Chimney Swift: Your Good Neighbor

In this episode of Rarefied, host Meredith Meeker spotlights the Chimney Swift, a bird known for its aerial acrobatics and unique nesting habits. Despite their global security, Chimney Swifts face vulnerability and imperilment across Canada. Meredith is joined by experts Gabriel Evans Cook, Ontario's aerial insectivore biologist, and Gwendolyn Clark, coordinator of the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund at Birds Canada. They discuss the Chimney Swift's adaptation to urban environments, the threats they face, and the initiatives in place to conserve their habitat. This episode emphasizes the integral role of citizen science and community engagement in species conservation.

www.birdscanada.org/about-us/funding-opportunities/chimney-swift-fund

www.birdscanada.org/bird-science/swiftwatch

https://birdgardens.ca/planning-your-garden/

00:00 Introduction to Rarefied Podcast

00:34 Meet the Chimney Swift

00:55 Personal Birding Journey

01:45 Chimney Swift Conservation Efforts

01:56 Introduction of Guests

03:55 Chimney Swift Characteristics

05:28 Chimney Swift Habitat and Adaptation

08:43 Chimney Swift Restoration Fund

14:34 Threats to Chimney Swifts

17:55 Conservation Actions and Citizen Science

22:20 How You Can Help

26:53 Gardening for Birds

28:33 A Different Birding Season

28:47 The Importance of Conservation

30:18 Why Care About Chimney Swifts?

31:09 Urban Wildlife and Human Connection

36:13 Conservation Efforts and Success Stories

41:20 Fieldwork Adventures and Fun Stories

44:03 Chimney Swifts' Unique Traits and Behaviors

48:19 Final Thoughts and Surprising Facts

53:10 Conclusion and Call to Action

Transcript

Theme Song 0:00

In every stream, in every tree, a story lives, a legacy. Let's listen close, let's take a stand, to keep the wild across the land. In every stream, in every tree, a story lives, a legacy.

Meredith 0:23

Welcome you found us. Let the adventure begin. This is rarefied the podcast where we're going to learn to love some of our rarest and most imperiled species. I'm your host Meredith Meer, and in this week's episode, I want to introduce you to a bird whose body is often likened to that of a cigar. I'm not sure how they feel about the comparison, but it certainly doesn't stop them from performing incredible aerial acrobatics while chattering away. So say hello to the Chimney Swift. I started my birding journey in the city of Toronto, living right above the Evergreen Brickworks, which actually comes up later in this episode. If you're ever in Toronto, I highly recommend making a stop there once a brick making factory. The Brickworks is now home to some epic chimneys that have been preserved and are important habitat for chimney Swifts. During those summers in Toronto, I'd hear their distinctive chatter every evening from my balcony. And even now, after moving over 300 kilometers away to a small town, I recognize that same sound almost instantly while exploring my new neighborhood. If we zoom out, though, this species is globally considered to be apparently secure, but across Canada it's vulnerable or even imperiled. It's doing slightly better across the United States and is considered secure nationally there. But the populations in each state vary widely to help us understand the threats that the Chimney Swift is facing and why it is such a good neighbor worthy of our protection. I'm joined by two guests from Birds Canada. Our first guest is Gabriel Evans Clark Ontario's aerial insect war program biologist. His work focuses on species at risk conservation, ranging from monitoring chimney swift's, and urban centers to conducting boat surveys along the North shore of Lake Erie in search of bank swallows. He's passionate about advancing data-driven policy changes to protect species at risk and their habitats, while engaging landowners and the public to promote stewardship initiatives. Joining him, we have Gwendolyn Clark, coordinator of the Chimney, swift Chimney Restoration Fund. Gwendolyn is an ecologist and conservation biologist with a lifelong passion for birding. She received her master's of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto before beginning her career in wildlife science and conservation at Birds Canada. Through this work, the Chimney Swift has quickly become one of her favorite birds, buying with the charismatic and hyper intelligent Canada J for the top spot. So let's jump into it and maybe the chimney Swift will become one of your favorite birds too. And we're gonna be chatting about the Chimney Swift, which so excited to talk to both of you about. But before we get into it, could you guys introduce yourselves with your full name and your pronouns?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 3:22

Totally very excited to be here. My name's Gabriel Evans Cook. My pronouns are he, him, and I'm an aerial insect of, or biologist at Birds Canada.

