The Wake-up Call: Chimney Swift

Have you noticed little cigars in the sky? Perhaps they torpedo into a chimney in your neighbourhood? ....no, those aren't strange escaped creatures from Alice in Wonderland, they are Chimney Swifts!

In this episode we learn more about these captivating birds who many of us can call our neighbours. We explore their steep population decline, and learn how each of us can play a role in the species recovery. 

Get involved! Join SwiftWatch today!

Do you have a chimney that swifts might be using? Check out this quick guide to become the best neighbor the birds could have! And learn more about the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund.
 
See intimate footage of a Chimney Swift nest in a barn and of the wonderous 'Swiftnado'.

Read Natasha's recommendation "A Roadmap to Rescuing Aerial Insectivores"  and learn more about how to help this declining group of birds.

Don't forget to grab some Bird Friendly Certified Coffee! 10% of your purchase from Birds and Beans goes towards supporting this podcast and bird conservation in Canada when you use this link.

Véronique Connolly studied the habitat preferences of Bicknell's Thrush in southern Quebec as part of her Master's degree at McGill University. Over the last 20 years, she has held numerous positions working with bird ecology and conservation for organizations such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Now she coordinates the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund with Birds Canada. 

Graham Sorenson became hooked on bird research while studied Leach's Storm Petrels in New Brunswick as part of his undergraduate studies.  He worked with numerous species, including Canada Jays, Common Loons, Savannah Sparrows, and Island Scrub-Jays, before pursuing a Master's degree on Thick-billed Murres. He worked for Birds Canada in BC, before relocating to New Brunswick to coordinate the Aerial Insectivore Conservation Program.

Natasha Barlow grew up near Point Pelee National Park in southern Ontario, and didn't fully appreciate the area until she had already moved away. Thankfully, she realized the error in her ways (kidding), and was able to work with many species, including Common Terns, Black Terns, and forest passerines in Ontario, Yellow-breasted Chats in BC, and Swainson's Warbler in Jamaica, before pursuing a master's degree in northeastern Wyoming. Her extensive background has been particularly helpful in her role as a Projects Biologist in Ontario for Birds Canada, primarily focusing on aerial insectivores and grassland birds.

Andrea Gress studied Renewable Resource Management at the University of Saskatchewan. She pivoted towards birds, after an internship in South Africa. Upon returning, she worked with Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan and now coordinates the Ontario Piping Plover Conservation Program fo

Transcript

The Wake-Up Call: Chimney Swift

SPEAKERS

Graham Sorenson, Veronique Connolly, Natasha Barlow, Andrea Gress

Andrea Gress  00:04

From Birds Canada, this is The Warblers. This is the Wake Up Call a special podcast series from The Warblers by Birds Canada. I'm Andrea Gress. Join me as I speak with experts about our most threatened bird species, why these species are at risk, and what conservation actions are being taken. And finally, what we can all do to help. Alright, welcome back to another episode of The Warblers. This is our Wake Up Call series, where we take a deep dive into one of Canada's more threatened species and learn how to help them. So the bird we're featuring today is a charming little guy called the Chimney Swift. We've got three guests from different parts of the country. Joining us today to help us fully explore these birds. I'll have each of you introduce yourselves, please.

Graham Sorenson  01:04

Hi, I'm Graham Sorenson. I coordinate the aerial insectivore conservation program in Atlantic Canada, which includes Chimney Swift conservation and monitoring work. I'm joining from Sackville New Brunswick today. Really happy to be here.

Veronique Connolly  01:19

Hi, my name is Veronique Connelly. I'm the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund Coordinator with Birds Canada, and I'm joining you from Sherbrooke, Quebec. 

Natasha Barlow  01:31

Hi, I'm Natasha Barlow. I'm an Ontario projects biologist joining from around Guelph, Ontario. I also coordinate Ontario Swift Watch. And so I'm really excited to kind of chat about these very charismatic birds today.

