Author: mbchimneyswift@gmail.com

Wednesday 25th July will be our latest monitoring challenge. This week, we are asking if folk can do a one and a half hour roost monitoring session at sites for which we have evidence of a breeding attempt in 2018. We have included a list of possible sites at the end of this post.

‘logically, in times of poor feeding, it would seem that a nesting attempt where the breeding pair are tolerant of a helper would just fare better compared to non-helper nest sites.’

We have been trying to keep volunteers and interested folk alike abreast of Chimney Swift activity throughout the summer. One of our target activities this year has been to go out and find swifts in new places. To this end, it is high time you were given an update as to where we stand on this, and a friendly reminder that there is still time to find more swifts.

A number of you have checked out towns in Manitoba, from Gilbert Plains, Ste-Rose-du-Lac in the northwest (ok, northwest of Chimney Swift range), to Baldur, Pilot Mound and Rivers in the southwest, Eriksdale in the Interlake and Emerson in the south. In total, we must have had folk look at over 20 towns in addition to the usual spots we watch. That is some effort. Here is a summary of where we stand, including a trip report from the Emerson/Dominion City trip earlier this week.

Towns Where We Have Swifts (Hurrah)

Baldur (report by Cal Cuthbert) Also today (June 10) at 9:53 AM I spotted a lone CHSW flying among a myriad of Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, some Cliff Swallows and Purple Martins over Baldur, specifically 2 blocks W of the Baldur United Church (over Oak Creek Road). The previous evening I had spent about 30 minutes walking slowly along Carrie Avenue in the vicinity of the Baldur United Church but didn’t see any swifts in spite of the good looking chimney there which had been earlier noted. Therefore today’s bird was a surprise. Maybe our next visit down there will come up with more than one bird and that this one wasn’t just a transient.

Pilot Mound (report by Katharine Schulz) I was not able to link the two Chimney Swifts in Pilot Mound to any specific chimney, although they appeared to spend most of their time above a two street by three street area with the majority of potential chimneys that I had noted. There was also a potential chimney on an old house east outside Pilot Mound (south side of #3 Hwy just east of the intersection of Hwy 34).

The potential chimneys in this area included:

• 128 Moffat Ave ~26 bricks high x3x3
• 138 Moffat Ave. ~42 bricks high x 3.5 x5.5 rectangle
• 125 Stanley Ave. (corner at Anderson St.) cinder blocks
• 137 Stanley Ave. ~21 bricks high x3x2 with metal around top edge
• 215 Railway St. (on section between Stanley Ave. and Victoria Ave. ~30 bricks high x3x2

Eriksdale (report by Ken De Smet) ‘It’s from 1:20 pm on June 29. After many sail overs one of the pair went down the small church chimney on Railway Avenue.  No affiliation or sign on church and doors locked. It’s between Coop and New Horizons Club.’

Neepawa (report from Rick) ‘I went there today(June 22nd) and the one is flying continuously around the hospital and mainly staying mostly around the large chimney. I am not sure but it feels that the other is on the nest.’

​Lockport (report by Gerald Macnee)  ​’This evening (July 11th) when we were returning from Winnipeg at about 8:15 PM I noticed a couple of Swifts near the bridge. So parked for a few minutes and saw several flying around. I saw up to 10 flying from 8:20 PM until 9:45 PM. Then they started going in and out of the north chimney. One came out of the south chimney.’

Birtle (report by Lynnea Parker) ‘I’ve got 4 CHSW flyover in Birtle, Main Street (June 19th)’

Morden (report by David Charriere) ‘This evening (June 23rd), I saw 2 entries, and 1 exit.  Not being overly familiar with the nest duties of swifts, the timing of the second entry/exit surprised me.  Is it normal for a entry/exit to be only 10-15 seconds apart?   If the birds swapped places on the nest this quick change makes sense to me.  And if it is a normal turnaround time, this explains why I missed a likely exit at or near 7:57 (as soon as the entry happened I took time to jot it on my worksheet).’

Dominion City (report by Tim Poole, Chris Meiklejohn and Lynnea Parker) ‘Last evening (July 18th), Lynnea Parker, Chris Meiklejohn and I took a road trip to the south on a mission to eek out some Chimney Swifts in new places. Our first stop was Dominion City. I had recently found a record from Luc Blanchette of swifts in the town in around 2014, so a follow up was very much needed.

