The
formal phase of the 2015 monitoring season finished on Saturday, June 6,
with a special MCSI Blitz Night. Monitors were rewarded with many
interesting sightings and we all learned a lot about what it means to be
a chimney swift in Manitoba. THANK YOU to everyone who made
our program so successful! Many of you persevered through cold, rain,
and apparently fruitless evenings of staring at a chimney rim where no
swifts appeared. I cannot stress enough that data points of "0" are very
informative, particularly in the context of between-year use of a
chimney.
Before heading to the monitoring update, there is an erratum
to declare: on the original datasheets posted on the website, I made a
mistake in the return e-dress and you would have found (as Dennis did!)
that the hot link would bounce. The spelling mistake has been corrected
to the proper return address of "mbchimneyswift@gmail.com". Thanks to our webmaster Frank for making a fast fix! Use the corrected forms for any subsequent monitoring this year.
Now for some news updates...
A. ADDITIONAL REPORTS FOR NRMP-4 (MONDAY, JUNE 1) AND SIGHTINGS FOR JUNE 2-4:
Quinn
has followed the developments at a Beresford Ave site in Fort Rouge -
the peak of roosting swifts came on June 1 when 4 swifts entered the
chimney.
In St-Jean-Baptiste, Luc noted that 3 swifts roosted on June 1.
We welcomed Dennis as the monitor for the Steinbach Hospital on June 1; of the 5 swifts in the area, 3 roosted for the night.
Ken
K., in Wasagaming, saw 4 chsw around the Riding Mountain National Park
Visitor's Centre on June 2 - 2 swifts roosted for the night.
Matt, in Carman, had no sightings on June 3 and again on June 4.
EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS WERE REPORTED FOR SOURIS. In early June, Ken De
Smet spotted chsw in town. This prompted Cal, Colin, and Gillian to
check things out on June 4 and we are glad they did. Twelve chsw were
flying about Souris and by the end of the roosting hour, 4 new active sites were identified! Cal Cuthbert's "manitobabirds"
This
evening (June 4) Colin Blyth, Gillian Richards and myself drove out to
the town of Souris to check out the Chimney Swifts reported earlier in
the week by Ken DeSmet. We were not disappointed as the most we saw at
any one time was 12. We arrived about 19:40 and watched till 22:05
when the last of the swifts were seen. While swift sightings in Souris
are not new actually seeing birds dropping into chimneys would be so we
were on a mission. The following is a quick breakdown of our findings:
The Uptown Lounge & Restaurant on 1st St. S & 5th Av W - 4 seen dropping into the large chimney
The
Chocolate Shop Cafe on 6th Av W - 2 seen dropping into the E side
chimney (smallish one) while at least one dropped into one of the
chimneys on the W side of the building.
The residential white house #80 on 5th Av W had at least one drop in.
A few "almost entries" were seen at a nearby residence but no actual drop ins noted.
Any additional monitoring reports for these, and other newly discovered Souris sites, would be welcome over the summer!
B. RESULTS FOR THE MCSI BLITZ NIGHT (SATURDAY JUNE 6; ALTERNATE DATE JUNE 5):
1.
Rudolf was kept busy in East Kildonan, Winnipeg, watching up to 17
swifts. It is a feat to monitor 3 chimneys simultaneously, but Rudolf
documented activity at the Curtis Hotel = our fourth new site of the
season, 1010 Brazier, and 1030 Brazier. Many thanks Rudolf for your
efforts in discovering all three of these active chimneys for us during
the 2014-2015 seasons!
2. Christian had a similar wild ride while watching the Hampton St. church, in St. James, where 7 swifts entered each of two sides of the chimney (a new revelation!).
3.
Bob and Valerie, at New Silver Heights in St. James, had a pair
enter late in the daytime period (separated by a couple of minutes);
~forty minutes later, one entry and a subsequent quick exit suggested
an "unwelcome" roosting attempt was made by a third swift.
4. David, Kathy, Jake and 2 friends saw 166 swifts enter the Assiniboine School = a new record and 2015 season high;
migration/local dispersal had not peaked yet. On June 5, mid-day,
entry/exit activity at the old Kings Theatre = a nest site is in
progress.
5. PL and Rob got skunked AGAIN at Chancellor's U of M. They had a consistent "no-show" season.
6. In Wolseley, getting skunked was also trending - Meg saw no swifts on June 6 (same as for June 2).
7. Jane also is a member of the unfortunate skunk club - no swifts have appeared near the Assiniboine Conservatory this season.
8.
Back out west in Carman, Matt still saw no swifts but his consolation
came with the sighting of one nighthawk and a flock of cedar waxwings.