Andrea Gress  01:45

Yeah, and for folks who have been longtime listeners, you might recognize Natasha's voice from an early episode. Anyone can garden for birds. And you know, with spring approaching is a really good time to dive back into that episode if you haven't listened to it already. So welcome back to the podcast, Natasha, and and thanks everyone else for joining.

Natasha Barlow  02:04

Yeah, we're really excited. And gardening for birds is a great segue into helping chimney sweeps as well. So I'm gonna promote both of those podcasts.

Andrea Gress  02:14

I like it. I like it. Okay, well, let's let's dive in. Then. Natasha, let us know. Like, why are Chimney Swifts so awesome. 

Natasha Barlow  02:24

Chimney Swifts are great, because I feel like when we try to meet people on their conservation journey, sometimes we're trying to get people to think about a species that maybe they've never experienced before. But Chimney Swifts live with you, they live in, you know, eastern central North America. They're in your urban and your suburban areas. I can almost guarantee that, you know, in spring and summer, if you go outside, if you're in an area where Chimney Swifts exist, and you just kind of listen for very high pitched twittering noises. You'll probably find yourself a Chimney Swift. And I think they're just a fascinating, very acrobatic, aerial insectivore that everyone can really kind of cling to, and figure out like, how is it that we can coexist with these species?

Veronique Connolly  03:18

That first time I saw a group of Chimney Swifts diving into their roost chimney, I was just in awe of their acrobatic maneuvers. I mean, it's quite impressive to see a large group of birds being able to funnel like that into a relatively small opening.

Andrea Gress  03:35

You know, when you think about, you're looking at hundreds, maybe 1000s of birds just just dropping into a chimney. So where can they be found? Where might one of our listeners see them?

Veronique Connolly  03:47

Being migratory Chimney Swifts are found in different places at different times of the year. So in springtime, they migrate from South America to central and eastern North America where they come to breed and then they start migrating south in late summer or fall depending on where exactly the bred so in Canada, they can be found in a small part of southern Saskatchewan, in the south of Manitoba, in central and southern parts of Ontario and Quebec, and throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. You can see Chimney Swifts all summer in the skies above cities and towns and lakes and rivers can also be good places to see them, where they often forage along with swallows.

Andrea Gress  04:35

So Natasha, what are these birds? What do they look like?

Natasha Barlow  04:39

These birds if you can imagine a cigar like a brownish, sooty cigar with very rapidly beating wings. And it is such a perfect image for these birds because I swear when you look up you're just going to look at these like thick cigars, but these like pointed little wings flying around everywhere and these really, really really really high pitched twittery noises which I think I mentioned previously. So, listen for that, look for that. I guarantee you'll probably find one.

Andrea Gress  05:08

Do you think would people like mistake them for a bat?

Natasha Barlow  05:13

Ooh, they could. Um, yeah, people can mistake them for bats or even like European Starlings. But swifts swift will be the only ones that are diving directly into the chimney. So, thing Yeah, for sure. And like that really, really high pitched sound. Wow, I can't talk that really, really high pitched sound. So if you look at a chimney, and you're seeing birds that are perching around the chimney, those are not swifts. They might be starlings. The ones that are going directly into the chimney those are your swifts. 

Andrea Gress  05:47

Little cigar guys. 

Natasha Barlow  05:49

Little cigars.

Andrea Gress  05:52

Cool. And they're they're kind of dusty and bland in colour, sooty you say. So just just like a little, like a little chimney sweep just just what they might look like eh?

Natasha Barlow  06:04

Yeah, they're pretty cute. They have a Yeah, with a little pale throat, but they're mostly kind of like a brownish color.

Andrea Gress  06:13

And like their tails aren't really very distinctive to look at, like when you say cigar, it is kind of just like, yeah, a little, just a weird little cigar shaped bird with wings. 

Natasha Barlow  06:25

Yeah, it's like a torpedo with wings. It's not like a Barn Swallow with those beautiful forked tails. They're a little bit more compact. I mean, they have to fit and maneuver amongst themselves within a chimney. So it kind of makes sense.

