Monitoring request & surprise tower shenanigans!
Happy August!
This year has been a very strange one in terms of swift activity. Barb and Tim are speculating that the consistent smoke paired with dry conditions have resulted in poor foraging conditions for the swifts. The chances of a successful nesting attempt are a lot lower when the adults are struggling to catch enough food to feed the young. These widespread difficult conditions (and related nest failures) might be resulting in the early formation of premigratory groupings. We’ve gotten several reports of groups of swifts being spotted in areas they haven’t been regularly seen in so far this spring/summer. Things are shifting!
Though our official August monitoring blitz is scheduled for Tuesday, August 19th, I’d like to put out a monitoring call out for this week (Aug 4-8). Basically, if you have time to squeeze in a monitoring session or two at any point this week, we’d love to know what you see! At this point, most sites with an active nesting attempt will be feeding young or will have fledglings, so it’s a really good time to check for activity before most swifts begin to depart later in August. Daytime and roost hour monitoring are both valuable, depending on what works best for you. Both provide important clues to understanding the MB swift situation puzzle.
Before we launch into our monitoring recap, I want to share a very exciting and unexpected event from this past week. As you may know, we have several artificial towers for Chimney Swifts in Manitoba. The towers we talk about most often are the four towers at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) and the tower at the Assiniboine Park Zoo (APZ), all of which have been very successful. What we don’t talk about as often, are the older towers that were built between 2008 and 2013. These towers were the first attempt at installing artificial towers in Manitoba, and they were based on a design by Kyle & Kyle used in the southern United States. Unfortunately, no swifts were observed using these towers, so a few years later a group of experts got together and created a new tower design better suited to Manitoba’s climate (which is the design used for the newer towers at the SMHC and APZ). There’s a lot more info on the towers on this page of our website: https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/chimney-swift-towers/
ANYWAYS, here’s the big reveal… This week, for the first time since it was built 17 years ago, Barb saw swifts use the artificial tower in St. Adolphe!!! Extremely unexpected. The full story is in the St. Adolphe recap below.
Time for our monitoring recap.
Lockport
On August 1, Gerald watched the chimneys on the St Andrews Lock and Dam Maintenance Compound from 8:20pm-9:40pm. At the South chimney, he saw 1 exit at 8:38pm, 1 entry at 9:11pm, 1 exit at 9:13pm, and 1 entry at 9:23pm.
Lower Fort Garry
Gerald monitored the LFG sites on July 28, from 8:17pm-9:40pm. At the Fur Loft, he saw 1 entry/exit around 8:23pm, 1 entry at 9:05pm and 1 entry at 9:13pm. At the Men’s House, he saw 1 entry at 8:24pm, 1 exit at 8:28pm, 1 entry at 8:29pm, 1 entry/exit at 8:38pm, 1 entry at 8:44pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:50pm, and 2 entries around 9:04pm (4 swifts roosting in the chimney).
Portage la Prairie
On July 23, Gordon and Jana watched the Rufus Prince Building from 9:02pm-9:53pm. They saw lots of activity at the middle chimney: 1 exit at 9:24pm, 1 entry at 9:32pm, 1 exit at 9:35pm, 5 entries between 9:36pm-9:42pm, and 1 exit at 9:43pm (up to 5 swifts in the chimney but only 4 in at the end of the roosting hour). There was no activity seen in the other two chimneys on the building.
Selkirk
Winona monitored the apartment building at 367 Main St on July 28 from 8:35pm-9:35pm and saw no swift activity. On July 30, Winona monitored the Merchant’s Hotel from 8:30pm-9:30pm and saw no swift activity.
Here’s the breakdown of the recent observations at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre sites.
T01: On July 30, the MB Wildlife Branch students monitored this site during the day and didn’t see any activity. However, on July 31, Fred and Nettie monitored T01 from 7:50pm-9:45pm. They saw 1 entry at 8:12pm. 1 entry/exit around 8:25pm, 2 entries at 8:39pm, 2 exits at 8:40pm, 1 entry at 9:02pm, and 3 more entries between 9:20pm-9:35pm (5 swifts roosting in the tower). It seems that this site has likely fledged, woohoo!
T02: Bonnie and Gwen monitored T02 on July 29 from 8:14pm-9:45pm and saw 1 entry/exit around 8:14pm, 1 entry/exit around 8:16pm, 2 entries around 8:21pm, 1 exit at 8:34pm, 2 entries around 8:40pm, 1 exit at 8:45pm, 1entry/exit followed by another entry/exit around 8:46pm, and 4 entries from 9:06pm-9:36pm (6 swifts roosting in the tower). It seems that this site has also likely fledged!!! Also, we think this site has had a helper which likely contributed to its success.
T03: On July 30, Dennis and Pattie monitored T03 from 8:24pm-9:42pm and saw 5 entries between 9:22pm-9:29pm. We suspect this nest failed earlier in July.