Gwendolyn 3:30

My name's Gwendolyn Clark. My pronouns are she her, and I am the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund Coordinator. That's a mouthful also at Birds Canada.

Meredith 3:43

So excited to be chatting with both of you. a great way to spend a Friday. And I love this bird. It's a bird that I got familiar with when I was living in the city of Toronto. Didn't know it was endangered at first. So people who aren't super familiar with this bird. What is a chimney Swift, and why should they love it?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 4:02

What isn't there to love about Chimney Swifts? I think that's a great place to start. They're a very petite aerial insectivore. And like you said, experiencing them in Toronto, they're founded in mostly urban areas. They're small, they're soy gray, they've got a bit of a light belly. They can be mistaken for swallows or other aerial insect horses, sometimes mistaken for bats. Because they're primarily seen close to this close to the city skyline at sunset or sunrise. And they're best identified by their cigar with wings kind of profile. They've got this short, stubby body with really sharp sleek wings. And they've also got a really absurdly large mouth reading little insects all the time. They've got a really, really sweet call, a light chatter that kind of serenades the air in the evening, and I just find them to be really charismatic for a, for a bland looking bird.

Meredith 4:55

That's a great description of them because they are, they, you see a photo of them, they're on the plainer side, but then when you actually see them out on the city skyline and you hear that chatter, and you're right, there's usually some sort of atmosphere with like a sunset or sunrise. They're really incredible.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 5:13

Yeah, they're very good at, they've got an aesthetic to them with their, with their their kind of sporadic flight patterns. They've got a kind of an erratic kind of flap flap glide that they do, and there's, they just seem very confident and, and acrobatic in a way that's really charming.

Meredith 5:28

And you said that they are, you know, primarily urban birds. Their name is Chimney Swift. Are these guys actually living in people's chimneys?

Gwendolyn 5:40

So they're a really interesting species because yes. They are primarily an urban bird that uses human structures, chimneys, also sometimes barns and silos and abandoned buildings. And they in these chimneys, which means that they spend the night there essentially. They need to sleep just like we do. So at night around dusk, they will dive into these structures and they will come out around sunrise you can basically find them anywhere where they can get enough food. So in terms of their foraging behavior, you'll see them around parks. You can see them in very, very built up areas like downtown Toronto, for example. And so you can see them in all of these places where we spend a lot of time. As, as humans because they are so tightly linked to human habitat. And the reason for this is because they originally used these hollow trees in mature forests as nesting and roosting habitat. And then what happened was, starting about 400 years ago, started to remove all of these trees, you know, human clear cutting and deforestation for agriculture, for building our cities and towns meant, meant that these traditional habitat sites were lost for the species. And so they adapted in a really remarkable way to using human built structures because these were the things that were springing up that were most similar to the habitat, which that they need, which is these hollow structures with vertical surfaces that they can cl to.

Meredith 7:37

Is this kind of a similar story to that of the barn swallow?

Gwendolyn 7:40

Yeah, it is. So, it's really remarkable how some species have these original habitat requirements. They, you know, adapt to the natural features that are best suited for their roosting and nesting patterns. then when they lose these natural spaces, they are actually able to adapt to the human structures that are similar to those spaces. So it's a really amazing example of evolution in these species.

Meredith 8:15

And said as, as your role, you're part of the Chimney Restoration Fund. Are you restoring chimneys or are you trying to restore the large trunk type Because I am actually out at my parents' right now, which is near Trent Hills, and there is a Swift. Restoration project there, but it's a large trunk in the park, not a chimney. So curious.