Having managed to make the town (I very nearly took us on a detour around St Agathe), we began our search. Within about one minute a swift was spotted
over the road. We followed it around the corner and set our eyes on a very nice looking brick chimney on a private household. At this point I think we had 2 swifts in the air. One swift dropped into the house. Success! Soon after we could see 3 swifts in the air, then the second swift dropped. The other two swifts disappeared for a bit only to be seen intermittently for the next 20 minutes or so. We noted a couple of other possible chimneys and headed to Emerson.’

Emerson (report by Tim Poole, Chris Meiklejohn and Lynnea Parker)  ‘Emerson was not so lucky to begin with (this is the same day as the Dominion City report). We drove around for quite a while and did not see swifts or any really good chimneys. One private house looked out best bet and Lynnea staked it out for a while. Around sunset, and with still no swifts we decided that it didn’t look promising. I decided to drive to the railway bridge over the river, call it a hunch, and immediately spotted a more promising bird in the air. Walking onto the bridge (there’s a pedestrian path), I spied at least one swift heading north over the river, possibly with 2 others (they flew away before I could get a good look). Back to town! Apart from a brief glimpse that I had of a probable swift near the post office after sunset, we did not get to see a swift enter a chimney (Barb Stewart found a picture of the masonic lodge on First Street after our trip which looks to have a very nice masonry chimney). On the way back to the 75, via a detour to nowhere, we saw at least one good looking chimney east of the Red River in an area we had not explored. This was by the border crossing (stop press, a look on Streetview suggests a number of possible chimneys in this area).

Anyway, needless to say it was ultimately a successful trip! If anyone wants to head down that way on a second swift search, let me know and I can provide details of possible locations.’

Manitou (monitoring done by Lynnea, Frank, Jacquie and David) 4 sites were watched with no success. Frank and Lynnea both though heard brief swift chattering.

Other towns watched – but with no swifts (yet)

We cannot just give credit to those who found swifts. A number of folk took the trouble to look elsewhere for swifts with less success. Below is a list of places checked this year without swifts:

• • • • • • Rivers (Margaret and Millie), no suitable chimneys found
          • Gilbert Plains (Ken), some suitable chimneys but no swifts seen
          • Grandview (Ken), no suitable chimneys found
          • Laurier (Ken), possible chimneys, no swifts
          • Ste Rose du Lac (Ken and Jan), one possible but unlikely chimney
          • Ochre River (Ken and Jan), one possible but unlikely chimney
          • Valley River (Ken and Jan),  no suitable chimneys found
          • Sifton (Ken and Jan),  no suitable chimneys found
          • Minnedosa (Tim and Sabina), some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Erickson (Tim and Sabina), no likely chimneys
          • Boissevain (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Crystal City  (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Cartwright  (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Minto (Katharine and Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          •  Deloraine (Katharine)  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Virden (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Dunrea (Katharine),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Ninette ( Katharine and Frank and Jacquie ),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Miami (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Mariapolis (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Belmont  (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Wawanesa (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts
          • Glenboro  (Frank and Jacquie),  some suitable chimneys, no swifts

        ---

        If I have forgotten to include anywhere else in this list, please let me know and I will update the blog to be more accurate.

        It it important to note that, just because there were no swifts noted on these visits, this does not dismiss these towns as possible locations for swifts, especially in those places where searches were made during the day.

        A huge thank you everyone who has gone out and checked these places. As you can tell, there are some places which need more looking to get those all important swift residences identified. Please feel free to go and find these, and if you need some pointers, we will be happy to help!

        — Tim Poole

Most breeding Chimney Swifts are likely to be at the stage where they are feeding non-brooded young – chicks which no longer require an adults warmth to survive inside the chimney. In the last week of July and early August, we will start to see young birds leave the chimney, and these birds will start to migrate in mid-August. For a full summary of swift dates in Manitoba, you can read an excellent summary from Barb and Rob Stewart on our website at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/monitoring_guide2011.pdf. With this in mind, sit back with a cup of coffee, a glass of water, or something stronger, and read the latest interesting swift news from Barb Stewart in St Adolphe.

— Tim Poole

The following comes to us from Barb Stewart based on recent observations from  the Chimney Swift capital of Manitoba, Saint Adolphe.