T04: On July 28, Tim monitored T04 from 8:25pm-9:45pm and saw 1 entry at 9:29pm and 1 entry at 9:41pm. On July 29, Winona monitored T04 from 8:30pm-9:40pm and saw 3 entries at 9:34pm. There was no activity at this site during a daytime monitoring session on July 30 done by the MB Wildlife Branch students. On August 1, Nia and Linda watched T04 from 8:45pm-9:45pm and saw 2 entries around 9:31pm. Hard to say for sure whether this nesting attempt has failed.
Infirmary chimney: Dennis and Pattie monitored the Infirmary on July 30 from 8:24pm-9:42pm and saw 1 entry at 8:35pm, 1 exit at 8:51pm, and 7 entries between 9:00pm-9:31pm. Last week, we wondered if this chimney might be hosting a late nesting attempt (in addition to being a roost site for other swifts). The daytime entry/exit combined with the high roosting count seen this week supports this idea.
Yellow Brick chimney: This chimney has been a confusing one this year. There hasn’t been a clear indication that a nesting attempt was initiated here. During a daytime visit on July 30, the MB Wildlife Branch students did see 3 exits. On August 1, Nia watched this chimney from 8:45pm-9:45pm and saw 3 entries during the roosting hour – who knows what the swifts are doing here!
Southport
Gordon and Jana watched the Mynarski House (230 Centennaire Drive) on July 31 from 8:35pm-9:45pm. They saw 1 entry/exit around 8:47pm, 1 entry/exit around 9:07pm, and 2 final entries (at 9:13pm and 9:23pm). Looks like there is an active nesting attempt ongoing at this site.
St. Adolphe
As mentioned in this week’s intro, Barb had quite the unexpected observation on July 29, when she caught a swift enter the artificial tower in St. Adolphe for the first time ever. In Barb’s words, here’s how it went down:
“Driving in the south arm of the U shaped driveway which leads to the Church Tower area/cemetery field, I saw a low flying swift over The Tower. The swift had flown by from N to S, then it circled to the east (field side) and approached low ‘n’ slow again. At 10:37:52 it dropped in! Wow! The FIRST OBSERVATION OF CHSW USE OF THE ST A TOWER!!!
So with eyes glued to the rim, I extracted the hot ‘n’ smoked out swift questing pup from the back seat and set up under a Japanese Maple shrub north of the interpretive sign. At 10:54:52 a very fast flyover of the rim took place by 1 swift; it disappeared through the cleft of two mature willows to the south. At 10:55:05, a swift approached low from the north, flared its wings over the rim & dropped in. More draining of my gray matter! Most importantly, at 10:56:00 and at 10:56:02 1 swift departed.
So why after 17 years do these 2 swifts decide to make an entry/exit on a smoke infused morning when no local feeding was seen otherwise? Queue the music “Who are you? WHO WHO WHO WHO? ‘Cause I really wanna know”!”
As Tim put it: “The question is of course, one off from migratory swifts moving through or something more?” Barb hasn’t seen any other entries or exits at the tower since, so the most likely explanation is that the two swifts she saw using the tower were part of the “restless premigratory moment” she has been witnessing in St. Adolphe. Lots of swifts checking out different chimneys and popping out, without being linked to an active nesting attempt.
Otherwise, the nesting attempt at the SE Club Amical is still active. On Monday August 4, Barb reports: “Today is Day 21 for the SE Club juvies so they should be on the wall now…about 7 more sleeps to go before fledging!”
Winnipeg
On July 29, Amy M. did a daytime monitoring session at the Essex House apartment building (2415 Portage Ave) and did not see any activity. She then checked out the Foodfare in St. James (at 2285 Portage Ave) and saw an exit at 10:50am. This site was on our priority site list so we can now cross it off. Great news!
Graham and Alyssa monitored the CMU chimney on July 30 from 9:27am-10:27am and saw zero swift activity. Alyssa returned to do another monitoring session at this site on July 31 from 8:41pm-9:41pm. There were no entries or exits seen during the roosting hour, though two swifts were spotted flying overhead including an approach by one of the swifts who seemed to check out the chimney before flying away to rejoin the second swift.
On July 29, Breanne monitored the Granite Curling Club from 8:14pm-9:44pm. She saw up to 15 swifts flying in the area throughout the evening. She saw 2 entries into the Granite Curling Club chimney (one at 9:10pm and one at 9:26pm).
On July 30, Blair monitored the Fire Hall at 864 Marion St from 8:42pm-9:43pm and saw no activity. On July 31, he monitored Niakwa Park Plaza (1310 Archibald St) from 8:42pm-9:15pm and saw 1 exit at 8:44pm, 1 entry at 8:50pm, and 1 entry at 9:03pm.
John monitored the Moorgate Apartments (2187 Portage Ave) on July 31 from 4:34pm-5:34pm and saw 1 entry at 5:10pm.
On July 31, Katharine was in the Grant Park Mall Shopping Centre parking lot, when she happened to catch an entry into the Grant Wilton Apartments (1055 Grant Ave) at 6:08pm followed by an exit at 6:10pm. Great to know this site is in use this year.
Priority site list (updated August 4):
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| Winnipeg | St Vital | 185 Fernwood Ave | St Vital – Niakwa Manor | |
| 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
The Cambridge Hotel on Pembina was demolished earlier this year