Graham Sorenson  06:39

It's worth looking at their bills to looking up some photos, when they're flying around, you're not going to notice their bill. It's tiny on part of their cigar shape overall. But when they're catching insects, and there's some photos, you can find this online, they have their bills wide open to be able to grab insects while they're flying around at high speeds. And they can open their bills really far for how small a bird they are. So really worth looking up some photos of that.

Andrea Gress  07:07

So they're eating like the mosquitoes and stuff like that. What is there like a bug that like what's like the biggest bug, you've seen a photo of them eating? 

Natasha Barlow  07:16

Oh, good question!

Andrea Gress  07:20

I got to Google this.

Veronique Connolly  07:25

They do eat beetles. I mean, they catch the biggest bigger insects with their bill. But the smaller insects, they just funnel them right into their wide gape. 

Andrea Gress  07:37

Wow. That's kind of cool.

Natasha Barlow  07:41

It feels like you know those whales that just like open their mouth and then everything goes in and that's kind of how I think it's not to that extent. Kind of how I am picturing that

Andrea Gress  07:53

It is a very, very small version of a whale. That's what a Chimney Swift is. Okay, and, like, what is their nest look like? Like? How on earth do these birds nest inside a chimney?

Graham Sorenson  08:09

Yeah, Chimney Swifts connection to chimneys is really interesting. And as we'll discuss more part of what makes their conservation is such a challenge. And so, prior to European settlers arriving in North America, Chimney Swifts would have nested in large decaying trees in more mature forest. But as settlers cleared these mature forests and built houses with brick chimneys, Chimney Swifts started using these new artificial structures for both nesting and for roosting where they congregate in large groups. And then as towns and cities kind of grew across the landscape, the availability of nest sites like this increased and may have actually contributed to an initial increase in Chimney Swift populations. few centuries ago.

Andrea Gress  08:57

Okay, so. So they would have been nesting in forests. And then we came along and we built these really, really cool structures. And they were like, hey, these chimneys are pretty sweet. We're gonna nest in those. And so today, they build their nest right on the side, the inside wall of the chimney.

Graham Sorenson  09:15

Yeah, that's right. They're flying a few meters down into the chimney. They're carrying single sticks and using their saliva to adhere a bunch of sticks onto the wall of the chimney, and creating a tiny little cup nest against the wall of the chimney, that a pair of birds will go to and lay their eggs and raise their young in

Andrea Gress  09:38

Wild. And would you just have one pair in a chimney?

Graham Sorenson  09:43

Generally, yeah, so So when they're nesting, they have a single pair that goes into this chimney, but they also do what we call roosting so when they come back from migration, often in large groups, they'll all go to a communal roost. Whether this is a large chimney or historically a big, hollow tree, and they'll roost in hundreds to up to 1000s for the night. And then as summer moves on, they'll disperse into their individual chimneys.

Natasha Barlow  10:15

They build nests. This is gonna be kind of nerdy, and maybe a little gross, but they literally fly around and break twigs off of trees. And then they like stick it together with sticky saliva to create their nests. Like they literally have glue saliva that makes them create these tiny little cup nests. And then they shove it onto the side of the chimney, and then it just stays there. Just hangs out, it stays there. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And we also have a video like a trail cam video on birds Canada's like YouTube or Facebook page that shows that kind of like, in depth, life cycle of chimney swifts nesting in a barn where you can like see them bringing the twigs in and then, you know, hatching their chicks and stuff. So it's pretty cool.

Andrea Gress  11:04

We'll link to that video for sure. Because that sounds like a great time. And the the chicks outgrow the nest before they are flying, right?

Natasha Barlow  11:13

They do. And it's kind of hilarious. Seeing these, I mean semi helpless birds that are like overflowing out of this tiny little stick half nests, like half cup nests. And then you can see them again and like the trail cam video, you can see them kind of like flittering, like flitting around, like strengthening their flight muscles and doing these tiny little flights before they actually like grow up and then, you know, fly all the way south to South America when they're less than a year old. So it's pretty sweet.