All monitoring data collected are useful but some sessions are just more fun than others. Tim sent news of Margaret and Millie’s fabulous pair in Brandon who had 13 entries and 11 exits in the roosting hour on July 15. There was a report from a Winnipeg site, on July 17, documenting 7 entry/exit events in 40 minutes prior to roosting. That is excellent activity at both nest sites – reflecting big patches of local insects? – and very enjoyable swift watching experiences.

Sadly, there is another end of the spectrum. Zero, zip, nil, nada. And that is what happened (or didn’t) during a 120 minute monitoring session Wed. morning, July 18, at the St Adolphe Church. I saw a group of 5 swifts feeding in the cemetery, so there were adult survivors of the recent heat wave. That may not be the case for all nestlings. Even with the recent trend of low feeding rates, adult no-shows for over 2 hours is too long to keep juveniles alive. This site will be followed closely over the next few days for ongoing signs of a nest failure.

Checking in on other sites on Tues., July 17, a single swift flew really low over the Main St chimney 50 minutes into the mid-morning monitoring period. An audible chitter came from the passing bird. Then, a swift flew quickly out of the chimney – it had been inside for a very long time. It is remarkable how these breeding pairs communicate and keep connected.

After Tuesday’s Main St session I moved over to the Club Amical. The feeding activity in the SE chimney continued nicely. On Sunday the pair was also active and “veer and peer” behaviour was evident. So, the young are non-brooded now.

At the NE chimney on Sunday, an adult left the chimney 50 minutes into the session. Then on Tuesday, an adult entered the chimney while a second swift flying with it flew off. Incubation is not indicated so this pair will not have a successful secondary nesting attempt. Time has run out for this season.

Still no sign of flyby’s or activity at the Brodeur Bros site.

Moving along to Thurs. July 19, the morning monitoring started at Club Amical. And what a session it was. All was revealed. Five swifts were flying low to the roof and around the general area making all sorts of sounds when I arrived. Within minutes, an entry was made into the SE site as 7 swifts were flying about. Then 8 noisy swifts flew by, then 9 were counted. Two swifts approached the SE site and 1 dropped in; minutes later another entry was made. Brilliant! With 3 swifts inside the SE chimney a helper was confirmed. Within a minute, a swift left the SE chimney so that left 2 inside.  Then a whole lot of noise broke out – swifts and martins were mobbing a hawk (Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s). As the birds clumped together to drive off their foe, it seemed that 9-10 swifts were in the group. Then a swift popped up from the NE chimney. Ok – that made for 1 in the SE and 1 in the NE when 9 swifts were spotted; and there were 2 in the SE and 1 in the NE chimney when the mob scene took place. So this morning, 11 swifts for sure and possibly 12-13 swifts were in town. For over an hour, low feeding flights with stall ‘n’ nabs were seen along with group flying, peer ‘n’ veers at the SE rim, racing with body bumping, “V” displays between close flying pairs ~ all with a wide range of conversations that only the swifts could understand!

Swifts are highly social birds and the St Adolphe flock was certainly engaged this morning. Unfortunately, there was no activity again at the Church chimney for over an hour. Perhaps the nest failure which seemed apparent on Wed. resulted in a renewed social connections on Thurs.

At the time of writing Thurs. night, the rain was pouring in torrents and an electrical storm danced about the sky. Sheet wash on the inside surface of chimneys is a risk to nests. So the vigil will continue at the chimney-sides Friday to check on nesting progress…

To wrap things up, here’s a point to ponder ~ the Kyle’s who wrote the bible “Chimney Swifts, America’s Mysterious Birds Above the Fireplace” say that young in Texas get fed on average every 30 minutes for 7 days; then they are fed on average once an hour. Based on 11 years of observations in St Adolphe, non-brooded young usually are fed 3-4 times an hour. So why are the St Adolphe swifts behaving more like Texas birds this year with 1 X hour feeding rates? Whatever is driving the seemingly low Manitoba feeding rates may be contributing to unsuccessful nesting outcomes. Something to think about as you stare at a chimney rim waiting for action…

— Barb Stewart

A quick update on some swift comings and goings is due, so here we go!

First, thanks to Frank for his excellent update while I was away in the past couple of weeks. Frank’s contributions can go unnoticed to MCSI, but without his technical help, the emails and website would grind to a halt!

