Manitoba News Bulletin for the National Monitoring Blitz Night No. 1 – May 21, 2014:
The early returns are in and there was a lot of empty air space on the chilly Wednesday evening. Matt Dedrick, who coordinates the Carman volunteers, wondered if a new subspecies was indicated: “Chaetura pelagica noseeum”! Many people would agree as no chimney swifts were seen at: two Carman sites; two Clearwater sites; Portage La Prairie; and La Broquerie.
For monitors lucky enough to spot swifts, few birds roosted for the night in the occupied chimneys. The Dauphin roost had 11 swifts and the record high count for the night was at Selkirk where 25 swifts came in.
In St. Adolphe, the five nest sites had varying activity. Empty sites = SE Club Amical and Brodeur Bros.; occupied sites = 2 swifts in at the NE Club Amical chimney; 2 swifts in Main St.; and only 1 at the Church.
All has changed now that the cold weather system has moved along and brought the first string of clear, warm days (ok, 30 C is just hot). the bug-inspiring heat has created favourable feeding conditions and chimney swifts have been sighted during the daytime now in various locations such as Fort Whyte Alive and East Kildonan in Winnipeg.
Roosting hour sightings have picked up also since Wed. Interestingly, 4 chimney swifts were active in the Carman Memorial Hall site (entries and exits) before 2 roosted for the night on Thursday, May 22nd. Roosting birds were noted again on Friday, May 23rd.
So the daytime sightings and entry/exit behavior indicate that migrants are moving into our area and nesting territory is being established for the season. The invisible swifts seem to have disappeared.
It seems that a global threat of thunderstorms is upon us all for Sunday night, May 25th, which is National Monitoring Blitz Night No. 2. From Dauphin to La Broquerie to Portage to Winnipeg, Environment Canada has the lightning icon embedded in its forecast.
Just a reminder to all monitors that safety comes first and if there is storm activity, we will pass on chimney side viewing. If light or intermittent rain occurs, monitoring can proceed…in fact, the chimney swifts in St. Adolphe have put on amazing feeding shows at the edge of storm fronts.
All the best for your viewing pleasure Sunday night and may the swifts be winging their way to a site near you…
(Our CHSW season started with an opportunity to watch a Kingston, ON roost site over the May long weekend. Thanks to Chris Grooms for steering us to the location and to Frank Machovec who has provided a link to some “phone video” footage Rob took of the 131 swift spectacle – amazing birds!). Click here to see the video.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Barb.
(mbchimneyswift@gmail.com)