Gwendolyn 8:43

Yeah, so the purpose of the Chimney Swift Chimney Restoration Fund is to provide financial support for projects that restore human structures, so chimneys and silos and barns, you know, anything that's built by our species. The reason for this is simply because these are the sites that are now rapidly disappearing and that make up the majority of chimney swift habitat. So, because natural habitat is now so rare, chimney Swifts rely most heavily on. Chimneys and these other human structures. And what's happening now is that those structures are also disappearing. When you think about, you know, our listeners out there, I don't know how many of them would say that they have a chimney that they use to heat their home, or it's in their, you know, kitchen and they use it for cooking. It's quite rare now. So these chimneys are being demolished. Urban development being a major contributor to that. As these high rises are going up, there's not a lot of space for these chimneys that are on the roofs of these shorter buildings that get redeveloped. So the purpose of the fund is to try and fight this loss of habitat by providing this support to people who choose to restore their chimney and keep it open for swift.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 10:19

It's, it's an interesting thing'cause with Chimney Swifts, I, I. We talk a lot about the need for there to be a balance of natural habitat as well as as anthropogenic habitat or habitat made by humans. And when we have the chimney restoration fund, one of the key components I think to, to qualify for a restoration project is known occupancy or historical occupancy of Swifts in the structure itself. And as much as I would like to put more time and effort into the conservation of natural habitat in old growth forests for chimneys, swifts, the truth of the matter is that they're very hard to study in those environments. The amount of observations of chimney swifts using natural nest cavities or natural roost cavities is quite low because they're oddly quiet when they, when they go to roost. So when you're on a city skyline, you can clearly see their silhouettes dropping, but when you're in a dense forest, they're kind of a mystery of to what habitat they're using and why. So I just wanted to, to jump in and say it's, it's. It's great that we can use anthropogenic environments to make sure that we're conserving a species while we let old growth force naturally restore itself.

Meredith 11:23

Yeah, that's really interesting because. eVen their name right, chimney Swift. You're thinking an kind of structures, but obviously they use these fours beforehand. So it's interesting that we don't have as much knowledge about how they're still using them. Which kind of brings me to a bit of a question. When there was this boom of, you know, chimneys being built in urban areas. Did this, or do we know, do we think we know whether there was an artificial boom in the populations well? Because there was such an abundance of habitat.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 12:00

From what I'm aware of, yes, there was a population increase. I don't know to what percent but from the papers that I've read there, there was indicators that with the industrial boom and the creation of so much brick and mortar structure populations did increase, however. It's unclear if that's an increase from a stable population to begin with, because before the industrial kind of boom, especially in Southern Ontario where a lot of them are densely populated there was an agricultural expanse that took place first. So the forest got clear cut before the chimneys got put up. So I I it's, there's so much history and so much speculation we won't really know because scientific methods have changed so much. Like point counts for birds used to be done by going into the forest and shooting as many things as you could. And then you said, oh, there's this many dead birds in this pile. They must be the most common species in this patch of wood. So it's unclear how the population is fluctuated with the historic trends of habitat loss and then anthropogenic habitat gain. All we know now is that since 1970 to now in Canada, there's been a 90% population decrease, which is pretty severe.

Gwendolyn 13:15

Yeah, and I would just add, I think that you're absolutely right. Some people bring this up as an idea of do we need to conserve this species? Do we need to help? Its population numbers recover because they sort of frame it as there was an artificial boom, and now the numbers are just naturally coming back down to what they were before. And what I would say is it's much more important to look at the health of the species, whether the numbers are. Enough that the species is going to be able to continue to reproduce than at, you know, sheer numbers and historical patterns. And so what we're seeing is that there has been this really big population decline and low reproduction numbers and there are these threats that are really, you know, contributing to these declines. It's not just the loss of habitat. There are other factors that are contributing to the loss of chimney Swift population numbers. so we have a lot of reason to say the conservation of the species is really important.

Meredith 14:34

And I think that's a perfect segue because they are an aerial insectivore. People have probably heard that aerial insect DeVores are not doing so hot. So let's get into that. What are, we've talked about habitat loss, but what other threats these birds are facing?

