This is a brief news flash: reports of probable and confirmed fledglings have just landed! Other positive updates from our monitors indicate that more first-time fliers should be welcomed soon…
The Yellow Brick Chimney at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) was being used actively Thursday night (July 28th). It is likely that 3 fledglings were tallied in the final roost count of 5 Chimney Swifts. Nia tracked all the fast feathered action. Linda kept her eyes glued to the nearby T4 tower and recorded a valuable datapoint = 1 roosting entry. We’ll talk about what the swifts in those other SMHC towers are doing – later, when we figure it out ourselves!
This morning (July 29th) at Club Amical in St Adolphe, 3 consecutive exits indicated that at least 1 fledgling from the NE chimney was airborne on Day 29 (right on time!). All the exit paths took the swifts away from me and no wing margins could be seen. However, behaviour observations two lots north, at the Church, indicated that 2 fledglings were flying around together. They were just over the Japanese Maple hedges and roof of the Rectory – flap, flap, flap-glide, flap, flap, flap-glide – moving slowly around without any aerial stunts.
Maybe other fledglings have been sighted during your recent monitoring sessions. Send your datasheets and notes along and we’ll be happy to share the good news!
This week, there have been other reports of very active feeding elsewhere. This includes three of the Dauphin sites which Ken, Jan, Pat & Marilyn monitor. Winona also saw feeding exchanges, before the final roosting entries, at the Merchant’s Hotel in Selkirk on Wed. night (July 27th). We hope all these sites remain active and the youngsters launch soon.
The next round of fledging in St Adolphe is due Aug. 11-15, with 3 sites staggered at one day intervals. The young are still in the nest, so I check the sites often and particularly after intense rain storms which may cause nest slippage (yes, another 1¾” poured in again this week). So far so good!
The breeding pair at the Men’s House, west chimney, were both accounted for on Tuesday morning when Rob and I flew in for a monitoring session. The activity pattern suggested incubation was still underway though…here’s hoping that those eggs hatch sooner than later.
The record for the latest known successful fledging in Manitoba belongs to the pair of Chimney Swifts using the T4 tower at SMHC last year. First-time fliers launched from that newly constructed tower ~Sept. 5-9th ( https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/chimney-swift-towers/ ).
It will be interesting to see how our Chimney Swifts fare in August…
This week’s blog will be a catch-up, and briefly summarize the goings on at sites monitored by volunteers after July 6. In Winnipeg, Saint John’s Cathedral saw activity with one swift entry, observed by Lynnea Parker. In East Kildonan, Garry Budyk observed 2 entrances and 2 exits at 712-Watt Street during morning monitoring, with swifts at this site demonstrating classic brooding behaviour. 2 sites that were observed during this blog period had no activity and are possibly not being used this year. These sites were 2415 Portage Avenue and 935 Main Street.
Out at Lower Fort Garry, a new swift site had 1 entry and exit. This was observed by Gerald Machnee during a daytime monitoring closer to sunset.
At Saint Joachim Church in La Broquerie, Frank and Jacquie Machovec observed swifts circling both chimneys at roosting hour and eventually witnessed 3 entries into the small chimney and 1 exit and 2 entries to the large chimney.
In Dauphin, Ken and Jan Wainwright watched the Hong Kong Café chimney and saw 1 swift exiting and entering the chimney quickly. Later, after sunset, they saw 1 more swift enter, meaning on was off foraging and the other was likely sitting on a nest.
That’s it for this weeks blog, thanks to all who continue to monitor Chimney sites!
COMINGS AND GOINGS FROM HERE, THERE, & THE ARCHIVES
This week’s blog starts with a summary of recent St Adolphe nest site activity. To provide a long-range geographical comparison, we’ll look at a news flash from London, ON, which also includes roost site intel. A terrific video by Glenn shows just how challenging monitoring at large roost sites can be. The video provides an opportunity to go down memory lane via a re-post of a link to an old blog about counting Chimney Swifts in a photograph.
I also have a couple of other resource links to share. One link is for an info-rich reference book written by Paul and Georgean Kyle. There is another old blog you can head to for a refresher about moulting. Recognizing moulting in adults is one of the key elements in distinguishing an adult vs a fledgling. The flight behaviour of newly launched fledglings is the other important characteristic to identify Chimney Swifts taking their auspicious first flights. As some fledging dates are approaching, let’s review the past week and look ahead to the exciting developments that will come next week…
Friday, July 15th was one of those days with developments on both ends of the happiness continuum. Sadly, when I showed up to monitor the Brodeur Bros./Daycare site, the swifts were no-shows. Thursday, there had been no activity over the chimney and I didn’t manage to catch sight of any entries/exits as I cast an eye about during monitoring sessions elsewhere in town. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, a similar lack of activity confirmed that a nest failure had taken place. The Brodeur Bros./Daycare site has an accessible cleanout. In September, after the Chimney Swifts have migrated south, I will be able to look at debris to see if the nest has fallen etc.
Elsewhere in town on Friday, the breeding pairs at the SE Club Amical and Main St nest sites continued to incubate eggs. The NE Club Amical pair were busy feeding non-brooded young on Day 15. All was well.
The happiest development noted on Friday was the hatching of eggs at the Church chimney! So, three different stages of nesting and one apparent nest site failure were evident on one day. That was a wide range of variation in nest site activity.
Within two days of Friday, eggs hatched out at the remaining nest sites. On Saturday, the SE Club Amical pair were feeding young – quite vigorously for Day 1 at a rate of 3 X hour. It was an exceptionally good day generally for local feeding. On Sunday mid-day, the snoop squad did repeat peer ‘n’ veer flyovers of the Main St chimney. In the evening, the homeowner noticed “crazy flying – the birds just kept swooping low over the roof and chimney”. All that action translated into a 2 X hour entry/exit cycle on Monday morning, which confirmed my suspicion that eggs had hatched.
As a recap, hatching day = Day 1 of feeding; the young are brooded for 6-7 days; and the non-brooded young fledge or take their first flight outside the chimney on Day 28-30. The NE Club Amical eggs hatched on July 1, so those young will fledge July 28-30; the eggs at the Church site hatched on July 15, which makes for a fledging date range of August 11-13; the SE Club Amical hatchlings appeared on July 16 and they will fledge August 12-14; and the Main St young emerged on July 17 which makes liftoff outside the chimney between August 13-15. Do you remember that the magic date for the latest known fledging in St Adolphe is August 16th? This year, all of the breeding Chimney Swifts are coming in just under the wire. Let’s hope conditions and the food supply remain favourable for those juveniles to reach liftoff.
