We’re back with another monitoring recap. Thank you so much to all you incredible volunteers for your continued support and contributions, including answering our spontaneous monitoring call-out last week! We can’t say it enough – your dedication is what makes this program so special and we could not do this without you!
Our next monitoring blitz Tuesday, August 19th. You can monitor one of your usual sites, pick a site from our priority site list, or any other site from our database. The full site list can be found in our summary database, at the following link: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/2024_2021_database.pdf
If you aren’t free on August 19, no problem! As always, you can monitor on another day that works for you. All data is helpful, and contributes to our database.
Carman
Rhonda has continued to keep an eye on the swifts in Carman. On July 17, she saw lots of feeding activity while on July 23, there was no daytime activity (which she believes might have corresponded to the site fledging).
La Broquerie
Amy M. and I took a trip down to La Broquerie on August 5 to monitor the two chimneys at the St. Joachim Parish Church. We watched the chimneys for just over an hour (9:28-10:36am) and saw lots of action! At the small chimney, we saw 1 entry at 9:36am, 1 exit at 9:40am, 1 entry at 10:00am, and 1 exit at 10:06am. At the large chimney, we saw 4 exits at 9:40am, 1 exit at 9:41am, 2 entries at 10:08am, 2 exits at 10:11am, and 1 entry at 10:16am. Up to 6 swifts were accounted for.
Lockport
On August 8, Gerald monitored the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound from 8:15pm-9:35pm. At the South chimney, he saw 1 exit at 8:41pm, 2 entries and 2 exits at 8:59pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:03pm followed by another entry/exit around 9:04pm, 2 entries around 9:20pm and 1 exit at 9:23pm. Some thoughts from Barb: “Given the short duration-in and between visit intervals, I wonder if you have some popcorn behaviour by fledglings…perhaps practicing the all important landings via touch ‘n’ go swift style entries/exits. We never get the satisfaction of knowing exactly which swift pops up after an entry.”
Lower Fort Garry
Gerald monitored the LFG sites on August 10 from 8:17pm-9:25pm. At the Fur Loft, he saw 1 entry at 8:29pm, 1 exit at 8:32pm, 1 entry at 8:43pm and 1 entry at 9:01pm. At the Men’s House, he saw 1 entry/exit at 8:20pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:34pm, and 2 entries around 8:54pm.
Otterburne
On August 5, Amy M. and I monitored the three chimneys at Providence University College from 11:27am-12:32pm. We counted about 15 swifts flying around the Providence College campus and saw lots of action at chimney 551 (the “large” chimney, and the middle one when looking at the chimneys from the main parking lot). During the hour we were there, we saw 10 entries and 9 exits with up to 3 swifts in the chimney at once. Nice to see so much swift activity! It seems that the foraging conditions were quite good that day, given the smoke-free day and on and off rain.
A Chimney Swift exiting chimney 551 at Providence College. Photo: Marissa Berard.
Portage la Prairie
Joel reports seeing at least 19 swifts flying around Dufferin Ave W on August 5th. On August 6, Jana and Gordon monitored the United Church from 8:28pm-9:38pm. At the South chimney, they saw 1 entry/exit at 8:29pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:40pm, 1 entry/exit at 9:07pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:08pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:11pm, and 3 entries between 9:21pm-9:29pm. The next day on August 7, Jana returned to the United Church and monitored from 12:19pm-12:55pm. She saw up to 18 swifts flying but did not see any entries or exits at the chimney.
Selkirk
T01: On August 7, Fred and Nettie watched T01 from 7:30pm-9:30pm and saw 1 exit at 7:40pm, 1 entry/exit around 7:42pm, 2 entries around 7:58pm, 1 exit at 8:01pm, 1 entry at 8:12pm,1 possible exit at 8:17pm, and 2 entries around 8:48pm. We believe this site fledged last week.
T02: On August 10, Dennis and Pattie monitored T02 from 8:20pm-9:26pm and saw 1 entry at 8:46pm, 9 entries from 9:06pm-9:16pm and 2 exits at 9:19pm (up to 10 swifts inside the tower but only 8 in at the end of the roosting hour). We think this site also fledged last week.
T03: On August 7,Dennis and Pattie monitored T03 from 8:31pm-9:30pm and saw 1 entry at 9:20pm. We suspect this nest failed earlier in July.
T04: On August 7, Nia and Linda monitored T04 from 8:45pm-9:34pm and saw 1 entry at 9:15pm. This site has been hard to decipher but it does seem that any nesting attempt here has failed.
Infirmary chimney: On August 7, Dennis and Pattie monitored the Infirmary chimney from 8:31pm-9:30pm and saw 1 exit at 8:59pm, and 10 entries between 9:11pm-9:17pm. It still seems possible that this site is hosting a late nesting attempt combined with being a roost site for other swifts.
Yellow Brick chimney: On August 7, Linda and Nia monitored the Yellow Brick chimney from 8:39pm-9:34pm and saw 3 entries from 9:16pm-9:19pm.We still aren’t sure what is going on at this site.
St. Adolphe
As you may recall from our last blog post, Barb caught two swifts entering and exiting the artificial tower in St. Adolphe on July 29 (the first known use of this tower in its 17 years of existence). On August 10, Tim was made a quick stop at the tower while in the area and caught an exit at 2:54pm! Barb returned to the tower on August 11. She watched from 9:40am-10:05am, and saw 1 entry at 9:54am and 1 exit at 10:02am. Very interesting…. Could there be a nesting attempt at this tower?! We are SO excited to take a peek inside that tower this fall once the swifts are gone, to see if there is a nest or any other evidence of nesting. Until then, we will have to be patient and take our best guesses!