Gwendolyn 14:52

Yeah, well, one of the. Major threats is in the name aerial insectivore Population numbers for insects are also very, very rapidly declining, and this is a worldwide pattern. Canada is no exception to this pattern. We look at a bunch of different factors that are contributing to the lots of insect numbers, of course, widespread pesticide use and agricultural practices that destroy natural habitat and the ever present climate change, which is producing all kinds of negative effects from changes in temperature, more extreme weather events.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 15:33

Well, yeah, we've kind of covered the two biggest hitters in my opinion. There is the habitat degradation, habitat loss, as you've talked about. There's both the loss of the natural habitat and the new anthropogenic habitat is deteriorating as well. Combine that with the biodiversity of insect populations decreasing as well. That's a major hit. Like there was the, the DDT issue that affected all kinds of animals across the food chain all by. Diversity was affected by this unregulated pesticide. And like you mentioned, that, that that effect it had on beetles, which were the primary source of food for Chimney Swifts. And then after the DDT epidemic, they've started sourcing less nutritious insects to kind of fulfill their diet because they don't have the same options they used to have. Those are the two big ones. But then of course, like everything, it's all interconnected. There is climate change as a major factor that's affecting all aerial insect borders and chimneys. Specifically all aerial insect borders are long distance migrants. So that, that means they have quite the perilous journey across America North Canada, America, Mexico, and. Extreme weather events continue to increase in, in severity and in frequency. Herb populations are struggling to complete those journeys. And not to mention how that affects their ability to forge and function in both their overwintering grounds and their nesting grounds. I think that's, I think those are prime, those are the primary big three, and they're all kind of interconnected. Human influence is affecting all of these things and, and climate change is affecting insect populations. And insect populations are affecting chimney's first ability to breed and, and, and their, their overall bodily health, which affects them on their migration journey as well.

Meredith 17:15

And for those who aren't familiar, where are, where is their over wintering habitat? How far are these birds going?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 17:23

Quite far. I believe the furthest south that they're known is in northern Peru. Which is pretty, pretty impressive distance for one of the smallest aerial insect or species in Ontario.

Meredith 17:37

living up to their swift name.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 17:40

Yes.

Meredith 17:41

So humans, huge impact on the species. Probably underselling that. So, you talked a lot about insect decline and things like that, but you guys are Birds Canada, Beetles, Canada. But what kind of actions are you guys taking at your organization or what, know, partner organizations are doing to help prevent the loss of the species?

Gwendolyn 18:06

Yeah, well, of course the Chimney Swift Fund. That's what I work on, and that is one of our major projects to reverse or prevent habitat loss. Again, we talked about that's geared towards anthropogenic habitat, so we support projects to restore chimneys. That are known to be used by Swift. They've been used by Swift's for many years. They're, we help restore nesting sites and also roost habitats and structures that serve both purposes. And we support any kind of work that is going to enable that structure to continue to provide habitat for Chimney Swifts for many years.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 18:54

And then on the other side of it we have the Ontario Aerial Insect of War team also conducting research on Chimney Swifts. We coordinate a long-term monitoring citizen science program called Ontario Swift Watch, which I could talk a little bit about, but also we have hired professional biologists and field technicians going out and looking to fill habitat knowledge gaps for this threatened species. Some little bit of background. Critical habitat classification is really crucial for species at risk in Ontario and in Canada. There's government legislation but protects habitat for species that are classified as at risk, either threatened or endangered. And, chimney Swifts are no different. So there's a specific set of criteria that different physical structures have to meet in order to be protected by legislation from destruction or disturbance. And the two criteria that kind of makes that up is occupancy and, and nesting or breeding evidence. So if a chimney is inhabited by chimney Swifts on two different dates, it is. It qualifies for potentially being labeled as critical habitat, or if a chimneys swift is seen bringing nesting material into a, into a structure or fledglings are seen leaving a structure. It is, it's deemed a critical nest site. So our biologists are going around. We started in the west end of, of Toronto, finished the east end of Toronto last year, and then now I'm going around the rest of Ontario to historic sites that only have one observation of Chimney Swift occupancy to try and fill in those knowledge gaps, increase those critical habitat numbers, and just add more protected habitat to the, to the map for the species.