So an update is needed. First to Dauphin. As ever, why write something yourself when others say it so much better. Over to Ken on July 8th:

‘Well, Jan and I decided to give tonight a chance to view the local swifts and decided to try a new observation location in hopes of watching all 3 chimneys but we ended up being too far away from two of them. We did see one exit from the roost chimney (#1) and some single entries but we were only able to see birds just as they went down. The #2 chimney (WAC) did have lots of interest but we only noted one enter. The #3 chimney was too far away and slightly obscured by a tree top so nothing to report there. At one time when they were flying around, we did count about a dozen swifts going between all 3 sites.’

Margaret and Millie had a busy pair certainly in the process of caring for young on the same evening in Brandon. This must be Manitoba’s most reliable breeding site (don’t tell St Adolphe).

We always look forward to John’s reports, primarily because he manages to check so many sites. John on July 10th had daytime activity at 139 Market and 41 Princess, both in Winnipeg.

Sticking in Winnipeg, Garry continues to watch his Watt Street sites, and they continue to be actively breeding. However, Frank, Jacquie and Cathy checked last night (the 11th), and only noted a single bird. Maybe the other one was in the chimney for the duration?

Sticking in East Kildonan, Lynnea successfully recorded the first use at Roxy’s Bowling on Henderson Highway on Wednesday evening. She noted at least one entry-exit cycle (last time I heard from a text, there surely is more to come here).

Rudolf made it an East Kildonan hat-trick:

‘I spent this evening (Wednesday 11 July) from 9:38 to 10 p.m. at the Northdale shopping centre. There was a single flyby at 9:38, then an entry at the Curtis Hotel at 9:42, followed by an entry at 1010 Brazier at 9:51. No exits were seen. By 10 it got too dark to see well, so I left.’

Tim failed to get out on wacky Wednesday due to jetlag, but he’s still been busy don’t you worry! On Tuesday he recorded first use of one of those old downtown sites in Winnipeg which has been on the database forever, a site at 172 Edmonton. This was on his walk home from the office. In a few minutes, 3 entries and a single exit were noted. This morning (Thursday), Tim also noted new sites at 526 Walker, and 33 Kennedy during his trip to work. The former included an exit, and the latter two entries.

Finally, a couple of nice stories to finish. Ken De Smet, our esteemed MCSI Steering Committee chair has located Chimney Swifts in Eriksdale, the first time MCSI has become aware of swifts in this part of the Interlake. A swift was noted entering a church on Railway Avenue, with a second bird in attendance.

Finally, Gerald has sent in some good news from Lockport:

‘This evening when we were returning from Winnipeg at about 8:15 PM I noticed a couple of Swifts near the bridge. So parked for a few minutes and saw several flying around. I saw up to 10 flying from 8:20 PM until 9:45 PM. Then they started going in and out of the north chimney. One came out of the south chimney. By 10:00PM only 2 were seen flying. Then it got a bit dark so I went home at about 10:10 PM.‘ 

Gerald has tried a number of times to locate swifts in this chimney, so it was great to finally track them down.

Before we forget, an update from Barb in St Adolphe:

‘Here is the St. Adolphe roundup for Wed. July 11:

 Starting with Main St., where the swifts were no-shows for 90 minute sessions last Friday and then again Monday, aerial sightings were rare. Swifts were high up in the sky and were speeding by in the high winds. A pair left the chimney together about 15 minutes after the start of observations. After 60 minutes, no other entry/exit events took place. I left to carry on as the temperature was climbing fast, dragging the humidex rating along with it; the wind gusts of near 60 kph kept my chair awning blown down. It was tough to sit and watch with everything being tossed about but it was nothing compared to what those swifts were going through trying to feed! The Main St site was active today which is good, but the feeding rate was low.

 At the Church over the noon hour, the occasional rain blob fell but nothing was substantial enough to change the activity patterns of the birds. As the clouds rolled in, the wind dropped, and then swifts started appearing low overhead to feed. Quite the reverse order of what happens typically in the course of a day. It took 100 minutes to capture some entry/exit intervals. A swift dropped into the chimney 85 and 91 minutes after the start of observations; they stayed at the nest site for ~12 and 6 minutes respectively as they left together. So despite seeing a lot of foraging swifts, the feeding rate was low at this site too.

