Canada Day, the beginning of the month of July will soon lead to a new phase in the life of Manitoba’s swifts. Right now, they are sitting tight on eggs, incubating. In early July we will see a slight change as adults begin the process of feeding their chicks. These chicks begin life at a brooding stage. This means that an adult stays with the naked young until they reach a stage where they have enough feathering to keep them warm.
In the meantime, our swifts remain busy, and this segues to our weekly monitoring review.
Leah kicks things off for us this week. On Wednesday, Leah switched posts and watched the adjacent building to the Maple Leaf apartments on Corydon, a chimney not previously noted for its swifts. Here is the exciting report:
‘And GREAT news… I watched 890 McMillan (the Milan Apartments) – and saw two enter at sunset!!! YAY! Now I couldn’t see the Maple Leaf apartments (915 Corydon), so assuming these aren’t the same birds using a different chimney on alternate nights… ‘
We suspect there are two active chimneys in this area with nesting swifts.
Blair had some success in St Boniface:
‘I revisited 393 Marion to see it’s chimney was being used since one night it had some swifts, but all I saw was 2 fly by. I spent an hour at 261 Youville that had a pair of swifts earlier, there was a entry and then an exit and finally another exit, so they seem to be nesting.‘
Frank and Jacquie had a Chimney Swift flummoxing evening:
‘We intended to watch the Viscount and Marner Apartments but couldn’t find a suitable viewing point, not to mention that we didn’t bring our chairs …
So, we relocated westward to the Thunderbird and Stanley Park Apartments. There were 7 swifts in the general area, especially westward near the Moorgate, but activity was more restrained nearer the Thunderbird. We heard some very vocal CHSW to the east of our location after sunset (toward the Deer Lodge area).
Stanley Park Apartments: NE chimney had no swifts observed nearby.
Thunderbird: Very interesting with repeated low fly-bys by three CHSW, but only one observed entry AND SUBSEQUENT EXIT!’
Barb and Rob sent a report on the 24th from the zoo tower:
‘..and a lovely night we had last night (Sunday June 23) = Solstice + 2; the swifts were obliging.’
Gord and Tami reported ‘first 2 then 3 swifts circling and chittering overhead over backyard’ on Mossdale in East Kildonan on Wednesday, which is very close to the apartments on Brazier among other sites.
In the same area but to the east, Garry sent a report from the 20th, with some excellent entry/exit cycles at the chimney on Watt.
On Monday, Ron, left the confines of his office and sent the following:
‘I went out to check my chimneys across the street from my office. I began my observations at 12:15 pm until 1:00 pm. At 12:29 pm I saw a single CHSW exit from the chimney at 222 York Avenue. In the database this is Site 24 and is called VJ’s middle chimney. The chimney is actually on a building across the back lane from VJ’s. The building is owned by Brink’s Canada Limited. This is the same chimney in which I observed an entry and exit last year.’
Finishing Winnipeg, we head north. First to a quick report from Gerald on the 21st. A swift droppped in during daytime hours to one of the chimneys at St Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport.
Michele and Mike in St Francois Xavier had some action:
‘It’s been a few weeks since our last visit to the church in St Francois Xavier. For most of the night we witnessed 3 birds in the air but one pair in particular always flew unusually close together and were very vocal, chirping away continually.
Interestingly, at around 9:30pm a small falcon (probably a kestrel I think) came to perch on the cross at the top on the steeple at the front of the church. We had seen it around before but never perched so close to the chimney. The swifts quickly banded together and swooped in to chase it away. It did not return.
The only entry we saw was the final one for the night where the pair uncharacteristically bombed in together (no graceful fluttering tonight) chirping all the way. We did not see the lone remaining swift enter this chimney.’
Gord was catching up on sites in Portage la Prairie on Wednesday. He reported first from an hours observation at the Rufus Prince building:
‘4 swifts were seen in the air and one entry in the north chimney at 20:16.’
He finished off in Southport:
‘No swift were seen flying around but 2 entered the chimney. One at 21:32 and another one at 21:55.’
Also on Wednesday, Lynnea watched two swifts frustratingly refuse to enter the chimney at the Neepawa Health Centre during the early afternoon. These birds are so unobliging!
Margaret and Millie in Brandon had the nesting pair turn in early for the night at the Orange Block on the 23rd, but were later joined by another noisy pair which eventually went elsewhere to roost.
Finally, Ken sent the Wednesday night update from the Dauphin observors:
‘Having 3 chimneys to check was complicated this week with my wife being in Winnipeg for her grandma fix. I went out last night (Tuesday) and observed the roost chimney 600 and tonight I went to nesting chimney 2018-15 while Pat and Marilyn watched nesting chimney 2018-14. Contrary to other years, the roost chimney appears to be occupied by only (2) swifts instead of up to a dozen non-nesting birds which might be a significant reflection on the population!