Andrea Gress  11:46

Yeah. And then they're just like perching on the side wall of a chimney. They're not like a bird that perches on a branch somewhere, right?

Graham Sorenson  11:54

That's right. That's, that's probably one of the most fun facts I think about Chimney Swifts is they're one of the few species that just cannot perch upright on a stick, like you picture a bird doing. They need those vertical surfaces and they cling their toes on to them and they hang off the surface, but they're not perching upright. Like you picture all other birds doing.

Natasha Barlow  12:15

And they can swivel their like back toe around for a better grip, which is pretty wild. Like they can swivel like, you have your I don't know you think of your House Sparrow on your telephone wire, Chimney Swifts won't do that. They just like swivel their back toe around so they can just cling vertically. It's wild.

Andrea Gress  12:33

I'm just like holding my hand up trying to swivel my thumb around and picturing this might work. 

Natasha Barlow  12:37

Yeah, honestly. 

Andrea Gress  12:39

That sounds like a great adaptation for rock climbing. 

Natasha Barlow  12:43

Oh, yeah.

Andrea Gress  12:49

This episode is sponsored by Birds and Beans. Honestly, this is my go-to coffee every morning, Birds and Beans was founded to help save migratory songbirds by roasting and selling only 100% Smithsonian Certified Bird-Friendly beans. So if you drink coffee and want to help birds, check them out at birdsandbeans.ca. Free shipping in Canada for coffee orders over $45. Birds and Beans will even donate 10% from your coffee purchase if you order from birdsandbeans.ca/warblers or use the link in the episode description. Birds and Beans a richer taste, a richer Earth.  Cool. So these are these are really neat birds they're living potentially in your chimney. What what some of the biggest threats to their population.

Graham Sorenson  13:36

So a whole bunch of aerial insectivores species of species that are eating insects while flying are facing threats because of insect declines and changes in the climate climate generally. But Chimney Swifts have this special threat because they're using anthropogenic structures so much. And so brick and mortar chimneys are what they kind of adapted to as an artificial structure. But there are less and less brick and mortar chimneys being built. And the ones that were built a half century ago, are falling into disrepair. And so this habitat they've grown to rely on quite heavily, we think it's slowly disappearing. And there isn't that old mature forest for them to return back to and find big trees to nest or roost in. And so they're kind of losing this habitat that we've created for them, but don't have that natural habitat that they used to rely on to go back to.

Andrea Gress  14:39

And so this is really problematic. So like chimney swifts and aerial insectivores. In general, their populations have been plummeting across North America. So aerial insectivores we're talking about a 59% decline in their numbers since 1970. What is it looked like for Chimney Swifts? What's what's their population doing and what is causing the decline.

Natasha Barlow  15:02

So there's actually a really great paper thinking about getting super nerdy here. It's called "Falling Through the Policy Cracks: implementing a roadmap to conserve aerial insectivores in North America". It's from Dr. Silke Nebel. She's one of our VPs at Birds Canada and her and a bunch of her co authors kind of got together and summarize, you know, why are aerial insectivores declining? And what can we actually do about it, so highly recommend checking that out. And for Chimney Swifts, specifically in Canada, they've declined by about 90%. Since the 1970s, based on breeding bird survey data, which is kind of this, you know, North American, standardized, you know, hundreds 1000s of volunteers are going out and doing like point counts or bird surveys. So it's a pretty rigorous data set. And so we know that, you know, these birds are not doing as well as we hope that they're doing. And so, Chimney Swift specifically, as well as aerial insectivores, it's kind of that, you know, death by 1000 cuts situation, like what Graham was mentioning, where there's a variety, unfortunately, of threats that are influencing their population, whether it's, you know, loss of the mature growth forests, and now moving to those more artificial structures. use of pesticides, nonspecific pesticides, to reduce prey availability, you know, throw on climate change on top of that, and we're met with a very complex and unfortunately, unique situation for these birds. And so, you know, Chimney Swifts are, I think, a very charismatic kind of gateway into that world because they are living with us. And they kind of provide this interesting perspective that I've heard from other individuals where, you know, some individuals, like people have, in their lifetime had had forced resettlement, whether it's through, you know, natural disasters, or, you know, just being forced to move into less ideal situations. And this is something that Chimney Swifts have also had to adopt through. And so I think, bringing in that kind of human perspective to it of, you know, how would you like it, if, you know, we kind of came in, we're like, we're gonna bulldoze your house down, and good luck finding something else. And so it's kind of this interesting connection with these birds. That I think is useful when we're talking about, you know, what can be done and what has kind of caused this dramatic decline.