 Club Amical was the last stop for the day. Between 1:50 and 2:50 PM, a swift entered the SE chimney seconds after the start of observations and stayed for 1 minute. Shortly before the end of the session, 56 minutes later, 3 swifts came by and 1 entered the SE chimney, then 1 swift left ~20 seconds later. Were these partner exchanges or fast turnarounds by one swift? The feeding rate was higher (i.e., between-visit interval here was shorter) than for the Main St. and the Church sites. A longer session soon will help clarify whether a helper is on site at the SE Club and if the young are being brooded.

 A pair of swifts entered the NE Club Amical chimney and stayed for ~17 minutes. They left together and were seen flying close together in the area afterward. A secondary attempt at nest building/egg laying seems to be indicated.

 Still no activity at the Brodeur Bros. site after the June 30^th nest failure.

 One last note to watch for is the adults are starting to moult. Watching the trailing wing margin, you will see gaps or discontinuities where feathers are missing.’

Always useful to get the full Barb interpretation!

Onto next Wednesday, and for this one a group of us will head south to check Emerson and maybe if we have a couple of extra folk around, another local town for swifts. Maybe a wild swift chase, but you never know if you never look! If you would like to come please let us know. For those living further away from Winnipeg, we have a great list of towns to check out, from Gilbert Plains, to Swan River, Fisher Branch to Pilot Mound. Let us know if you are interested in checking out a new place to look for swifts.

— Tim Poole

Post Canada Day greetings to all, and special thanks to the many volunteers who continue to brave the elements in search of  sometimes elusive chimney swifts!

Recently we’ve had some interesting finds and some surprising absences involving our target species.

We will make sense of the many monitoring reports later, but the following are some highlights from recent observations. If I’ve neglected to mention your reports, sorry and we’ll get to you next time!

From Carman, Lewis, Frank, and Jacquie recently monitored the Memorial Hall chimney and a nearby residential chimney. There were several fly-bys by Swifts, and we observed at least eight CHSW in the Memorial Hall and four in the residential chimney.

From Barb Stewart:

“As of Tuesday, July 3rd the St Adolphe swifts were in various stages of progress and unfortunately, demise. The backstory to remember was a huge early morning thunder storm on Fri. June 29. Before then, incubation was underway at all 5 nest sites (checked Tues. – Thurs.) although with an extra helper on site at the SE Club chimney, the cadence of entries/exists was different.

As a reminder, the adult exchanges of 1 time per hour during incubation, shift subtly to about 2 times per hour when feeding begins. After hatching, the young need warming, or brooding, for 6-7 days. So one adult is usually in attendance at all times, covering the young after they are fed. Juveniles older than 6-7 days can regulate their own body temperature so they can be left uncovered i.e., non-brooded. Then both adults may leave the nest site to forage for those precious food morsels. Fledging – the first flight of juveniles outside of the natal chimney – takes place on Day 28–30.

Checking in on the birds starting Sat. June 30th, the daytime activity at the Brodeur Bros. and NE Club Amical sites had stopped. A nest slippage after the storm? Perhaps some negative outcome of “extra” swifts arriving in town?

On to better news…the Main St eggs hatched out during the time between the last Tues. monitoring session and the Friday storm day – on June 30th there were 2 entry/exit cycles in one hour. On Tues. July 3, both adults were out of the chimney together – both arriving over the rim but only one entered. So that was Day 6-7 which makes for an estimated fledging between July 24-27.

At the Church, hatching took place on July 2. That means the avian congregation should fledge July 29-31.

What about the SE Club Amical site? Well, with an extra bird on site and some complicated entry and exit activity, the site is active but the stage is not easy to identify.

Difficulty in interpretation spread to La Salle for the early evening monitoring on Wed. July 4th; the last check on June 10th had 3 consecutive entries into the West chimney in late morning. Arriving about 7:25 PM, Rob and I were treated to an exit from the West chimney shortly thereafter. Great – a nest site. Then an exit was seen from the East chimney. Oh boy, had an additional swift(s) arrived for a breeding attempt? By the end of a 90 session, 3 swifts were seen flying together, no other event occurred at the East chimney, and the pair had 2 entries and 1 exit at the West site. The couple moved together (typical of egg laying/incubation phase) which resulted in an unattended stretch of ½ hour (a long time for brooded young) and a short between-visit interval of ~5 minutes (not much time to collect insects to feed young).