That segues nicely to the Rainmageddon event which hit Manitoba on the day I started to draft this blog. Tuesday July 19th started with torrential rain and horrendous electrical activity and high winds in many areas of the province. Storms continued in the evening. It is important to check nest sites in the aftermath of such deluges. Continued daytime activity indicates that no nest slippage has occurred and the parents have foraged successfully despite the weather – energy budgets have to be maintained in those voracious youngsters.
There is one last noteworthy developmental milestone to mention. At Day 20-21, the juveniles transfer from the bowl of the nest to the interior wall of the chimney. Wing flapping begins in earnest to strengthen flight muscles. Practice flights up and down the shaft of the chimney take place. All this activity prepares the young swift for its debut flight outside the chimney on Day 28-30. As of this blog’s posting, the NE Club Amical juveniles should be making that transfer.
Now some very interesting observations have flown in from Winnie Wake who, along with Dave & Sandy & Glenn, spearheads the amazing London, ON, Chimney Swift Monitoring Program. Winnie summarizes things best in her July 12th report:
Another hot, humid, rainless week preceded the Jul 12 counts. The combined tally of 489 was up slightly from Jul 5 (467) …This might be a fluctuation related to inherent imprecision in counting. Or it may reflect movement of swifts among roosts and/or from nest chimneys to roosts. Most swifts continue to be located at four roosts – Huron (151), Hunt’s (127), Phoenix (117) and King’s (64). All except Hunt’s increased in size. Smith Fruit hosted a mini-roost of 13, and 6 chimneys held from 1 to 6 swifts. Very troubling is that 7 of 18 chimneys reported 0 swifts in for the night. It is unprecedented for so many chimneys to be empty this early in the season. The question is why. Possibilities are that swifts in some chimneys retired earlier or later than our monitoring hour, or spent the night elsewhere and will be back next week. Regardless, reduced evening attendance at nest chimneys and intermittent overnight use are not promising signs for successful fledging of young. A more plausible explanation is swifts are abandoning chimneys after nest failure (perhaps due to weather negatively affecting food supply). Early in the season, reports from most sites showed at least some behaviour indicating a possible nesting attempt. During the week or two prior to Jul 12, monitors reported negative or ambiguous nesting evidence at many chimneys. This came at a time when frequency of entries and exits should have been increasing as nests hatched and young needed to be fed.
The situation at a nest site can change on a dime. One day young are being fed and the next day the site may be abandoned. That toggle of site use is important to remember when evaluating data from opportunistic monitoring sessions. Current lack of activity at a site does not necessarily mean a site has been unused previously during the season. However, an indication of daytime activity at a nest site – especially if young are being fed – does reflect a lot of previous site use to get to that stage! This is part of the challenge in documenting chimneys as critical habitat.
Not to leave you roost site monitors out, Winnie also provided a link to a great video posted by Glenn. It was from his July 12th monitoring session at Hunt’s (a century-old former flour mill); the footage was shot from the ground towards the building top which is six storeys tall. Glenn offered: While at Hunts Warehouse this week, Susan and I saw almost half of the swifts enter in less than one minute. This was not exactly “fireworks”, but “rush hour”. Note: 127 birds came in to roost that night!
While nest site monitors are happy to get their “2 in for the night”, monitors counting roosting birds face a very different challenge…Rob wraps it up in an understated comment – “It’s hard, isn’t it?”. I easily dissolve into a puddle of excitement and find counting roosting swifts rather overwhelming. Many folks use a video camera or take footage with a phone etc. to review counts and tally a final number of roosting birds.
While single photos of Chimney Swifts swirling around a roost can’t capture the total number of roosting birds, they can document what the set-up to the final roosting entries looks like. Years ago, Rob & I were gifted a lovely photo taken at a Kingston, ON, roost site. Rob developed a challenge for folks wanting to try to count Chimney Swifts in the air. Go back down memory lane to our July 27, 2014 blog to see how you fare: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/counting-chimney-swifts-on-the-wing/
If all this swift activity has piqued your curiosity, head to this link Frank has installed on the MCSI Resource & Link page: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/resources-and-links/ Then, go down to the section on “Some Books about Chimney Swifts” to find a hot link for the bible on Chimney Swifts written by Paul and Georgean Kyle:
The Kyle’s natural history book covers the historical investigations of breeding swifts using artificial towers (in the US), various flight behaviours, vocalizations, and descriptions of breeding activities etc. The book is enriched with drawings and photographs.
Now for a recent and important observation. On a beautiful sunny day last week, with just the perfect backlighting of low and slow-flying Chimney Swifts overhead at the Church, I saw the first moulting adult of the season.
Moulting does not render Chimney Swifts incapable of flight – they must continue to be airborne to harvest insects from the air column. Yet another trip back in time will land you at the July 15, 2015 blog which details plumage replacement. Some stunning photos by Dave Lavigne give you a terrific visual of what adult trailing wing margins look like during the different phases of the moult. https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/july-update-field-identification-of-adult-chimney-swifts-in-the-summer-range/
It is important to get a handle on how adults fly generally and how their wing margins change with moulting. Next week we will welcome some new fliers to the Manitoba airspace as fledglings start popping out of nest sites. As there are fundamental differences between adult and fledgling flight behaviour and wing margins, here’s a segment from the 2015 blog to explain it:
“For monitors in Manitoba, moult characteristics become an important way to distinguish fledglings from adults. Most fledging takes place toward the end of July and into the first week of August, and it is useful to identify juveniles to help estimate nesting success. The flight of newly fledged chimney swifts is characterized by: flying at low altitudes, rapid wing beats for slow air speed, large banking turns, and, occasionally, difficult entries to chimneys (yes, they do miss the opening and tumble down the outside face!). However, within several days post-fledging, young swifts are proficient fliers and they are not easy to distinguish from adults based on flight competency alone. So how do you distinguish juveniles vs. adults? The best way is to look for evidence of moulting on the trailing wing margins. Juveniles will have intact margins while adults will have discontinuities and gaps due to worn and missing feathers.”
Now, the range of estimated fledging dates in St Adolphe is very protracted this year ~ the estimates range from July 28-30 (NE Club Amical) to August 11-13 (Church), August 12-14 (SE Club Amical), and August 13-15 (Main St). The clump of 3 mid-August dates for possible fledging is the biggest and latest since monitoring began in 2007. How do you think your nest sites fit into this range of estimated fledging dates?
