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Hi Jim and all:
This evening I discovered chimney swifts nesting once again in my parents'
barn hay loft in East Dalhousie. About a month ago I saw a pair of swifts
flying very low over the house and barn. We used to have chimney swifts
nesting on the wall of our barn hay loft over several years (as Jim knows,
since he visited them and observed them often), but the last couple of years
the hayloft window was closed. This year I was prompted to have the window
reopened when I saw the swifts seemingly scouting out the area.
On the way home this evening, I checked another barn in neighbouring
Cherryfield, and was informed about a swift nest on that hayloft wall that
contained eggs last week, now hatched! I know of at least two other barns
last year in the vicinity that contained chimney swift nests last year. I
have no news on those other barns yet this year, but will investigate. It
seems that July, rather than June, is the month when Chimney swifts
consistently get down to nesting. As Jim has previously pointed out, those
swifts roosting in town chimneys right now are clearly not "parents"!
The potential of launching a citizen science project on verifying the
presence of chimney swift nests on the walls of barns and out-buildings has
been discussed and may take off one day. Meanwhile, having folks check out
old barns where birds may have access to haylofts would be a fascinating
preliminary endeavour. The swifts like to place their nest high up on barn
walls, the tiny sticks "glued" (with spit, ha!) to rough barn boards. The
tiny nests can be difficult to spot without a flashlight!
It would be great if other naturalists on this list would check out old
barns right now. Where else are chimney swifts nesting?
Donna Crossland
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]
On Behalf Of Jim Wolford
Sent: July-08-14 2:46 PM
To: naturens
Subject: [NatureNS] 109+ swifts EXITS [long], July 6/14, Robie Tufts N.Ctr.,
Wolfville, 8:40 a.m.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
Subject: 109+ swifts EXITS, July 6/14, Robie Tufts N.Ctr., Wolfville, 8:40
a.m.
Date: July 6, 2014 at 11:23:34 AM ADT
To: jimwolford@eastlink.ca
JULY 6, 2014 - With our power still out from yesterday, Pat & I drove into
downtown Wolfville for coffee to go with our breakfast cereal, but nobody in
town had power. However, we chanced to go by the Robie Tufts Nature Centre
chimney just when the CHIMNEY SWIFTS WERE EXITING!! Pat was the one who
noticed this,so we turned around and sat in the parking lot to watch and
count them, knowing that we had probably missed some before our start, which
was at 8:40 a.m., under clear blue sky with warm temperature and very windy
conditions.
For those who have not observed these morning exits, the swifts come out in
little bursts of 1 to 5 or more swifts at a time, and each swift pops out
just over the rim and then out horizontally, not upward. The bursts go in
all directions, each swift dropping a bit at first and then accelerating
outward horizontally and out of sight, generally not lingering in the area
of the chimney. Also, usually all of the exits occur within a few minutes
of the beginning.
Pat & I sat patiently, a few car lengths from the chimney, and counted them
one by one. Our total was about 109+ swifts.
When I walked over to sign up our observation, I saw that either yesterday's
wind-storm or vandals (likely the former) took all of our observation sheets
away, leaving only one sheet to salvage. Luckily, I have all the former
information on the sheets copied in various e-mails and in this journal,
plus my ongoing 2014 summary of chimney swift observations for the whole
province.
I might as well add here, again for those who haven't heard this from me,
that back in the "good old days", decades ago, back when I was younger and
more patient and tolerant of certain kinds of pain, I did a series of
morning vigils to see the swifts exit, both at the RTNC and University Hall
chimneys. I must look up those dates and write up what I found out about
the exits. (Currently also the Maritime SwiftWatch must have exit data from
the cameras installed in the Middleton and New Glasgow chimneys for the past
few years.)
Basically, what I found out was that in most circumstances the swifts emerge
quite early in the morning. My vigils always began before first light, and
several times it happened that the first swift I detected was not exiting
but entering! (from where? and out for how long?).
I recall one occasion in 1989 or 1990, when I was a celebrity for a week and
doing TV and radio interviews, because of the local "saving" of the RTNC
chimney by the town and the Blomidon Naturalists together. CBC-TV sent Paul
Withers and a cameraman, and one evening we watched and filmed the "show" of
the swifts gathering and funneling into the chimney.
Then, maybe intentionally or because of the interview, Paul decided to stay
overnight and then hopefully film the morning exits. I guessed the time
for that at about 6 a.m.?, and, would you believe, out they came right at
the predicted time! I felt very powerful. The cameraman got very good
footage of this, but it was not part of the news report that evening, and
all that extra footage was erased by the time I inquired about it a few days
later. Lesson learned the hard way again.
Now here's a bit more on the morning exit times. The factors involved are
unknown, but usually the exits occur sometime from sunrise up to about 9
a.m. (like this morning), but it is not uncommon for the swifts to "sleep
in" until 11 a.m. or even to noon.
Now try to imagine the pain and patience involved in beginning at about 5:00
a.m., sitting in my car with a thermos of coffee, and just sitting and
watching the top of the chimney, waitng for some action, until the end of
the morning! YIPE! Nope, never again, so I'm very happy we blundered into
today's exit.
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
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