Meredith 20:30

Any sites out in Ottawa.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 20:32

Puns. There's any, any city in Southern Ontario they'll, they'll, I know some people wouldn't qualify Ottawa as Southern Ontario, but for me it is. There's definitely chimney swift sites to survey.

Meredith 20:44

Well, if you're doing any surveys, let me know and I'd love to come out and, you know, creep what you're doing, but very cool. And obviously filling these data gaps very important because if we don't know where the species is, how can we protect it? So sounds like both of your programs work really well together.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 21:06

Yeah, and it's, it's funny that you ask that you, that you asked to join a survey because while I won't necessarily be in Ottawa surveying this year. It isn't with species at risk locations, there is a lot of secrecy'cause it is important for a lot of species, specifically species that get poached or are demonized by, by public perception to protect those species from the public eye. But chimney Swifts don't have those issues. So we actually really encourage knowledge sharing of chimneys swift habitat. I mentioned there was a citizen science project called Ontario Swift Watch that I oversee. So if you wanted to take up survey in Chimneys, Swift's, even in my absence, we can set you up with that because we really encourage birders of all skill levels naturalists of all skill levels, people of any level of passion who are interested in getting to know Chimney Swift better to go out and survey local chimneys. We will give you locations within your area and you can go out and see how many birds there are.

Meredith 21:59

I, I love that and I will definitely be looking into that and I think that's another great segue into, okay, so there's Project Swift Watch. If people want, who are listening, want to help, what are other ways people can get involved and help protect. Chimney Swifts, but also aerial insect travos in general.

Gwendolyn 22:20

Yeah, well if you are an owner of a chimney. there are a lot of things that you can do. So if your chimney is an active chimney, we ask that you do not light fires while the swifts are there because fires are definitely harmful to them if they are inside the structure when you like them. So between about the middle of April and the end of September is when swifts are generally around. And also that you maintain your chimney properly in terms of getting it swept. So going in again while the swifts are not there and getting it cleaned out is really helpful. And it's also helpful for you as a chimney owner because it's, it can be unsafe to not get your chimney swift. So you're benefiting yourself and you're benefiting the birds. And then if you're not using your chimney, then really avoiding these chimney additions, these things that you put on chimneys that can block it or make it unusable for the swift. So ask. Please don't put caps or spark arresters or anti wildlife screens. I know that a lot of people don't want raccoons in their chimney. They don't want squirrels in their chimney, and we fully understand that. It's totally reasonable. But again, these anti wildlife screens are one of those things that stop the swifts from getting in. And swifts are not at all harmful when they're using your chimney. So what we ask is that you consider alternative strategies, like you can put a metal flashing on the outside of the chimney and that will actually prevent squirrels and raccoons from climbing up and getting inside. And that will leave the opening free for the birds to come in. And then the final thing in terms of stewardship is if you see that there are bricks falling out, you know you need repointing instead of just tearing down your chimney, which a lot of people do because it is more cost effective. Consider repairing it and restoring it because then you can to provide this habitat for the birds. And I would say also, I kind of love the way chimneys look. They're this really integral part of kind of older houses, especially and you know, or older important historical buildings. And so you can preserve this actual architectural part of your house as well.

Meredith 25:08

And is that something like if I have a chimney, it's falling apart, it's been used by Chimney Swifts in the past, is that something I can approach your grant or your fund to help my chimney?

Gwendolyn 25:21

Yes, absolutely. So that would be a perfect example of something where we could help you. We provide 50% of the costs of a project like that. So if you end up in that situation and you think, oh, I know that Chimney Swifts have used my chimney, I wonder if I could get money from the fund. We just ask that you head on over to our website, send us an email, get in touch with us, and we're really more than happy to provide support

Meredith 25:53

and we will make sure we link that in our, our show notes for sure. And then Gabe, did you have anything to add on the ER ins Secor