Barb has also continued to keep a close eye on the SE Club Amical swifts, who were on track to fledge sometime between today and Wednesday. This morning (August 11), she monitored the chimney from 9:02am-9:37am, and saw 3 consecutive exits at 9:17am, 1 fast entry at 9:23am, and 1 fast exit at 9:30am. Barb’s words: “Based on the consecutive exits and only activity noted recently by a pair of adults, plus the longer duration-in interval, I am going with nominal fledging!” Woohoo!
Winnipeg
Tim has found a new site in Winnipeg! While in the area, he saw an entry/exit around 6:48pm at the St. Edward the Confessor Church (836 Arlington St). Nice one, Tim!
On July 28, Tim caught 1 entry at 1:08pm into the Mount Royal Apartments (2265 Portage Ave).
On August 6, Breanne monitored the roost chimney at 424 River Ave from 8:01pm-10:01pm on August 6 and though she saw groups of up to 27 swifts flying near the chimney, there were no entries.
On August 7, Frank monitored the Niakwa Manor (185 Fernwood Ave) which was on our priority site list. He watched from 7:55pm-9:25pm and saw 3 entries between 8:24pm-8:46pm, so we can now cross that site off our list. Thanks Frank!
On August 10, Garry watched 712 Watt St from 2:03pm-3:05pm. There were no entries or exits at the chimney, but he saw 4 swifts near the chimney. He was able to see that one was a moulting adult, and two of them were “crispy-plumaged” (likely recently fledged young).
Blair has visited many St Boniface sites over the past few weeks. On August 2, he monitored 188 St. Mary’s Rd from 2:12pm-2:42pm and saw no swift activity (though he notes there was a Merlin in the area). Also on August 2, he monitored Springs Christian Academy (261 Youville St) from 1:47pm-2:06pm and saw 1 entry at 2:03pm. He returned to this site on August 3 from 8:30pm-9:38pm and saw 2 entries at 9:13pm. On August 2, he monitored 690 St. Joseph (Kaljieb Electrics) from 1:05pm-1:35pm and saw 1 entry/exit at 1:13pm and 1 exit at 1:24pm. He returned to this site on August 5 from 8:25pm-9:34pm and saw 1 entry/exit around 8:28pm, and 1 entry at 8:56pm. On August 7, he monitored Riverside Billiards (531 St Mary’s Rd) from 8:32pm-9:17pm and saw 1 entry/exit around 8:36pm, and 2 entries around 9:05pm. On August 8, he monitored the Arundel Apartments (790 Elizabeth Rd) from 8:32pm-9:29pm and saw one swift fly-over at 9:12pm but no entries or exits.
That wraps up our recap for this week.
Priority site list (updated August 11):
| Community | Neighbourhood | Address | Site name | Observer |
| Carman | – | 2nd St | Private residence | |
| Pat S. | ||||
| Eriksdale | – | 16 Railway Avenue | St John’s Anglican Church/Eriksdale Museum | |
| Melita | – | Veteran’s Way | Private residence | |
| Pilot Mound | – | Railway St | Private residence | |
| Souris | – | 5th Ave W | Private residence | |
| demolished | ||||
| Luc B. | ||||
| Tim P. | ||||
| Swan River | – | 518 Main Street | Commercial building | |
| The Pas | – | 627 Cathedral Ave | Cathedral Apartments | |
| Wasagaming | – | 106 Buffalo Drive | Dragonfly Delights Team Room | |
| Winnipeg | Charleswood/Tuxedo/Westwood | Park Boulevard N | Private residence | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 222 York Ave (both chimneys) | Brink’s Canada | |
| Marissa B. & Amy M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 100 Adelaide Street | Immigrant Centre Building | |
| Winnipeg | City Centre | 91 Albert Street | The Old Market Autonomous Zone | |
| Amy M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Garry | 1022 Pembina Highway | Cambridge Hotel – Tower | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 411 Stradbrook Ave | Lancaster Apartment | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 272 Cockburn Street | King George Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 141 River Avenue | Ludlow Court Apartments | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 280 River Avenue | Moxam Court | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 245 Bell Avenue | Children’s Education Funds Inc | |
| Cam T. | ||||
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge | 444 River Ave | Augustine United Church | |
| Winnipeg | Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry | Balmoral St | Private residence | |
| Winnipeg | North Kildonan | 25 Valhalla Drive | Valhalla Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | Point Douglas | 442 William Avenue | Filcasa Housing Coop | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465A Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights | 465D Lanark St | Lanark Gardens | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | 394 Academy Road | Uptown Lofts | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | Dorchester Ave | Private residence | |
| Winnipeg | River Heights/Fort Garry | Kylemore Ave | Private residence | |
| Marilyn B. & Pam L. | ||||
| Frank M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St Boniface | 865 Tache Ave. | Civic Roofing | |
| Amy M. | ||||
| Amy M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | St James | 2415 Portage Avenue | Essex House, pest cage | |
| Frank M. | ||||
| Frank M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | West Broadway | 39 Balmoral Street | Apartment | |
| Frank M. | ||||
| Amy M. | ||||
| Winnipeg | West Kildonan | 31 McBeth St | McBeth House (B) East chimney (centre) | |
| Winnipeg | West Kildonan | 31 McBeth St | McBeth House (C) South chimney (right) |
Cheers,
Marissa
