That is what Frank and Jacquie did as they staked out the Transcona collegiate chimney on MCSI night. Starting from 8:30 pm, there was no Swift activity until 9:14, then with two entries. They seemed to have arrived from the North side and was not foraging around the area of the chimney.

For the MCSI night, we have Jo and Betsy at the Assiniboine Park Zoo tower. Starting at 8:40 pm, three Swifts were flying above the chimney. One Swifts made the first entry at 9:15 pm. The last two entered at 9:43 pm. There was also the occasional existence of the Pileated Woodpecker being heard and seen going into its roost, which it has made by tunneling into the side of the Chimney Swift tower.

We have news from Luc over at Saint-Jean-Baptiste church for the MCSI night. Starting at 9:10, we had some entries and exits that ended around 10:11 pm. This made a total of 2 Swifts that stayed in the chimney. There was quite a bit of flying around during the whole monitoring period.

Blaire staked out the Behavioural Health Foundation in St. Nobert for MCSI night. There was one entry at 9:34 pm, and four flying around all evening.

Blair decided to check out the location at 865 Tache Ave on the 24^th, since as there have been around eight Swifts flying above the area recently. There was no entry at the site on closer inspection though. On the same night at 340 Provencher, there was not any activity from the Swifts either.

On the 24^th, Glennis in Brandon watched the Orange Block building chimney for the evening. There were two entries late in the evening at 9:54. One other Swift was flying with the other pair as well, but it did not enter.

Over in Lockport on the 24^th, we have Gerald and Tim checking out the lock and dam compound north and south chimney in the evening. Two Swifts entered the north chimney about 40 minutes apart. Another two entered the south chimney right after the last entry from the north chimney. The two pairs would remain in their respective chimneys for the rest of the monitoring period.

Barbara and Phil had an adventure at the Wasagaming Information Centre on the 25^th. They decided to watch its chimney for the evening. Barbara noted that the building was recently re-shingled, however we have confirmation from park staff that it was done outside the Chimney Swift season, so it should not have impacted the swifts at all. Although there were no Swifts, it was pleasant to sit around a bed of flowers with the strong scent of lilacs, having robins and Juncos serenading them throughout the evening. As they said in their email, “It sure is different from standing in the back lane of Osborne Village!”

At the Assiniboine Park zoo tower, on the 27^th, Barb and Rob watched the tower on the Friday morning. They caught three Swifts flying about, but no entry. They noticed that the hole being used by the woodpecker has become substantial and worrying. It would probably be best to break this cycle of damage, so that this does not happen again next year through some repair work in the bird “off” season. While we would like to support all birds – having the inside of the tower open to the elements (when it was not supposed to be) could impact the structural integrity of the tower through issues such as water damage, etc. Like Barb says, “Swifts should be given housing priority!” We didn’t realize when the tower was installed that we would have an extra “tenant”!

• Vicky