What is happening in La Salle? Likely a single bird took a rest in the East site. A pair is attempting breeding in the West site. The stage of nesting isn’t obvious. What complicates the story is the early Wed. morning thunder storm which had significant winds and rain. A nest slippage is always possible under those conditions. Parroting a favourite swift saying, there is always reason for one more trip to the chimney side!

Best, Barb.”

• John has been observing a number of sites in the core area of Winnipeg, and he has reported activity at 513 Waterfron, 303 Assiniboine, and 41 Princess.
• Rick in Neepawa has observed swift activity in that location.
• David in Morden has seen swifts at Lucky’s .
• Margaret and Amelia in Brandon have noted consistent activity at the 1203 Princess site.
• Chimney Swifts have been reported in the vicinity of the bridge in Lockport
• David in La Broquerie has been observing consistent activity in both chimneys at the historic  St Joachim Church on Main Street.
• Frank and Jacquie have noted swift activity at the Mulvey Avenue site near Confusion Corner in Winnipeg.

During a recent Swift Wednesday, Lynnea, David, Frank and Jacquie took a road trip to Manitou (after an obligatory  visit to Tim Hortons in Morden) to check three likely sites in the Pembina Valley town. Four chimneys were observed during the roost hour, but no swifts were seen (although two of the group may have heard swift chittering).

Keep those monitoring reports coming in and feel free to assign yourself to a chimney of your choice on Swift Wednesdays!

— Frank Machovec

Here’s  a Swift update while our intrepid coordinator Tim is, as they say, across the pond.

From Saint Adolphe, our swift nesting capital with five active swift sites and an artificial tower, comes news of a mural featuring our favourite insectivore:

Lesley Gaudry, the CEDO of the RM of Ritchot provides some details:

The artist is Mandy van Leeuwen. The Sign is a project of the Ritchot Community Development Corporation – St. Adolphe Subcommittee.  The mural is part of our Main Street Enhancement efforts together with the Pergola at Esso and the hanging flower baskets. The Heritage themed mural is to commemorate different aspects of St. Adolphe’s heritage – built and natural environment.

The birds on the mural are representation of the RM being a birding area, the chimney swifts are of course for the nesting capital, the area view of the town on top is homage to the red river lot settlement land patterns, and the old rm logo, etc.

It should be noted that Barb Stewart and Tim Poole had some input on the design of the mural.

As far as monitoring results from south of the Perimeter, Barb Stewart reports “As of this morning, all 5 nest sites in town are active at the incubation stage; extra birds are in town with at least one helper on site at the SE Club Amical chimney.”

A group of road warriors (David, Lynnea, Frank and Jacquie) drove out to Manitou last night (after an obligatory stop at the Morden Tim Hortons) to check out several promising chimneys in the town. The chimneys were indeed promising,the weather was obliging and the company was congenial, but no swifts were seen entering the chimneys, although Lynnea and Frank heard some familiar chittering during the monitoring period.

July 4 (Swift Night but not necessarily American Independence Day)

Instead of an organized blitz of a pre-determined site on July 4, we recommend that you select a likely chimney for monitoring. We hope that some new sites might be found or some lesser-viewed sites might get some data points for 2018.

You might want to consult the Monitoring Results page for a list of known sites.

— Frank Machovec for the MCSI

After six official nights of swift monitoring, our official spring roost monitoring program ended with some more fascinating insights into Chimney Swift behaviour,  Chimney Swift distribution, and that glorious ability of swifts to confuddle even the sharpest of minds.

Before jumping into our June 8^th update, a quick recap on those monitoring reports between June 4^th and June 7^th which have not been covered yet. Kathy, Jake, Beth and Adolf submitted their report for the Assiniboine School roost a wee bit late, but that doesn’t matter, a very respectable 107 entries were recorded. They also counted 2 bird per chimney at the Carillon and King’s Theatre.

Luc was unable to get to the church St-Jean-Baptiste in June 4^th, but did get out on June 6^th. His report was fun reading – another bemused swifter!