Gabriel Evans-Cook 26:03

Totally. There's tons of things that people can do and we've talked a lot about getting involved with citizen science. Even just going out and birdwatching. It's great to keep an eye on population numbers, especially on prairie ins, sect wars. You mentioned earlier that we all are kind of vaguely aware of that aerials sect wars as a family are not doing the best as the State of Canada's report co-produced by an environment in climate change Canada and Birds Canada released last year showed they're the second fastest declining family of birds in the country. So just keeping an eye on those population trends through breeding bird surveys and citizen science projects like Ontario Swift Watch is crucial for them. Because as many as, as many of us want to be across the, the country, keeping an eye on things, there's just not enough of us all the time. But then on the other side of things, there's also things you can just do in your day to day. Gardening for birds is something I like to advocate for a lot. We talked a lot about insect biodiversity declines, and that is a multifaceted issue, but one of those issues comes from native plant declines because there's so much unique symbiotic relationships between native species. There's some native insects that can only reproduce on specific plants that are also in decline. So I, I recommend everyone go check out. There's a website called Bird gar bird gardens.ca. It's a Birds Canada program where you can put in your geographic region or municipality and it will provide you a list of native plant species that you can plant in your garden and different conditions of, of light and, and for different seasons that will inherently increase insect biodiversity in plant biodiversity in your region, which is. Immediately beneficial both for producing food for aerial insectivore, and in some cases producing habitat.

Meredith 27:49

So exciting. I am going to be checking out that website because we moved this past summer and I'm going on, I'm going on mat leave in June. So we'll be this summer, but I'm thinking next spring I'm tearing up my whole front lawn and I'm going to be planting it with native species. So, and I'm new to this area, so it'd be great to know which ones I should be putting geographically for here. So I will be definitely doing that and. Then you get beautiful low maintenance plants. So huge advocate for planting natives and getting rid of grass.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 28:24

Totally. And congratulations by the way.

Meredith 28:27

Oh, thank

Gwendolyn 28:28

Yeah. That's so exciting.

Meredith 28:30

Yeah, this is I, big news. I haven't shared that on the podcast yet, but yeah, so it's gonna be a, a little bit of a different migratory bird season. I do like to get out and birding, but probably be a shorter stint for me this year. But I will make sure to eBird where I can. And so these suggestions and these ways people can help, I mean, they're a time investment or potentially a financial investment. Why should people care? Why should, should people be getting out there and, you know, contributing financially or, know, with their time?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 29:05

It's a question we get asked a lot. As a conservationist, you, you're often put in a position where you feel like you need to justify the effort and the fi and the funds that go into conserving these species. Even with jobs like mine, a lot of the work that I do is funded by the government, which is something that a lot of people are like, well, why should our tax dollars be going to. Conserving this one species of bird. And to that, I, I have a couple responses. There is the inherent understanding that all ecosystems are deeply interconnected and every single living organism plays an integral role in maintaining a healthy biodiversity, which is something we all benefit from, whether that's from green space and national parks, or it's just from the childlike whimsy we get of biodiversity and wildlife. But I, I personally, when, when asked why someone should care about chimney Swift's say that I don't like putting a human or personified value system on something that was around way before we could sociologically pick it apart and say, this is worthy of my care and this is not worthy of my care, and here's why. So I think the reason people should care about Chimney Swifts is because. Inherently it is our fault that they are struggling to maintain a population and an individual health that they used to have inherently from their environment. And not only have we done that once as a species by removing their original way of life, we're doing it a second time. This is a species that was able to adapt to live alongside us and collaborate with us as a neighbor and a really good neighbor at that very, most people don't know they exist. They're that they're that chill of a roommate. So it's kind of on us to take responsibility for our actions and make sure that we don't push them to the brink of extinction.

Gwendolyn 31:03

I think that's totally, I totally agree with that. And the other thing is. They're so wonderful and you get so much enjoyment from these birds. I, when I'm walking down, you know, young Street in Toronto and I hear they're chattering up ahead, I feel a connection to nature that's often really difficult to get when you live in such a big city. having this urban wildlife where you are reminded that nature is actually all around us, I think it's so beneficial for humans and that's something that I am really, really motivated to preserve.

