Hello everybody, Happy 2026 Chimney Swift monitoring season!
Yesterday evening (May 12 th ), we gathered at the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre at Assiniboine Park Zoo to kick off the season. What a night it was!
Staff, volunteers, and Steering Committee members came together to meet face-to-face and reflect on 20 years together as an organization. There was something truly special about being in a room full of people who have dedicated so much time and care to this fascinating (but mysterious!) species. The stories and experiences shared throughout the evening were a reminder of just how far MCSI has come.
Tim addressing the crowd
Our Steering Committee Chair Tim Poole opened the evening with a presentation called The Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative: 20 Years of Continuous Learning. Tim walked us through the history of the organization, from its beginnings in 2006 as an entirely volunteer-led initiative, to where we are today. He touched on some of the early lessons learned, including MCSI’s first-generation towers – what didn’t work, what needed tweaking, and the eventual conception of a new tower design better-suited to Manitoba’s climate.
Lewis leading discussion
Tim also shared Steering Committee member Lewis Cocks’ wise words about these birds: “Chimney Swifts are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. That’s a truly accurate description. Case in point: why did the swifts finally decide to use the first-generation St. Adolphe tower 16 years later?!
After some refreshments and plenty of great conversation, we headed outside to watch the Zoo’s second-generation tower. Before long, we spotted a scream of swifts (yes… that’s actually what a group of them is called) flying acrobatically overhead in the fading light. It’s a sight that never gets old, no matter how many seasons you’ve been monitoring with MCSI. One lucky (and attentive!) volunteer did catch a glimpse of a swift diving straight into the tower! The rest of us sadly missed it, but we know there’s plenty more where that came from as the season gets underway.
The tower at the zoo
Here’s to a successful and interesting 2026 monitoring season – we’re excited to see what the swifts have in store for us this year!
It’s hard to imagine that this time last year the first swifts had already been reported in Winnipeg. As I’m writing this, it’s snowing outside my window at the Albert St office. A seemingly never-ending winter. That being said, the swifts are making their way north and will likely be arriving in the next few days. According to eBird reports, they were spotted just outside Fargo, ND on May 2. Here’s hoping there are insects for them to eat once they arrive! Ahead of the swift’s return to Manitoba, I wanted to send out some details about the upcoming monitoring season.
I also wanted to remind anyone who has not already done so to RSVP for our Season Kick-Off Event happening at the Assiniboine Park Zoo next Tuesday, May 12! For more information and to RSVP, click here.
Monitoring Info 2026
Datasheet & protocol: The datasheet and protocol for 2026 can be found on the Resources and Links page of our website in both English and French.
The protocol is where you will find full monitoring instructions, including start/end times, duration, safety information, instructions on how to fill out the datasheet, etc. In the protocol, we also go over the differences between roost hour monitoring and daytime nest monitoring, and what type of monitoring is best based on the time of year. I’ve added a link to our new interactive map to the protocol. If you see a chimney near you that doesn’t have data from the 2025 season, it could need monitoring! Other than that, only the important dates have changed from last year’s protocol (which I will mention again below).
Volunteer sign-up form: Please fill out the volunteer sign-up form for 2026 (for new and returning volunteers): https://forms.gle/bXxziae5p8RGg1Ve7
NRMP dates: The National Roost Survey (“NRMP”) dates are May 20, May 24, May 28, and June 1. If you are free to do a roost monitoring session on one or any of these nights, let us know. Otherwise, you can begin monitoring whenever works for you!
Monitoring blitzes: We will be holding monthly monitoring ‘blitzes’ throughout the season. The goal is to get a snapshot of what is going on at swift sites across the province, by monitoring as many sites as possible on a given night. Monitoring can be done during the day or during the roosting hour. The blitz dates are: June 17, July 15, August 12.
Resources: If you would like a volunteer lanyard, factsheets to hand out to the public, or any other monitoring resources, please let us know!
Priority sites: Every year we have a list of priority sites to monitor. These priority sites are chimneys that haven’t had confirmed use by swifts in a few years, so we want to reaffirm these sites as important Chimney Swift habitat. For these sites, the goal is to see an entry or an exit – once we’ve had a confirmed observation of a swift using that chimney, we can cross that site off our priority list. We will update the list on the blog every week. The list will be at the end of this blog post. Please note that private residences don’t have the full address listed. If you would like more information about a chimney on a private residence, please contact Mackenzie at mbchimneyswift@gmail.com.
We can’t wait to see what this monitoring season brings! As always, please contact us if you have any questions, comments, or would like to be matched with another site.
-Mackenzie
Priority site list (May 6)
Community
Neighbourhood
Location
Site
Brandon
–
1203 Princess Ave
Orange Block (North Chimney)
Carman
–
2nd Street
private residence
Carman
–
1st St. SW
private residence
Clearwater
–
8-10th Street & Boundary Trail
Harvest Moon Learning Ctre
Eriksdale
–
16 Railway Avenue
St John’s Anglican Church and former Eriksdale Museum
Join us Tuesday, May 12 at the Assiniboine Park Zoo to kick off the 2026 Chimney Swift season with food, door prizes, and great company! We are so excited to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our volunteers over the last 20 monitoring seasons. None of what we do would be possible without our volunteers.
This event will be taking place in the multi-purpose room of the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre in the Assiniboine Park Zoo (same location as last year). There will be volunteers at the Special Events Entrance of the Assiniboine Park Zoo (54 Zoo Dr) to let participants in between 6:45 pm – 7:00pm. Please note that the Special Events Entrance is not the same as the Zoo Main Entrance off Roblin Blvd. Please see the map below to find the Special Events Entrance. As this is an after-hours event, RSVP’s are required (link below at end of this post).
At 7 pm, We’ll start the evening off with a short presentation by Tim Poole about the evolution of MCSI: what we’ve learned, what we’ve unlearned, and where we see the program in the future. Mackenzie (MCSI Coordinator) will also share updates on the monitoring season, as well as distribute MCSI volunteer badges and lanyards and Chimney Swift factsheets. After that, we will have some door prizes to give away, followed by snacks and visiting.
At around 8:15pm, we will move outdoors for a group swift watch at the zoo’s artificial tower (weather permitting).