9.
Interestingly, Quinn had no action at his Beresford Ave, Fort Rouge
site, which had 4 swifts roosting for the night on June 1 (NRMP-4). We
are not sure if this represents a short term change of location or if
the site has been abandoned. Further monitoring will clarify the
situation.
10.
At another Fort Rouge site, Pierre and Tim saw 2 swifts enter
the Leisure Centre, however, 5 swifts were seen in the area feeding on a
"bountiful supply of mosquitoes". Ah, the monitoring challenges
increase.
11.
On to good developments - out west in Brandon, Margaret and Millie, saw
one exit and four entry/exit cycles before 2 swifts roosted for the
night; a well established pair of swifts were nest building.
12. To
the east, David in La Broquerie saw a classic event - a pair of swifts
approached the chimney rim and one dropped in as the second swift flew
by - it returned several minutes later; 2 exits followed; and then 2
roosting entries were made at this active nest site.
13. Closeby in Steinbach, Dennis saw 3 swifts and 2 of them roosted at the hospital chimney.
14.
At our southernmost nest site, St-Jean-Baptiste, Luc's observations
indicated nest building was underway - there was a daytime exit and a
pair of swifts roosted for the night.
15.
In St. Adolphe, pairs of swifts were nest building at the NE Club
Amical, Church, and Main St. chimneys; the Brodeur Bros. site was used
by a pair roosting for the night; the SE Club Amical chimney was not
used at all - if a pair arrives at this site, timing issues will result
in an unsuccessful nesting attempt.
16.
Ruby and the Selkirk squad reported: 52 roosting swifts at the Tall
Chimney; 2 entries and 2 exits (0 roosting) at the Yellow Chimney; 2
entries for the night at the Infirmary Site; and 2 of the 5 swifts seen
near the Merchant's Hotel roosted. The Red Brick Chimney apparently has
been capped.
17.
Last but not least, at our northernmost known roost site in Dauphin,
Ken noted 15 entries of swifts during the roosting hour; numbers peaked
at this site about June 1.
C. SIGHTINGS FOR JUNE 7 AND BEYOND:
For
the 2015 breeding season, Matt had to declare Carman a swift-free zone
on June 8. The third site to be monitored was not active and no
swifts had been seen nor heard during the day. Unfortunately, Rhonda had
similar experiences. Why have the swifts not returned to Carman in
2015? That is an easy question to ask but a hard one to answer. There
are many factors to consider - production at last summer's nest sites,
overwintering success, migratory mortality, spring weather and insect
availability...
Over
and above being regular St. Adolphe monitors, Jacquie and Frank monitor
the 3 chimneys at Providence College, Otterburne. On June 8, they
saw: 2 swifts roost at the Chimney South of the Bell Tower; 2 swifts
enter the SW Large Chimney for the night; and daytime entry/exit
cycles at the SE Skinny Chimney before 3 swifts roosted - a nest site
with a possible helper is in progress.
Nest building finally got underway at Brodeur Bros. in St. Adolphe - daytime entry/exit events were observed on June 9.
New
opportunistic sightings came in: Kristin reported nightly chsw flying
in the vicinity of the St. Joseph site in St. Boniface; Jeff saw 2
swifts over Ashburn St. north of Polo Park; a pair of swifts finally has
arrived at the St. Norbert Behavioural Health Foundation - Blaire
noticed the first occupancy of the season occurred on June 14.
On
June 10, Gordon saw 4 swifts flying about and observed 1 entry at the
old Duffield and Duffield site in Portage. Gordon has done a remarkable
job of single-handedly monitoring all of the Portage La Prairie sites as
well as travelling to Southport this year.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The payoff for the special made for Manitoba Blitz
Night was huge. A new site was discovered, a major increase in activity
was recorded at the Assiniboine School roost, nest building activity was
verified for some sites, and lack of occupancy was confirmed for
others. Again, THANK YOU for all of your monitoring
reports. Your sore necks, mosquitoe bites, and boredom fighting
techniques have all contributed to DATA. Those numbers, along with your
observations, are the currency with which we work to understand the
biology of chimney swifts in Manitoba. From that foundation, habitat
stewardship and outreach programs can be implemented to protect habitat
and inform people about our chimney swifts.
Databases
will be posted on the website as they are updated - that job
time-shares with field work - and Frank will notify you when they are
available. Over the summer, I will provide progress reports about the
breeding flock in St. Adolphe and other submitted monitoring results.
Let's stay in touch over the summer!
All the best in birding, Barb for the MCSI team.
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