Chimney 2018-14 had 2 entries so a possible nesting pair while chimney 2018-15 (which was the one where we found dead young last fall) could possibly have a nesting pair and helper using it (this is based on the possibility of a bird in the chimney(1) when we arrived and then having (2) drop into the chimney(2+1=3) to be followed by an exit (off the nest 3-1=2) and 15 minutes later a single entry (2+1=3)).
If nothing else it appears there are 3 nesting chimneys in Dauphin.
A thought from the night: from the 2 chimneys that had an exit, there was a re-entry for each within 15 minutes, is it possible that they were leaving a hot chimney for a quick drink before retiring for the night?’
As for the latter, I suppose it is possible, I know that feeling from a personal perspective after all!
I said ‘finally’ but these reports are nothing without our full comprehensive review from the swift maestro in St Adolphe. Over to Barb to tell us what everything means.
‘Last week we noted how different “windows” of observation could yield very different interpretations of a nest site’s status. Using entry/exit data collected during a 2 hour watch at Main St and Brodeur Bros., three different “windows” yielded: 2 swifts being present in each chimney (using the full two hour period); 1 swift in each chimney (using a 60 min period); and 0 swifts being present in the Main St chimney (using a different 60 minute period).
How we look at chimney tops can influence our interpretations and conclusions. Variation in activity, hence our interpretation, is also introduced with individual preferences, or cadence, of the swifts e.g., some have short turnaround times in the chimney while others take a bit longer. More variation occurs as a day plays out – intense afternoon heat and lower insect abundance is linked. Then there are weather factors such as intense rain storms or extremely high winds to contend with. Day to day life for a Chimney Swift is not cookie-cutter predictable. All these factors are intertwined as adults must feed themselves in addition to carrying out their breeding activities. Easy foraging means more time is available to spend at the chimneys.
It follows that nest site monitors can see variable activity at the various stages of nesting. Nest building and egg laying is a confusing process to sort out at the best of times. Nest building takes place for at least 7 days before eggs are laid. Then, an egg may be laid every second day until the clutch of 2-7 eggs is completed. Incubation starts with the second to last egg laid. Nest building continues until the eggs hatch. Complicated? Yes!
So just how do you know incubation has started? It is difficult to tell the onset – embryological development progresses without 100% smothering by an incubating adult – the pair can be out of the chimney together as often is the case before roosting. Classic incubation exchanges of 1 entry/exit cycle, with short duration-in intervals, seen once per hour = incubation, BUT NOT necessarily the start of incubation. A rear view mirror analysis is often needed.
Since last Wednesday’s report, many interesting observations have been made. Twig collection by a swift, followed by a direct flight from the dead tree west of Main St. directly into Brodeur Bros. chimney, was seen last Friday (June 21). Today (June 27) and yesterday (June 26), there was not a twig being snapped off…
The summer solstice was an inflection point ~ beautiful, classic incubation exchanges were seen on Saturday, June 22 at the NE Club and Church chimneys.
Wednesday morning, June 26, the SE Club pair demonstrated incubating prowess. Here’s what the data set looked like:
START MONITORING: 9:16 AM
9:25:05 ENTRY
9:25:27 EXIT
9:45:52 ROCK DOVE (PIGEON) ON WEST SIDE OF NE CLUB RIM GOT DIVE BOMBED BY A CHIMNEY SWIFT – THE INVITATION TO GET OFF THE RIM WAS ACCEPTED! NICE BONUS EVENT!
10:20:44 ENTRY
10:21:46 EXIT
END MONITORING: 10:46 AM
Both the Main St. and Brodeur Bros. pairs are active at their sites and, hopefully, we’ll see some classic exchanges soon.
Just when you think you’ve got incubation figured out, the early nesting birds will have hatching eggs soon. There will be subtle shift in behaviour at the nest sites when the transition from incubation to hatching occurs = 2 entry/exit cycles in an hour.
Watch for the signs and enjoy your connect time with the nesting swifts!‘
Thank you to everyone for the weekly reports. Next week will see more changes still. Plans for July include a road trip to Emerson (and possibly Dominion City), and maybe somewhere else to boot. We will let you know. In the meantime, why not do a ‘Leah’ and take a look at a new chimney. You never know what you might see….
— Tim Poole, Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative Coordinator
PS: Why not check out our new Chimney Swift rescue document at https://www.mbchimneyswift.com/Documents/CHSWrescue.pdf ?