Andrea Gress  17:40

So what what can be done to help the species

Veronique Connolly  17:44

While if we want to address the ongoing lost of nesting and roosting sites, it's critically important to conserve the existing structures that are being used by swifts. So if you're the owner of a chimney that shows signs of damage, you should consider repairing it rather than demolishing it. So last year, Birds Canada and partners launched the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund. This is a major new initiative aimed at providing financial support for the restoration of human built structures known to be important for Chimney Swifts in Canada. So in 2022, we were able to support six restoration projects, including one in Ontario, four in Quebec, and one in New Brunswick. The project supported highlight the variety of buildings that can contribute to Chimney Swift conservation. The projects involved the farmhouse, a townhouse and old sanatorium and old schoolhouse and two churches. And all of the restored chimneys had been designated as critical habitat by the recovery strategy for the Chimney Swifts that was proposed by the federal government last year. So by helping to maintain importing nesting and roosting sites for the Chimney Swift, the Fund helps recovery efforts for the species.

Andrea Gress  19:15

It's really cool. So, you know, you get to maintain some of this historical, you know, I love old historical buildings, and, and this fund is helping to maintain these chimneys, these features as habitat. So that's, that's just really neat. I feel like it benefits people and the birds, right.

Natasha Barlow  19:37

And you get a cute little sign. If you sign up for this about, you know, providing habitat for Swift or Swift-friendly chimney. And I think they're great signs. So if you have a chimney, if you restore a chimney can get a really cute little sign that says you're providing habitat so highly recommend.

Andrea Gress  19:57

Hmm, yeah, honestly, the little things are just sometimes the most delightful, delightful things. So Veronique is working quite hard behind the scenes on this fund, Natasha and Graham what? What kind of work are you guys doing to help the species?

Natasha Barlow  20:11

So, since I I'm an Ontario project biologist I am working with like a variety of aerial insectivores. And specifically for Chimney Swifts. I also coordinate our Swift Watch program here in the province. And Swift Watch essentially, is a Citizen Science like volunteer driven program, where individuals across the province you know, hundreds of individuals are going out throughout the the breeding season, as well as when they're migrating. So basically, May until September, and we collect all of that like data, that occupancy data, you know, there's some sites say in Toronto, where you can see 1000s of these birds, kind of creating a swiftnado, at dusk as they're diving into the chimney. 

Andrea Gress  21:02

A swiftnado?

Natasha Barlow  21:03

A swiftnado.

Andrea Gress  21:03

that's gonna be the next b movie series.

Natasha Barlow  21:05

It's like, Sharknado, it'll be a little bit. But yeah, I think it's an opportunity. It's fantastic. So there's observers that go while they're collecting these data, there is national roost monitoring dates that are posted, on, you know, government of Canada website, but also on our Swift Watch site on Birds Canada, it gets updated annually for you know, four days plus one optional day where observers can go out and we try to get as many people through Ontario, you know, Quebec, Graham could talk about it for for the Maritimes, to collect data on how many birds they're seeing how many roosts were observed, to get sort of that population estimate. And then throughout the rest of the summer, helping people and supporting people in doing that more like occupancy and presence/absence surveys. So that's how we kind of collect the data here in Ontario. And then we try to work with homeowners, we try to work with, you know, different organizations and authorities to ensure that the sites are protected. And that, you know, the proper, you know, permitting and compliance issues are settled, because this is critical habitat as Veronique mentioned. So that's how we're kind of on the ground trying to work with the different organizations, municipalities, and, you know, other individuals to protect the species.