Meredith 31:45

And to your point too, I also think that we often demonize a lot of species that somehow have adapted well to our anthropogenic and like our cities. Like you think about Ring Build Gulls Canada, geese, raccoons, they, they've, done a great job at adapting to our human environments and we kind of villainize for them for it. So Chimney Swift, they adapted. We somehow didn't villainize them. Maybe because they are so, such good roommates, like you said, but it's kind of seems sad that they adapted so well and we're now taking away that adaptation. I also wanna bring up that, you know, some of the actions, well, all of the actions you talked about too, that benefit Chimney Swift. It's not just chimney Swifts that are gonna benefit. Like what other species are you helping protect when you protect the chimney Swift.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 32:40

Totally. They're a funny one because we do spend so much time as Chimney Swift conservationists talking about chimneys and those, that, that aspect of their conservation is pretty unique. When it comes to working with with partners to try and conserve the species, I think it's one of the few times that I don't have to talk to a parks department. But that being said, their conservation isn't just. About those physical brick structures. We've talked so much about their forging habitats and, and their need for insect biodiversity and the need for green space and the need for wetlands. Chimney Swifts, I don't know if I mentioned it before, do everything on the wing, and that includes eating, mating and drinking water. They drink water by skimming the surface of water bodies, and in order for them to survive and to thrive, they need. The same thing that a lot of species do, which is green space different habitat types that would promote insect biodiversity and one of the richest and most at risk kind of eco types, which is wetlands. So working in whole to conserve chimney swifts kind of benefits all forms of life, and especially because a lot of the conservation is focused in urban centers. So it creates these kind of safe havens, like a lot of people in Toronto will know about Evergreen brickworks. It is one of the densest places for Chimney Swift foraging during the day that I've seen in the city. And I assume that that's correlated both because of the, the wetlands on the property and the kind of green space that the Dawn Valley holds, but that, that space also is really integral for other species at risk in the city. It's one of the few places I've seen Blandings turtles in in Toronto and that's pretty rare and it's pretty great to have spaces like that that are kind of. Gardens of Eden in, in dense cities,

Meredith 34:29

And considering seven out of our eight bat species are at risk now as well. If you're seeing a bat over the brickworks, I mean, it could be a big brown and maybe the one that's not at risk, but odds are it could be an at risk bat as well.

Gwendolyn 34:44

Yeah, and

Gabriel Evans-Cook 34:45

It.

Gwendolyn 34:45

of these species, we often forget when we focus on the conservation of a single species that in nature, all species are interconnected in some way. And so when you have a species like the Chimney Swift, which is an aerial insectivore, which eats thousands of bugs a day, this means that they really have a very important effect on the number of bugs that are around. And that's going to affect the amount of foraging that bugs are doing on vegetation and. The amount of vegetation affects things like deer and rabbits. And so all of this is interconnected in a way that is often, you know, easy to overlook. We talk about keystone species sometimes, but I think that every species is keystone in a way because every species has a, an effect on all the other species that it's interacting with.

Meredith 35:42

So, so true. And I love that you brought up the Evergreen brickworks. It was a favorite place of mine to walk, and I know I'm not the only one, right? Like, so you're benefiting species, but what a boon to the city and to the people who live around it too. So I, I think of that as like a pretty big. Success because it was also, you know, a major industrial site at one point, and now it's one of our best green spaces in the city. So can we talk about maybe some of the successes that you've seen in your work so far? Either you know, through preserving some large chimneys or just some returns of chimney swifts, like that kind of thing.

Gwendolyn 36:26

Well, the Chimney Swift Fund has definitely been a huge success. So we've had two seasons of funding so far, and in total we have promoted the restoration of 13 chimney swift sites. And so some of these sites are nest chimneys. We've seen of the chimneys that were restored in the pilot year, which was 20 22, 20 23, we've seen that several of those chimneys have had successful nesting. So they've had new chimney swifts coming into the population partly as a result of the restoration work. And we've also seen. At the larger roost sites that we've helped to restore increasing numbers of swift, we, one of the sites that was restored in the first year of the fund recorded a new record high of 407 Swift. So that's a huge site. Really, really important for the species during the spring communal roosting season when they're all coming back from migration. And they do this behavior where initially they all kind of group together at these big chimneys. So you get. Hundreds of Swifts in one site. And so the fact that we were able to restore a really big site like that, as well as some smaller sites that get sort of around a hundred or 60 swifts, huge success for the species. And so in all, the fund has contributed to the preservation of habitat for about a thousand Chimney Swift. So that's kind of a huge number. When you think about a population that's not that big it's a pretty big percentage of the total population. And so we're really thrilled with the way that the fund has been able to contribute to the restoration of these sites.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 38:31