That’s a wrap for this week. Keep your monitoring sheets flying in and Ariel, our summer student, will sort through them and enter your all-important observations into our database. Thanks for helping us help our Chimney Swifts through our various MCSI conservation efforts!
— Barb Stewart, for the other MCSI Steering Committee members: Christian Artuso (Co-Chair), Tim Poole (Co-Chair), Frank Machovec (Webmaster), Lewis Cocks (Founding Father of MCSI), Ron Bazin, Neil Butchard, Ken DeSmet, Jack Dubois, Nicole Firlotte, Rob Stewart, Joanne Tuckwell, and Ashleigh Westphal
Just a friendly reminder that another wonderful Wednesday MCSI Swift Watch Day has arrived. After your monitoring sessions at nest and/or roost sites, fly those monitoring reports over to us. Next week, Ariel will provide an update on all the action you have observed.
Today, I have an omnibus blog for you. The past week was full of swift action and activities to share…
Amanda was flying in high gear on our behalf during her last full week as our Coordinator. Thanks for all of your continued hard work Amanda!
Early in the week, a new plaque for the original 2008-built artificial tower in St Adolphe was delivered; installation of the plaque will take place later in the month. New signage will also be installed at the old Portage La Prairie artificial tower. These new habitat stewardship plaques update our significant achievement = MCSI has developed a successful made-for-Manitoba artificial tower! You can visit the Assiniboine Park Zoo to see all the swift action at the new tower and/or check out the MCSI website at: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/chimney-swift-towers/
Amanda and the new plaque
At week’s end, Amanda released MCSI’s latest monitoring info-sheet. The two-sided sheet provides the basic W5 approach to monitoring Chimney Swifts in our province. It also describes the various MCSI programs and how volunteer monitors fit into those different activities. Our fast-flying webmaster, Frank Machovec, has created a link to the document in the Resources and Links section of our website. Head to: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/factsheet_volunteer.pdf
In other news, two new sites have been identified! Tim, The Swift Magnet Man, saw aerial activity in Dauphin during the day that led him to St Paul’s Anglican Church in the evening. Entries to a lovely chimney were seen! St Paul’s, in addition to the other sites in Dauphin, will be monitored by the keen eyes of Ken, Jan, Pat & Marilyn. In The Pas, many days of sleuthing led Joel to locate a new nest site at the Frontier Apartments. Well done! Those new sites are great additions to our site inventory database. We know there are more Manitoba sites of interest that need locating, so keep your eyes to the sky (it’s one of the activities mentioned in the new volunteer monitoring sheet!).
Continued monitoring of old faithful sites has been done by many monitors…as promised, we’ll hear about it in Ariel’s update next week.
It is enjoyable to monitor single sites as an event on its own. But a different layer of opportunity comes with the ability to compare and contrast activity between sites. That evaluation of absolute vs relative activity is really useful to get an idea of seasonal trends and geographic variation in phenology (dates of nesting stages) etc.
The Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) complex now boasts 4 new artificial towers in addition to 2 old masonry chimneys on brick buildings. With that cluster of chimneys, it is interesting to compare the SMHC Chimney Swift’s breeding activity to that seen in the 5 St Adolphe nest sites situated along the main road (a 6th site in a private home, ~1 km away, is tracked less intensively). We will cross-reference activity more as the season goes along. When earnest feeding is apparent at more sites, it will be easier to look at some time lines for fledging to see how harmonized the Selkirk and St Adolphe birds are in their breeding efforts.
We know that the St Adolphe swifts currently are lagging behind last years’ time line for hatching. In 2021, hatching took place on July 3rd (Brodeur Bros./Daycare), July 5th (Church), July 6th (NE Club Amical) and July 7th (SE Club Amical; Main St.).
This year in St Adolphe, only one site had hatched by July 10th. The NE Club Amical breeding pair started feeding their hatchlings on July 1st which was earlier than any of the 2021 hatch dates.
I have re-evaluated the activity in the SE Club Amical site after the helper left for the Church site last Wednesday, July 6th (the helper only made a very brief appearance there). Once the cadence of the breeding pair was reestablished at the SE Club Amical chimney, it appeared that incubation was taking place – still good news, but not the stage of nesting that the activity pattern of 3 adults portrayed. You have to go with what the swifts show you and be prepared to come up with an alternate explanation.
Another highlight of the past monitoring week included the transition to feeding non-brooded young at the NE Club Amical site. Here’s what that data looked like on Day 8 of feeding (which conveniently was July 8th) when I watched the rim for 90 min. starting at 10:43 AM: entry at 10:49:43; exit at 10:50:13; entry at 11:06:21; exit at 11:07:07; entry at 11:27:06; exit at 11:27:35; entry at 11:43:46; exit at 11:45:16; entry 12:06:26; exit at 12:07:02. The feeding rate was 3-4 X hour.
By comparison, here’s what the SE Club Amical breeding pair did during that same time on July 8th: entry at 11:12:08; exit at 11:13:21.
The behaviour of flying Chimney Swifts can telegraph important out-of-sight developments inside the chimney. A group of 8-9 swifts was busy racing around the Brodeur Bros./Daycare area on the afternoon of Monday, July 11th. Repeatedly, a string of ~3-4 birds or single swifts approached the rim – some dropped down low then banked off, others sped in before veering off on the same plane, and some birds flew low in a straight path and moved their heads as they passed over the rim. This behaviour was investigative in nature – curiosity driven – and it sure seemed to telegraph “something” was going on…monitoring on Tuesday, July 12th revealed what that “something” was. Eggs have hatched!
While Monday’s entry/exit activity rate at Brodeur Bros./Daycare was 1 X hour, Tuesday’s activity rate was higher. For a 90 min. session between 10:37 AM and 12:07 PM, I saw these events: entry at 10:40:00; exit at 10:40:34; entry at 11:12:12 (between-visit interval = 31 min.); exit at 11:13:07; entry at 12:08:57 (between-visit interval = 56 min.); exit at 12:09:45. Note that the time between-visits stretched out towards noon…it was getting hotter and muggier. But if you look at two blocks of 60 minutes (10:37-11:37; 11:07-12:07) the rate of activity was = 2 X hour for each of the blocks. I’m happy declaring that hatching took place between July 11-12th at this site.