Andrea Gress  22:38

Mm, cool. Lots of folks involved and what's going on out in the Atlantic, Graham?

Graham Sorenson  22:42

Yeah, so we have a lot of similar programs and work closely with Natasha, the team of us here in the Atlantic that works on Chimney Swifts. So we're doing Swift Watch in the Maritimes and and helping coordinate volunteers that are interested in monitoring the species. And a lot of the similar kind of outreach work as well so encouraging landowners, volunteers, and the public to detect nesting and roosting sites to not clean their chimneys in between May and August when chimney swifts might be using them. Providing stewardship information and signage to people that are kind of taking that extra step to help steward chimney swifts. And then Natasha touched briefly to a piece that we're really trying to do more in the Maritimes right now is working with municipalities, and because they're in touch with the public in their town, and so we can encourage and provide resources to municipalities about Chimney Swift stewardship. And municipalities are in a great place to share this information with people in their towns to help help spread the word further, and also to have things in place in planning and permitting processes so that these buildings that chimney swifts are relying on don't accidentally get torn down without anyone realizing that chimney swifts would have been using it. And so that's been an exciting new thing. And a lot of local governments are really excited to work on the species because it's not some species that's out in the woods and hard to find it's right there in their towns and can be a tourism attraction, and can be a sign of their interest in biodiversity even within city limits. So it's been an exciting new direction to kind of take the conservation work.

Andrea Gress  24:32

Absolutely the tourism attraction of going to see that swiftnado plummet into a chimney. Like that's, that is it's a really cool, unique experience. I like that people are tuning into it from like a tourism perspective and that's really neat. And yeah, like we've featured birds like the Bicknell's Thrush with this wake up call series, and they're in like the dense forests of the Maritimes, where you are going to be lucky if you hear hear them, let alone see them. And here these chimney swifts or, you know, they're in our backyards. They're in our neighborhoods. They're in our houses.

Natasha Barlow  25:09

Literally in our houses. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Gress  25:13

Not in a weird way, just just in a friendly neighbor, neighbor sort of way.

Natasha Barlow  25:16

No, they just they eat the insects, like the biting flies around your house. So honestly, why wouldn't you want them? You know, like,

Andrea Gress  25:24

a really good point. Yeah. Is like you mentioned, you know, they're their prey like they they're eating the things we hate. We love these birds, shower them with love.

Natasha Barlow  25:33

Shower them, it's like a free solution to your problems.

Andrea Gress  25:39

Yeah. All you got to do is share a little bit of space with them for a few months of the year. Exactly. It's not a big ask. Yeah. So Natasha, what what would you say the main lessons are that we can learn from this species regarding conservation and how we relate to wildlife.

Natasha Barlow  25:55

I think one of the main lessons that I've learned as well is small actions make a big difference. And I am also going to talk about gardening for birds as well, because it's, it truly is a matter of, you know, figuring out what you can do to just, you know, live with the species live with a variety of species. Start small, gradually get bigger, if you want to uncap your chimney. Go for it, you know, if you're thinking about, if you're thinking about lining your chimney and capping it, maybe look into the chimney swift Restoration Fund, there are a variety of just small things that we can do to really help these species, we can start a tiny little native plant garden, we can increase the like beneficial insects, we can attract these species to our house, we can provide a home for them. And they can act as that kind of free pest management tool for us. We can, you know, maybe purchase some bird-friendly coffee, so that when they're migrating south, they're able to exist in these, you know, larger forests. And they are not forced to move to, you know, other artificial structures that may or may not be there for the rest of you know, our whole future. And so that's the biggest conservation lesson that I've learned through working with a variety of these species, like chimney swifts as well is that there are so many little things that you can do. And it doesn't have to be this giant doom and gloom, everything's declining, you know, I know chimney swifts have declined by 90%. Since the 1970s. However, there is also you know, some stability with our population. And that's something to look forward to. And that's something to build on. So start small, gradually get bigger, and really just look at the small things that you can do to really help these species.