‘Am I ever confused! five swifts entered the chimney. Are they migrants? I thought only one couple would nest in a chimney, with sometimes a helper or two from a previous brood. It’s the first time this year that this many birds enter the chimney.’

Gord counted 2 entries at the MTS building in Portage la Prairie on the same evening, with a total of around 8 birds in the air.

There’s the update completed up until June 7^th. Now to the night of June 8^th. Following the lousiest forecast ever given, volunteers managed to get out to towns and cities from Dauphin to La Broquerie, and a few places in the middle. Thunderstorms eh!

We HAVE to begin in Morden, and David’s quest to find where the pair of swifts are roosting/nesting. Here is his summary report of the evening:

‘The final official monitoring session was my most successful.  I found a chimney that is being used!  321 Stephen St. This is Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant that I suspected from my last monitoring session.  2 confirmed entries and 1 possible entry earlier in the session.  The two entries were about 20 seconds apart so I’m hoping it is a mating pair.’

Congratulations David for the many hours of determined watching, followed by a very deserved and rewarding grand revealing.

Mike and Michéle had an interesting evening in St-François-Xavier, a total of 5 entries over the period of the evening followed by some bizarre nocturnal entries and exits.

Over in Brandon, Margaret and Millie had their faithful pair of swifts, the final bird entering at 10:11pm.

In Portage la Prairie, Cal had some entry/exit cycles and a total of 3 birds in the Tupper Street Church chimney.

David in La Broquerie broke into poetry, a possible first for the evening updates:

‘Whether the weather be fine, Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot,
I decided to weather the weather, Whatever the weather,
Whether I liked it or not, so I monitored the La Broquerie lot.

Considering your advice about early roosting when rainy, I arrived early at around 8.30 and at 8.39 there were 2 entries into the small chimney.  At 8.43 there were 2 entries into the large chimney.

 Then the weather started to brighten with sun on the horizon even though it was still cloudy overhead.  At 9.04 there were 2 exits from the large chimney and shortly thereafter I saw 7 in the air at the same time.  If the first 2 in the small chimney stayed down that would make 9 in total.  However with the sky clearing, the fun had just begun.  

 Scribbling on a pad of paper I use an up arrow (⬆) for an exit and a down arrow (⬇) for an entry.  So starting at 9.23 after subtracting the exits from the entries I end up with 10 entries, the last entry being at 9.55.  And if the first 2 entries at 8.39 stayed down the grand total would be 12.  I suspect I must have missed a few exits, especially from the small chimney as they are very hard to see.  Nevertheless a very successful evening.

 We need more chimneys for them to nest in.’

 For those unfamiliar with swift monitoring, this sounds like a hectic evening of fun watching. Speaking of fun swift watching, we cannot go on without delivering the report from the Moorgate by MCSI Coordinator, Tim.

‘I had an interesting evening. I went back to the Moorgate on Portage Avenue. I soon got distracted by frequent swift activity on the south side of Portage, the Moorgate being on the north side. On more than one occasion, I documented swifts entering a new site over the road. Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to ditch the Moorgate, and watch the south Portage swifts. 

Looking at the chimney where I had noted swifts entering, I was a little perturbed to see one flue lined and the other screened by a pest cage. Surely I was mistaken. A few minutes later, a swift tried to enter through the cage and deflected off it. Yes, it literally hit the cage and jolted away in a different direction. A minute later, the same swift, presumably, tried again, and this time went straight through the cage.

I moved across to look at the next apartment with a chimney which appeared half open, and half screened by another cage. Later on, a pair of swifts came into roost. STRAIGHT THROUGH THE CAGE ON THIS CHIMNEY. The top must have fallen through on both cages.

So there we have it, swifts can get through these contraptions if the top falls off, and it’s highly likely if we can get them removed, we can restore more habitat.’

 Even more bizarre, Tim found two more similar chimneys the following morning in Osborne Village while taking his kids to the splashpad.

So there we have it, swifts can fly through a busted pest screen. GO SWIFTS!

Sabina tried a possible new site on Confusion Corner but lucked out, as did Lynnea and Adam in East Kildonan. Barbara also had no luck at the new Old Grace Coop site.

John continued his 303 Assiniboine vigil, counting 2 in one chimney and 30 in the other. Of interest was the fact that Linda also counted this site, the two of them must have been in different locations! Her count of 31 was pretty much exactly the same (there is always going to be an error with larger groups of birds, so a one bird difference actually helps confirm the precision of the volunteers – call it within the margin of error).