Be vigilant !
Now it’s time to wish you all the best for a successful swift quest today. We look forward to hearing about your experiences!
A ST. ADOLPHE NEST SITE UPDATE: JULY 1ST BONUS ROUND TO JULY 6TH
Before heading into the nest site update, I would like to send a huge shoutout of THANKS to Amanda for all of her great work with MCSI!
Our webmaster, Fabulous Frank Machovec, lifted up a blog for me in the morning of July 1st. Thanks for your speedy assistance, as always, Frank! The blog summarized recent nest site activity in St Adolphe and relayed information on how to identify incubation – a nasty, difficult stage to predict the start date for.
What is easier is identifying IF the Chimney Swifts are incubating. As a refresher, here’s what was posted in the last blog: “in ascending order of good, better, and best, I use 3 criteria which usually indicate that Chimney Swifts are on eggs. For monitoring sessions of at least 60 minutes, signs of incubation are: 1. % attendance, or time spent in the chimney, is > 50%; 2. A duration-in interval <10 min. (for an entry where a partner is not obviously flying nearby and doesn’t enter); and/or 3. A classic incubation exchange i.e., an entry followed by an exit 30-120 sec. later. Classic incubation exchanges take place 1 X hour (give or take a few minutes) at a site with 2 breeding adults.”
Canada Day afternoon was lovely and I headed south to monitor 4 of the 5 nest sites situated along the main thoroughfare in St Adolphe. With an opportunistic sighting at the 5th nest site, all the bases were covered. The data highlights of key monitoring sessions from July 1st through to July 6th (the MCSI Wednesday Swift Watch Day) are summarized here. Spoiler alert: some breeding pairs are now feeding young – eggs are busting out all over!
July 1st at Club Amical(3:10 – 4:10 PM)
SE Club Amical: entry at 3:14; entry at 3:25 (2 IN); exit at 3:29. At least 1 bird was in the chimney for 56 minutes, so attendance >>50% = incubation is indicated. The site was unattended at the start of observations unless a helper was on site during the monitoring session.
NE Club Amical: entry at 3:12; entry at 3:44:54 (2 IN); exit at 3:45:05 (FAST exchange!); entry at 4:07:29; exit at 4:08:06 (another quick turnaround time) The site was unattended at the start of observations; no helper has been identified at this site. Two exchanges in an hour = the breeding pair likely are feeding brooded young!
July 1st at Brodeur Bros./Daycare
An opportunistic observation was seen from the Main St site = an entry at 2:49 PM. This was a nice little puzzle piece to harvest. The site remains active.
July 1st at the Church (12:35-1:35 PM)
Entry at 1:12:02: exit at 1:14:19. Once classic incubation exchange in 1 hour = incubation is indicated!
July 1st at Main St (1:50-2:50 PM)
Entry at 2:05:32 (lead bird of two that approached – the trailing bird flew off after its partner entered the chimney); exit at 2:49:49 as several Chimney Swifts moved nearby – from the Brodeur Bros./Daycare site across the street to the Caisse, then to the tower adjacent to the house. The site was unattended > 16 minutes at the start of the observation period. The attendance rate of ~73% would indicate incubation. Finally!
Ok, let’s move onto Tuesday, July 5th after yet another rainy, soggy day on Monday (3/4” more rain fell – I can feel the mosquitoe larvae wriggle):
July 5th at Club Amical (9:25-10:25 AM)
SE Club Amical: entry at 9:26:11; exit at 9:28:04; entry at 9:58:51; exit at 10:00:08; entry at 10:10:35; exit at 10:12:11 (Teaser note: see the last exit noted below for the NE Club Amical chimney!). Three entry/exit exchanges in one hour indicates hatching has taken place and a helper is likely on site!
NE Club Amical: entry at 9:31:37; exit at 9:32:07; entry at 10:11:18; exit at 10:12:11 (oh boy – is this a coincidence or do those swifts communicate through brick walls to coordinate their activity?). Two entry/exit exchanges in an hour indicate that feeding brooded young continues. Nice.
July 5th at Brodeur Bros./Daycare (10:35-11:35 AM)
Entry at 10:48:20; exit at 10:49:13. One classic incubation exchange in an hour = serious incubation is underway.
July 5th at the Church (11:35 AM -12:35 PM)
12:04:09: a pair of Chimney Swifts were seen flying low into the dead tree located due north of the Church’s east end; the birds were striking a branch extending due east at mid-height of the tree.
12:04:33: 2 consecutive entries = the above birds seen twig collecting; the lead bird hit a branch, circled to enter from the south, then flared and dropped in slowly, low to the rim; the partner caught up and hovered above the chimney, close to the rim, for a very short time after the first bird dropped in, then proceeded to lower itself slowly into the chimney. The nest site had been unattended for > ~30 min. 2 IN.
12:07:01: exit. 1 IN.
12:35 end of observations – 1 IN. Twig collecting by a pair indicates continued nest building; eggs are unhatched as no nest building takes place after hatching (it’s full-on feeding time then!). The attendance rate = 50%, which also supports the nest site status = incubation stage.
July 5th at Main St. (1:45 – 2:45 PM)
Entry at 2:32:31; exit at 2:34:02. One classic incubation exchange in an hour = incubation + a happy monitor!
Lastly, here are the juicy tidbits for July 6th = a MCSI Wednesday Swift Watch Day…
July 6th at Club Amical (9:35 – 10:40 AM)
SE Club Amical: entry at 9:59:10; exit at 10:00:12; entry at 10:37:46; exit at 10:38:34. Nominal entry/exit cycle rate = 2 X hour which indicates continued feeding of brooded young (<6-7 days of age), but no helper appears to be on site today (compare to July 5th).
NE Club Amical: entry at 9:46:32; exit at 9:47:10; entry at 10:19:02; exit at 10:20:11. As no consecutive entries or exits were seen, the parents appear to still be sharing brooding and feeding duties.
July 6th at the Church (10:50 AM – 12:15 PM)
Entry at 10:52:15; exit at 10:55:05 as 7 swifts fly near the Rectory and Church low together; 11:26:08 – 9 swifts in the air, racing over the Church to the NW, a pair close together are displaying the “V” behaviour; 11:35:56 – 9 swifts are seen in the air. Given that incubation OR feeding of brooded young is taking place at all the nest sites (and one parent should be in the chimney except for short aerial forays), the number of swifts seen in the air suggests that new birds have moved into the area and/or swifts from the 6th nest site in old town have come on over to the Church area for a social moment!