Andrea Gress  27:59

Mm hmm. Yeah. So the real thing we can learn is that it doesn't have to be a big thing, we can make a difference through small actions, just in our day to day, that's such a nice thing. You've listed a lot of ways people can help the species. Graham, would you have any other recommendations for how listeners could get involved?

Graham Sorenson  28:19

Yeah, absolutely. I think a good first one is this summer, spend some evenings outside, looking at your house and at your neighbor's houses and see if you might have chimney swifts using your property or your neighbor's property. And if you do, congratulations, like it's so cool to have them around and be able to see them regularly. And providing that insect control that that Natasha mentioned. So, yeah, check checking your own chimney and seeing if you might have swifts and letting us know if you do. And we can keep that in our list of records and be there to kind of help support any thing that might happen in the future to buildings that are supporting chimney swifts, 

Natasha Barlow  29:02

And give you a cute little sign

Andrea Gress  29:06

comes back around the signs.

Graham Sorenson  29:11

Yeah, and beyond your own chimney in your own neighborhood. And participating in Swift watch is an awesome way to be involved. You can work with other volunteers to watch these amazing roost congregations. You can help count data that we use to do population monitoring and understand how we're doing with a species and how they're benefiting from conservation action. And it's just a great, great thing to be involved in. So reporting sightings in general to places like eBird, or on these more specific counts through Birds Canada, reporting them on NatureCounts our internal database. And I think a really big one is just sharing how cool swifts are. Share this podcast with your friends. Tell people you've seen Chimney Swifts in your neighborhood and that they should look out in their own chimneys. Talk to your municipal council or someone in your local government and say, You think Chimney Swifts are important, and they should be considered in planning processes in the town. Any any of that kind of outreach and awareness raising is really important, and really easy kind of small step to do. So I think that's really important stuff.

Andrea Gress  30:25

Mm hmm. Awesome. And Veronique, where can people learn more about the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund and about Swift Watch?

Veronique Connolly  30:35

Yeah, you can find more information on these two programs on the Birds Canada's website at birdscanada.org. And while you're there, you can explore Birds Canada's numerous citizen science programs that you could take part in to help monitor birds across the country.

Andrea Gress  30:54

Yeah, so if you're one of those sad listeners out in Alberta, or BC and you're thinking I don't have any Chimney Swifts, maybe you're up in the territories, and you're sad about your lack of Chimneys Swift's we've got other programs you can get involved. Or maybe maybe you can tap into one of those tourism opportunities that Graham mentioned and head out out to the Maritimes and watch the Chimney Swifts there but yeah, there's all kinds of ways of helping other species are the ones that you might have in your backyards and in your, in your neighborhoods. So that's great, head to birdscanada.org to learn more information about the Chimney Swift and all of the other good programs. Thank you so much. The three of you for joining like Man, what a cool species.

Natasha Barlow  31:37

It's a very cool species. We don't do it enough justice, I think so highly recommend checking it out, come to one of our Swift night outs. You know, visit the website, check the video. I think you'll fall in love.

Andrea Gress  31:50

Absolutely. Thank you so much, guys.

Graham Sorenson  31:53

Thanks so much for having us.

Andrea Gress  32:01

The Warblers is a podcast of Birds Canada. Our goal is to bring you the information you need to discover, enjoy and protect birds. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with everyone you know, Birds Canada relies on the support of donors like you visit birdscanada.org/warblerspodcast to make a donation today. The warblers is produced by Jody Allair, Kate Dalgleish, Kris Cu and Andrea Gress with music by Jose Mora and art by Alex Nicole. Until next time, keep birding.