If you walk around Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church in Ottawa, Canada on a warm summer evening you might catch a glimpse of a rare bird. If you hear high-pitched musical chip notes strung together into a rapid twitter, then look up. Look way up and you may see what some people call a flying cigar- a dark cylindrical body with a short tail and long narrow crescent-shaped wings.
The Canadian Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) population has declined by almost 30% over the last three generations (13.5 years), and there has been a simultaneous and comparable decrease in area of occupancy over the same period of time. This dramatic population decline has led to the recent listing of Chimney Swifts by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as a federally threatened species. Many groups have already recognised the need to monitor Chimney Swift populations.
Macoun Marsh is directly behind this Roman Catholic Church. Over the past few years the students and science teacher of St. Laurent Academy have monitored this population. They are successfully breeding and are now flying over the marsh looking for insects. This evening five individuals were overhead and yesterday seven were seen. We will continue to monitor this population of swifts.
Image by Mike Leveille
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