Entry at 12:06:14 by a lead bird which approached with a partner in close proximity – the partner displayed the pair bond “V”, while the lead bird dropped into the chimney, then flew off.
Exit at 12:07:17. This was a classic incubation exchange, with a 1-minute turnaround interval, BUT the bird entering at 12:06:14 was with a partner that remained airborne! Is it possible that a new helper OR the helper from the SE Club Amical chimney is on site here today?
This is a perfect place to end the blog…with lots of intrigue and a tantalizing cliff hanger moment. There is always a reason to show up at the chimney sides for another glimpse into the world of breeding Chimney Swifts!
Enjoy the swifts at your nest site, Barb.
P.S. Look out for the milestones of hatching (Day 1 of feeding; 2 entry/exit cycles per hour) and then the transitioning to feeding non-brooded young (Day 6-7 of feeding; 3-4 entry/exit cycles per hour; consecutive entries and exits). The stages of nesting change quite quickly at this time of the breeding season!
Last week you probably read Barb’s excellent blog, and didn’t miss my update! If you didn’t read last week’s blog check it out as Barb walks us through the Chimney Swift behaviour during incubation, hatching, brooded young and non-brooded young stages, as well as the timing Chimney Swifts need to follow this year to successfully fledge their young.
First we will start with our reports from outside of Winnipeg (Souris, Melita, Lyleton, Pierson, Stonewall, Lower Fort Garry, Brandon, La Broquerie, Selkirk, Southport and Dauphin.
I was off in southwestern Manitoba doing grassland bird surveys (wearing my other hat as the Manitoba IBA program coordinator), but also checking out southwestern Manitoba for Chimney Swifts! On June 27th my first stop was back in Souris to see if I could find evidence of birds using the Lagasse and Chocolate Shop chimneys in town, as previously Ariel and I saw activity around these chimneys, but no confirmed use. My first stop was the Lagasse chimney for an afternoon monitoring session. I only had to hang out for five minutes before a swift scooted out the back of the chimney. About 30 minutes later a swift entered the chimney again and stayed in the chimney for the rest of the session.
The next stop was just a few buildings down at the Chocolate Shop. I wasn’t sure if I would see much as a big thunderstorm was passing just south of the town, and we know that swifts often take cover during poor weather. Despite a brief rainstorm, the swifts didn’t seem phased with up to seven zipping around during the monitoring session. They often flew quite low to the chimney. 25 minutes into the session a Chimney Swift slipped out of the back of the chimney again (why is it never the front of the chimney where I have a nice view?). I did not see any swifts enter the chimney again, but did see two swifts approach the chimney like they were either attempting to enter, or like they were looking down inside the chimney.
Katharine Schulz was also in Souris on June 17th. She watched the Whistling Donkey Pub in Melita from 11:55 AM to 12:40 PM. She had three swifts go down the chimney at 12:14 PM and then three to four swifts exit 10-20 minutes later. Last year we though that this chimney might either both a roosting and nesting chimney and/or have a “helper” swift. It looks that either of those scenarios might be the case again this year. Without a monitor nearby to watch the swifts more frequently, we are left with our educated guesses based on behaviour to determine what is happening here.
On June 28th I did a blitz of chimneys in the town of Melita. I started out in the late afternoon for a 30-minute watch of the Legion Hall chimney. About 15 minutes into my watch, I had one swift drop down into the chimney completely silently. 10 minutes later the swift exited the chimney just as quietly. Quite sneaky!
Next, I walked across town to the Melita Hospital. Here I was treated to the extra confusion of up to four Purple Martins also flying around the site. Luckily, they have a different sounding call, and a different body shape from the Chimney Swifts. Most of the activity around the site was the Purple Martins at first. 35 minutes into the session I had three swifts, then four swifts, and then two swifts circle low around the chimney from the west and then head off again. Two minutes later I had one swift go down the chimney, with a second swift “escorting” the first to the chimney edge before flying off. 10 minutes later the swift exited the chimney and I ended my session.
After a break for supper and some relaxation I headed back out for an evening monitoring session at the Antler River Museum. In the past this site has sometimes been a roost site and sometimes a nest site, so I thought evening monitoring could capture either site use. From 9:03 – 9:40 PM I only saw one swift high in the air, but at 9:41 PM one swift exited out the back of the chimney. After that I saw 1-2 swifts high in the air for the remainder of the evening until both went down the chimney (10-20 minutes after sunset). Seems like they may be nesting here this year based on behaviour.
I also spent some time in both Lyleton and Pierson on June 29th to watch for Chimney Swifts. Both towns have a “candidate chimney” – a chimney that looks promising for swifts. Two years we spotted swifts in both towns as well, but all was quiet this year.
Tim Poole stopped by Stonewall on June 27th to grab a coffee after completing a morning breeding bird survey. Just a minute after he arrived one swift dove down the chimney (after a couple of tries) while a second swift hung around the area. Six minutes later the second swift entered the chimney as well, with both swifts exiting at the same time 20 minutes later.
Gerald Machnee watched the Fur Loft chimney at Lower Fort Garry in the evenings on June 1st, 9th, 16th and 30th. On June 1st two swifts were spotted flying south and one Chimney Swift was seen flying on June 30th, but other than that only swallows were spotted. This chimney successfully fledged young last year, but does not appear to be in use this year.
Gerald was also watching the chimney on the building next to the bell tower at Lower Fort Garry. This chimney has been used by swifts once in the past, but not for the last three years. Gerald watched this chimney on the evenings of June 1st, 4th, 9th and 30th. On June 1st two swifts were noted flying south (same two as from the Fur Loft monitoring session), on June 4th one swift entered the chimney at 9:45 PM, and on June 30th a swift was in the air but not in the chimney. Similar to the Fur Loft, there were no other sightings.
Karla Guyn and Jim Devries were at Lower Fort Garry for an event on June 25th, and had the definition of an incidental sighting when two swifts entered west chimney on the Men’s House. If you remember from two weeks ago, the swifts are using a new chimney at the Fort this year. Karla and Jim saw two swifts fly over the area for the next hour. The following video was captured by Karla and Jim at Lower Fort Garry.