Up to Dauphin now. Ken and Jan now have helpers. Yippee! The report from the larger roosting site was as follows:

‘Things started slowly with a pair circling about 8:43 but then the numbers started to climb, by 9:08 there were 7 and 9:45 about 10+ more showed up, then the clouds got heavier and things got darker and the swifts started to go down but only a few at a time which was nice for counting but it got too dark to see and we knew there were still birds circling.’

The total was 18 in the chimney. The second new site was as follows:

‘As this site is close to the main roost, there were lots of times birds making a big circle were seen over both sites. Birds here were very vocal. One swift went down and 45 minutes later left the chimney but returned later resulting in 3 in chimney. It is likely therefore that this might be a nesting chimney with a helper. At end of observation period, swifts were still heard chittering overhead although not seen.’

Dauphin reports always seem to end with swifts in the air still, and no one able to see them!

Finally, Gerald, looked at a new site in Lockport. A swift had been watched entering the Maintenance Compound chimney for the dam earlier on Friday. Unfortunately, no swifts were observed at the same spot that evening. Maybe they went to bed early?

‘Finally’, did we say ‘finally’? We meant, finally for Friday, because some of you were out on Saturday as well. John did one of his legendary multiple site checks on Saturday. There was nothing at 515 Waterfront, but he did have a pair doing entries and exists at 527 Waterfront. Sites on Ellice and Stradbrook did not turn up any swifts this time, but knowing John, he will be back to look again!

Later that evening, Cam and Diann, were out in Lac du Bonnet. The report was as follows:

‘Initially no swift or swallows observed
20:27     3 swifts in air,  2 somewhat together and one apart

Casey’s Inn
20:47– one entry
21:00– one entry
No exits

Gran’s Bakery
No entries or exits

So once again we have an unaccounted for swift!’

This town appears to have a rogue swift every time!

At the Silver Heights, Bob and Valerie reported:

‘Glad to see two swifts entering chimney at roosting time, but no other activity.’

Frank and Jacquie recruited Cathy to help them make sense of Providence College, reporting:

‘Three of us watched the skies around the Providence College campus last night (without benefit of Timmies I might add).

 We saw eight CHSW overhead shortly after arrival.

 We observed nine CHSW entering the chimneys: three birds in each chimney this time. The CHSW were very vocal this evening.’

 Not sure how Frank survived such an evening with no visit to Timmies, but thanks to Cathy for helping with the watch.

Barb and Rob with sick dog to care for, decided to do a bit of daytime monitoring in La Salle and St Adolphe on the 10^th. As ever with Barb, the interpretation is very detailed, and worth reading for anyone less familiar with swift behaviour and life-cycles.

‘At 8:15 AM in St Adolphe, the pair of Church swifts were busy flying through tree tops…then I had to go clean the hall…

 At 10:15 AM, the vigil at La Salle started. Immediately seen were the pair plus single swift. It was a lovely show they put on for 75 minutes – trio flying, feeding, “V” displays between the close flying pair etc. Just as the Church service finished and folks started to drift away, the single swift dropped into the west chimney. A couple of minutes later, one of the pair dropped in then the second of the pair dropped in. So all 3 were in the west chimney and stayed there for the next half hour. After roasting in the sun and dealing with very strong wind gusts from the south, I left for home.

 So nest building is underway…the next stage of nesting to look for is incubation. With a nominal July 1 hatching date and an 18-21 day incubation period, there should be partner exchanges starting soon – possibly June 14^th. At a site without a helper, monitors will see a swift drop into the chimney and usually within a minute or two, a swift will leave. Typically, these partner exchanges will take place once an hour.’

 Luc submitted his second report for the 10^th, had an early exit (so hopefully nesting is happening). This bird was eventually joined by 2 more birds. Only thing is, there were 5 in the air! So maybe his excess birds from earlier in the week ended up back in the school? More to follow on this we are pretty sure!

And that is it for all our formal monitoring but not for the swifts, and we would suggest, not for MCSI as well. There’s more to come in the next few days, including plans for weekly monitoring, some local blitzes, and an update on where we are finding new communities with swifts, so please watch this space.

— Tim Poole