National Roost Monitoring Night 2- Things are Looking Up!

NRMP NIGHT 2 - MAY 24, 2015 UPDATE.

Before we get to the results of the second National Roost Monitoring Program (NRMP) evening on May 24, 2015, we have some catch-up items to share...

Additional reports for the first NRMP night, May 20th (NRMP-1), winged in:

• Luc, in St Jean Baptiste, had 4 swifts in the church chimney
• Ken saw 2 in the air near the Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) Visitor Centre, Wasagaming
• Rudolf had 4 swifts over the Northdale Shopping Centre, East Kildonan (Winnipeg)

​ After the first NRMP-1, daytime observations have been reported as migrant chimney swifts continue to arrive. Vocal swifts alerted:

• Carolyn, in the Hampton St. area, St. James (Winnipeg) on May 21
• Blaire, St Norbert (Winnipeg), on May 22
• Margaret and Millie, in Brandon
• Rudolf who saw a group of "6 swifts tearing around Wellington Crescent and Oak" on May 26

​

​ Sunday, May 24 was a glory day - sundrenched and warm (maybe even downright hot at 28 C south of Winnipeg). Here are the early reports

​ for NRMP-2​

:

• In Carman, Rhonda saw 2 chsw but did not have entries at the Elementary School (1 had entered on NRMP-1). Matt had 0 sightings while monitoring the Memorial Hall which has been a historical, migratory roost. Disturbingly, Matt has noted unusual migration characteristics this year: no cliff swallows or night hawks have been seen near the bridge yet and few purple martins are in town. Coupled with the low number of chsw, the insectivores seem to be challenged generally this spring. News flash: 1 swift entered Memorial Hall on Monday May 25th!
• Ken & Jan in Dauphin had a quiet night while a merlin patrolled the area near the chimney. Then, just after sunset, 19 chsw arrived for the night.​
• In St. Adolphe, chsw came in for a few fly-around laps then roosted within 10 min of sunset - we had the same number roosting as for NRMP-1 but had different "loading of sites": I saw 2 enter Main St.; Kathy and Rob had 2 in the NE Club (the SE Club was occupied Wed.); Jacquie and Frank report a "domestic situation" that may have resulted in 1 in the Church and 1 in Brodeur Bros.; 1 chsw was unaccounted for of the group of 7 seen in town. 
• Gord, in Portage, saw 7 chsw flying about and 2 roosted at the Victoria Church chimney - the first entries noted for 2015.
• David had 3 arrivals for the night at La Broquerie which also was the first occupancy noted for the season.
• Rudolf monitored a chimney swift void - none was seen over Northdale Shopping Centre, East Kildonan (Winnipeg).
• PL and Robert were similarly skunked on the U of Manitoba campus.
• There was a lot action over in St. James though which was reported by David, Anna, Adolf, and Garth : 1 chsw entered the Carillon; 3 entries were seen at Kings - 1 was early at 8:20 and it is possible that an exit was made; the Assiniboine School was again the show stopper with 73-80 swifts roosting! The challenge is to count clusters of swifts e.g., 25 or 45 in a group, all trying to drop into a chimney in a short period. 
• Elsewhere in St. James, Christian had 1 entry at the Hampton St. Church which was less than the 2 reported for NRMP-1.
• Bob and Valerie's count of 2 in the New Silver Heights Apts is holding steady.
• Tim had 2 swifts roosting in the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre - up 1 from Wed.
• Also in Fort Rouge, Quinn had 3 entries and 1 exit and a Beresford site, while Ian is waiting for a first arrival at a private home (where a few years ago, his brother came home to find a chsw flying about the basement - it had left the chimney through a gap!)
• Swifts landed in the Wolseley neighbourhood: Nicole saw 2 swifts enter the Fleetwood Apt chimney and Colin also had 2 enter the Evanson site

​ The second night summary = migrants continue to arrive at roosts and more possible nest sites​ continue to be occupied although many pairs do not seem settled into their chimneys yet. Traditionally used swift-friendly neighbourhoods are becoming occupied.

Thursday May 28 is NRMP-3. Checking a variety of weather sites, rain and some t-storm activity is predicted during the day for Dauphin to Brandon, Carman, and Portage through the Winnnipeg, Steinbach, and Pinawa areas.

The national organizers encourage monitoring in the rain. Here is the big BUT statement: safety comes first. Do not sit out and monitor during an electrical storm. If your view of the chimney rim is compromised (dark skies or drenching, heavy rain etc.) or if you cannot monitor and reasonably use your paper datasheet (strong gusting winds etc.), enjoy a night off. The chimney swifts will have made accommodations for the weather too and we can catch up with them again on June 1 (NRMP-4). 

Happy swifting, Barb.