Video courtesy of Karla Guyn and Jim Devries
Joanne Tuckwell was back at Lower Fort Garry to watch the west chimney on the Men’s House on June 27th for a 90 minute morning session. She had pretty constant action with up to three swifts in the air and three sets of entries/exits in the chimney. After finishing at the Men’s House Joanne moved over to watch the Fur Loft chimney and the chimney near the bell tower. She had no activity there, but could still see swifts in the air nearer to the Men’s House chimney.
Gerald was back at the Men’s House chimney again on June 30th for the evening and had two entries at 8:47 PM, and one more swift that was last seen at 9:25 PM, which did not enter a chimney that Gerald could see.
Joanne was back at the Men’s House chimney again on the morning of July 5th. She had three sets of entries and exits in an 80-minute period. Going off of the amount of time spent in the chimney, as well as the time between entries and exits seems like there could be young in the chimney!
On June 29th Louanne Reid, Glennis Lewis and Gwyn Richards watched the north chimney on the Orange Block building. Previously one swift has been going down this chimney, with a second swift in the area (but not using the chimney). However, this time the second swift did go down the chimney! Last year this site was a pretty textbook nesting site, but this year we are not able to tell from behaviour what is happening here yet.
On June 30th Frank and Jacquie Machovec took a jaunt down to the St Joachim Church in La Broquerie to visit the site they monitored during the NRMP nights in the spring. They had no action in the small chimney for the evening. The larger chimney had one swift exit at 8:58 PM and go back down the chimney again one minute later. Two other chimney swifts were seen in the air at 9:24 PM, which is a bit of a head scratcher as there are no other known chimneys in the area. Something to watch for!
Next we have a big update for the month of June for our sites in Selkirk. We will start at 367 Main St. Winona Hook did three evening monitoring session there on June 8th, June 16th and June 28th seeing two entries each time. Winona also did two monitoring sessions at the St Merchants Hotel on June 22nd and June 30th, where she also had a pair of entries both times.
Now we will move over to the various Selkirk Mental Health Centre Chimneys. The Yellow Brick chimney was watched on June 6th, 13th, 22nd and 28th with quite a few different observations by Winona, Nia Massey and Linda Adie. In the first monitoring session there were two swifts using the chimney, which switched to three swifts on June 13th. No swifts entered the chimney on June 22nd, while one swift entered on June 28th to go down for the night. Tim Poole watched the Yellow Brick chimney during the morning of June 30th and had no chimney use. There were two entries recorded again on July 5th, still looking like the swifts were only using the chimney for roosting at night.
Variable observations were also seen by Winona, Linda and Nia for the Stack Replacement Tower. The first evening monitoring period on June 6th had two entries, followed by no entries on June 13th, two entries again on June 22nd, one entry in the evening of June 28th. Tim monitored the Stack Replacement Tower on the morning of June 30th and had one entry and one exit. Linda and Nia were back on the evening of July 5th and observed two entries again for the night.
The Infirmary chimney had quite a bit of activity happening during the morning of June 27th when Robert and Donna Hempler were monitoring. There were three sets of entries and exits during the half hour, behaviour that may be indicative of nest building or egg laying. Three days later Aynsley also watched the site for 30 minutes in the morning but saw no entries or exits. As incubation exchanges tend to happen once an hour, there may have been a swift incubating inside the chimney, but more monitoring is needed to catch an incubation exchange confirm if this is the case. Robert and Donna had two entries for the night on July 5th as well.
The East Tower was monitored on June 28th by Winona, where she saw one entry at 9:20 PM. Two days later Aynsley was back at the east tower during the day and saw one entry at 10:10 AM and an entry almost an hour later. Perhaps the swifts are working towards nesting here as well? However, to mix it up there was no use of the chimney recorded by Gerald on the evening of July 5th. Similar to the Infirmary chimney, more monitoring is needed before making conclusions.
The West Tower at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre was monitored on the morning of June 30th by Tim Poole. A maximum of six swifts were seen overhead, but Tim noted that none of the swifts appeared interested by the tower. Contrary to what Tim observed, on the evening of July 5th Robert and Donna had a quick turn around entry and exit at 9:00 PM, followed by one swift down the chimney for the night at 9:45 PM.
I’d be incline to say based on behaviour that the Yellow Brick chimney and the Towers are being used periodically as roosting chimneys – swifts playing their version of musical chairs! However, there have been sightings of daytime entries and exits in several towers. Strictly roosting swifts don’t tend to use the towers during the day in good weather, so that does point to possible nesting attempts being underway. More monitoring is needed before conclusions can be drawn.
Gord Oglivie checked out the chimney on the Mynarski building in Southport on June 29th. Last year two swifts were seen at this site, but Gord had no luck spotting them this year.
Last but not least, we have an update from Dauphin from the evening of June 29th. Pat Start monitored the Hong Kong chimney with the observation, “…one [swift] down, second one down, one out, final one returns to go down. This would be about the third check with thee same rotation, so likely on eggs”. Ken Wainwright watched the roost chimney and had 8 entries with no exits. It sounds like the Dauphin crew are keeping their fingers crossed for Chimney Swift behaviour in the next week or so that might indicate feeding of brooded young.
As well Tim Poole caught swifts entering a new site in Dauphin – at the St Paul’s Anglican Church. In Tim’s words, “I went for a walk towards the roost [roosting chimney] and spotted three swifts in the air. Heading back around 9:30, two swifts oared over my head towards the church. Running back, I just about had enough time to watch the first swift circle the adjacent building and then circle over the chimney and drop in. Around 30 seconds later the second now dropped in”.
Next, we take a quick trip as the Chimney Swift flies over into Winnipeg.
First we have Breanne Reinfort’s last two official MCSI evening monitoring sessions at Maryland Foodfare. She monitored the chimney despite moderate wind and occasional rain showers to come up with one swift down the chimney relatively early (8:49 PM, sunset at 9:39 PM), likely due to the weather. Three other swifts were seen in the air, but did not go down the chimney. Breanne had better weather on the evening of June 22nd. She had one exit at 8:39 PM as she was setting up for her session. This was followed by a swift down the chimney at 9:00 PM and another at 9:38 PM, and two other swifts seen in the air. The earlier exit suggests that nest building/ egg laying may have been taking place at this site.
Blair Reid got skunked (no swifts) during his evening monitoring session on June 22nd at 865 Tache Avenue, and his daytime monitoring session on June 25th at 690 St Joseph.
Gary Franzmann and Marj Kendall were out at 1295 Pembina Highway on June 22nd. They had a brief period of action at 9:51 PM when a Chimney Swift flew by three times in as many minutes, but ultimately flew off to roost elsewhere for the night.
Aynsley Woods was been busy hitting up several Chimney Swift sites at the end of June. On the morning of June 21st Aynsley and Alyson Jessett watched Chief Peguis Junior High. A maximum of two swifts were seen at the site multiple times, each time flying quite low. However, no entries or exits were seen.
They also watched the Radmon House Apartments with no swifts seen. However, Aynsley was back at Radmon House on June 24th at 1:32 PM where two swifts entered the chimney just a couple minutes after her session started, and then subsequently left the chimney 5-10 minutes later.
On June 21st Aynsley watched the Curtis Hotel for a daytime session, but had zero swifts. She was back on June 24th during the day and this time captured a swift exiting from the chimney and entering again 13 minutes later, with three swifts seen in the air. This session and her session at Radmon House are great examples of why doing multiple monitoring sessions at the same spot can be important!
Aynsley then moved over to the Linlee Apartments where a total of two swifts were seen in the air, but no activity was recorded at the chimney (Aynsley went back on June 29th with the same results). Aynsley’s last stop of the day was at LB Towers Apartments, where she saw three swifts in the air, but no activity at the chimney.
From Randy Mooi we have two reports for the Children’s House on Pacific Avenue downtown. The morning of June 23rd there was not a swift to be seen in the sky, despite beautiful weather. On June 28th Randy watched in the morning once again and this time heard one swift.
Gwen Armbuster was back watching the Chimney Swifts at 139 Market Avenue from her patio on June 29th. She noted “When I arrived at 8:00 PM I observed and heard one Chimney Swift flying in huge circles directly overhead. Within a few minutes I observed a pair that flew together in perfect synchronization. After about 20 minutes another pair joined the mix and then another single… When I left at 9:00 PM there was still one pair and one single. I did not observe any swift enter or exit the chimney, as I have in previous weeks”. Sunset on June 29th was at 9:41 PM, so it is possible that none of the swifts had gone down for the evening at the period when Gwen was monitoring this time.
Ron Bazin did a quick stop in at his MCSI night stomping grounds at Archibald Storage in St Boniface on the morning of July 4th. He got a great surprise of a textbook incubation exchange, “Not long after I arrived a Chimney Swift flew straight into the chimney (10:56 am) and within 30-45 seconds a Chimney Swift exited the chimney. Looks like incubation is under way!” Ron was now intrigued and went back for a longer monitoring session during the afternoon of July 5th. This time he saw three sets of entries and exits in his 90 minutes with very quick turn around times – more evidence for incubation! The quick turn arounds would be the individuals switching out who is sitting on the nest.
Myself and Jon Benson monitored the Grant Wilton Apartments on the evening of July 5th. At the same time Jon was interviewing me about Chimney Swifts and the MCSI for his program on the University of Winnipeg’s radio station CKUW-FM (95.9 MHz). We will update everyone once we know when it will come out – probably in August. On the Chimney Swift front, it was pretty quiet. We had one flyby of two swifts from the north, but no action related to our chimney.
Good bye and Good Luck!
On a sadder note, this is my last full week as the Coordinator of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative. I will still be around as a part-time Coordinator until the position is filled (so keep sending in those datasheets!), and you will hopefully see my name mentioned as a volunteer after that! I have really enjoyed my time here – largely due to all of you great volunteers and of course, the antics of the Chimney Swifts! Thank you!
Canada Day is a special day to reflect on our past, assess the present, and chart a future path. Hopefully, the celebration of our country’s natural history is never taken for granted and certainly never confined to one official day. By contributing to conservation efforts on an ongoing basis, we help ensure the rich biological diversity of our country persists. With that in mind, let’s take a quick peek at how the breeding Chimney Swifts are progressing at their nest sites in St Adolphe…using that information as a template should support your future monitoring efforts elsewhere.
The cadence of this spring has been difficult. The Chimney Swifts are still dealing with unstable weather conditions – cold nights below 8 C, strong daytime winds, and yet more heavy rain storms. No inflexion point has been seen for the full-on arrival of stable “summer” weather. By Canada Day, I am usually watching for signs of hatching as nest sites have been trending to early July hatching and late July fledging. However, in 2022, I am focusing on tracking sites to see if incubation has any traction.
Incubation is the toughest nesting stage to pin down with respect to the date of onset. Start dates are nearly impossible to establish unless you have a nest cam or viewing port inside a tower etc. But it is possible to identify if the Chimney Swifts are incubating by using monitoring data. In ascending order of good, better, and best, I use 3 criteria which usually indicate that Chimney Swifts are on eggs. For monitoring sessions of at least 60 minutes, signs of incubation are: 1. % attendance, or time spent in the chimney, is > 50%; 2. A duration-in interval <10 min. (for an entry where a partner is not obviously flying nearby and doesn’t enter); and/or 3. A classic incubation exchange i.e., an entry followed by an exit 30-120 sec. later. Classic incubation exchanges take place 1 X hour (give or take a few minutes) at a site with 2 breeding adults.
In an earlier blog we talked about the arrival and nest building stages of nesting. Pairs of Chimney Swifts could be seen flying together with wings stretched upright in their “V” displays; birds could be seen stalling at dead branch ends or hitting on small twigs; pairs often approached nest sites together but the trailing bird could fly off after the leading partner entered. After a few minutes, the partner would enter the nest site and both birds would leave together. As incubation becomes established, single birds will approach and enter, and single birds will depart the nest sites.
To give you an idea of how breeding activity has been progressing in St Adolphe recently, here is a string of annotated monitoring data from the two Club Amical nest sites:
Club Amical Mon. June 20th (75 min session):
SE Club: entry at 11:32; entry at 11:38; 2 swifts exit together at 11:51; entry at 12:04; entry at12:11; pair leaves together at 12:31. Attendance = 61% which is above the 50% criterion threshold – this indicatesincubation in progress.
NE Club: entry at 11:41; exit at 11:56. Attendance = 20% unless the partner was in the chimney! Based on the activity seen, incubation is not likely in progress.
Club Amical Wed. June 22nd (90 min session):
SE Club: entry at 9:09; exit at 9:19; entry 9:24; exit at 9:43; entry at 9:43:27; exit at 9:50; entry at 10:36; entry at 10:39:00; entry at 10:39:11 = 3 IN. NB: with a helper identified, the activity rates and patterns of use are not easily compared to other sites where 2 breeding adults are present.
NE Club: exit at 9:18; entry at 9:27; entry at 10:29:48; exit at 10:30:34 = CLASSIC INCUBATION EXCHANGE, the first seen this year! The site is likely unattended from 9:18 to 9:27 (10% unattended). Incubation is indicated.
Club Amical Sat. June 25th (90 min. session):
SE CLUB: entry at 12:55; entry at 1:10 compare to circling bird on June 20th = same style – maybe key to i.d. individual? 2 birds exit together at 1:17. Attendance ~24% would NOT indicate incubation. Compare with June 20th = flip flop of status.
NE CLUB: exit at 12:08; entry at 12:52. Behaviour observations indicate partner in air at time of exit at 12:08. Attendance ~51% which supports incubation is occurring.
Club Amical Wed. June 29th (90 min. session; start at 9:40 AM, end at 11:10 AM):
SE CLUB: entry at 9:58 (pair approaches the chimney, the lead bird enters while the trailing bird departs the area); exit at 10:24; entry at 11:13 (approach by a single bird). NB: a 2 + 1 pattern = pair approach, both enter and both exit together, then a single bird approaches, enters and then exits, may reflect that a helper is on site. The cadence/frequency of entries/exits at a helper-based nest site is different compared to a nest site without a helper being present. This pattern may be picked up on during frequent, long monitoring sessions, particularly when young are being fed. For this session, ~33% attendance does not indicate incubation but again, all is different at a site with a helper, so who’s in there anyway?
NE CLUB: entry at 9:43:33; exit at 9:44:54 = CLASSIC INCUBATON EXCHANGE, comparable to June 22nd. Entry at 10:47; ~62 min. between-visit; 1 in chimney at end of session with a duration-in interval = 23 min. NB: it is worth noting that if two different 60 min. blocks were used to compare data, the assessment of stage of nesting would differ! For the first block of time (9:40-10:40), only the classic incubation exchange would be captured = incubation indicated; in the second block (10:10-11:10), shifted 30 minutes after start time, no classic incubation exchange would have been seen and a duration-in interval of 23 min. would yield an attendance rate of 38% = no incubation indicated. This leads back to the point that many, long sessions are required to really understand what is happening at a nest site – especially in the early days of incubation! After hatching, activity increases and becomes more predictable. Frequent feeding must take place or the young will die!
Here’s the summary for the other St Adolphe nest sites:
Brodeur Bros./Daycare = incubation is underway; 73% attendance on June 23; classic incubation exchange seen on June 27.
Church = approaching incubation; ~33% attendance on June 23 and ~48% attendance on June 26.
Main St = may be close to incubation; ~46% attendance on June 23 but only 25% attendance on June 27 which was a poor feeding day – no local feeding activity was observed.
The clock is ticking…Chimney Swifts do not have an open-ended breeding season. Fledglings must be out of the chimney in advance of migration so they can develop flight proficiency. By mid-August, Manitoba Chimney Swifts typically assemble in pre-migratory groups before migrating south to the wintering grounds. They must move ahead of an impoverished food supply. Our Chimney Swifts are gone well before birds leave from more southern latitudes. In London, ON, our colleague Winnie Wake may see Chimney Swifts through to the end of September!
So, what are the important dates for incubation to start in Manitoba in order to meet those season-ender constraints? We have to work backwards on this calculation.
Aug. 16th is the latest successful fledging date for a breeding attempt in St Adolphe (Brodeur Bros., 2010). Let’s figure out incubation starts that make the Aug. 16th deadline…
We need to factor in two stages of nesting: the known range of incubation (18-21 days; rarely 16 days) and the typical range of feeding before fledging occurs (28-30 days). Remember that Hatching Day = Day 1 of Feeding!
Using the maximum length of incubation = 21 days, and the maximum known length of feeding young before fledging= 30 days, the incubation start date = June 28. Hatching = July 18th, then fledging would follow on Aug. 16th.
Using the minimum length of incubation = 18 days and the minimum known length of feeding young before fledging = 28 days, the incubation start date = July 3. Hatching = July 20th and fledging would take place Aug. 16th.
To summarize, for Aug. 16th fledging, incubation would likely need to start between June 28 to July 3. Have you checked the calendar today?
So, how do you know hatching has taken place? Hatching will be telegraphed by an increase of entry/exit events to a rate of ~2-3 X hour for 6-7 days as brooded young are fed. After the young can regulate their own temperatures, both adults may leave the nest site to forage. Feeding rates for non-brooded young rise to ~4 X hour but higher rates of ~6-7 X hour are seen when a big juicy patch of insects is available locally. If 1 helper is onsite, feeding rates typically are up to ~2 times higher than at a site where only the 2 breeding adults are tending their offspring. Check out last year’s blog, Diary of a Helper, for more details: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/st-adolphe-in-2021-and-more/
Tracking Chimney Swifts at nest sites is a complex activity. These birds do not live by static textbook formulae – their dynamic lives are driven by changing weather conditions and food availability etc. over the breeding season. Think of your monitoring efforts as capturing pieces of a complex and shape-shifting puzzle, a puzzle of big blue sky with Chimney Swifts scattered about. Sometimes birds are feeding apart, sometimes they are flying close together with pair bond “V” displays. Sometimes birds are hitting dead branch ends. Some swifts may have zippy single entries/exits. Some are goofy, slow fliers which have trouble dropping into nest sites, thereby telegraphing fledglings in their early flight training days post-fledging. Along the way your monitoring sessions will add puzzle pieces to the overall picture. Infrequent, short sessions gather puzzle pieces with snippets of information; these are very good for verification of site use. Frequent, lengthy sessions harvest more robust puzzle pieces that have more information in them; these are necessary for identifying stages of nesting.
Keep watching!
Let us know what your Chimney Swifts are doing at their nest sites. Do what you can, when you can, and keep flying those monitoring reports over to us at MCSI. We always appreciate your input and the Chimney Swifts will be well served by your involvement! Knowledge is a powerful currency. Together, we can continue to apply our knowledge to support Chimney Swifts living in Manitoba.
Oh, and be prepared to wonder sometimes if your puzzle piece is a flyaway belonging to another picture altogether. Head scratchers do happen. The challenge of decoding swift behaviour may take a rear-view mirror at season’s end. Let’s hope the rest of the breeding season plays out in a manageable fashion – for the Chimney Swifts and for all of us monitors!