Totally, and I'll, I'll jump off of that to, to kind of talk about our other side of things. When it comes to the the, the work that we've been doing. Gwen and I used to work together, but one of the things that we, we did was we would work in partnership with municipal governments. Because as I mentioned earlier chimney Swift conservation really involves critical habitat protection, which is a provincial policy and a federal policy. However, there are no, there are no chimney conservation officers. Really, there's no one driving around checking if all the chimneys that are listed as critical habitat are still standing and that developers have been respecting this microcosm of legal fine print that is chimney swift conservation requirements and. We've been able to partner with just, just under 10 different municipalities across Ontario to incorporate all of the citizen science data that we've collected for decades, as well as the critical habitat data that technicians like Gwen and I have collected into urban planning GIS or mapping systems so that when development proposals come in at the municipal level, those developers get warned that they are at risk of violating the Endangered Species Act and the Species at Risk Act, rather than a situation where they unknowingly destroy critical habitat. And then either we don't find out about it ever, or it becomes out after the damage is already done. And then that developer has to pay a hefty fine which is. That's a lose lose situation. We lose habitat and they lose money. Whereas in, in this kind of approach, there's a more collaborative nature where developers can get in contact with the Ontario Swift Watch team and the Chimney Swift restoration team and kind of collaborate about how they're gonna navigate building their development while keeping species at risk in mind. And then also I just, I think this is a big win and I don't talk about it enough. We've been doing these occupancy surveys for two years, going on our third year now, and most of the sites that we survey professionally haven't been visited in over a decade. And the fact that 50% approximately of those sites are still standing and are occupied by chippy Swift's a decade later is really outstanding news. I think when I went into that project, I was expecting a lot more urban development to have changed the landscape in a way that would've made a lot of those surveys less fruitful. So that's, those are some highlights of the past couple years.

Meredith 40:59

It sounds like there's still a lot of hope for chimney Swifts and that, you know, there a species that are hanging on their habitat is hanging on and there's a lot of effort to preserve that habitat or recreate it. So I think that's really helpful. And then, yeah, you were talking about how, you know, this is year three for you doing the surveys, so. Any fun stories from the field? Favorite memories working with Chimney Swift. I know Gwen, you're probably less than the field now, but if you have any, you wanna hark back to like, we'd love to hear them.

Gwendolyn 41:31

Yeah, I mean I think that serving Chimney Swift is definitely one of the most fun things I've done, which is crazy to say'cause it's just standing and staring at a chimney for an hour. But, I think that it's always such a joy when you go to a site and you don't know what to expect, because like Gabe said, it hasn't been visited in over 10 years and you get to the site and it turns out that it's a communal roost. And so you end up with a number of like. Dozens of chimney Swifts going into that chimney. That's always such a joy.'cause again, it's this urban wildlife, we don't get to pay much attention to it most of the time. And to see these birds thriving at that site is, is really wonderful. the other thing I would say is it's always hilarious when you get to a nest site and there are fledglings that are still figuring out how to get into the chimney because they're quite clumsy when they in sometimes. So you can see them kind of having to try a few times to get in. And that's always wonderful as well.'cause again, it's showing that the population has hope because we're getting successful pledging.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 42:48

Yeah, the field for of Chimney Swift surveys is a really unique kind of field work. I've conducted a lot of species at risk surveys for other projects, and chimney swifts are like, nothing like Gwen said, are like nothing else that you would do as a biologist where you are in the heart of urban environments, just standing on a street corner, staring at a building for half an hour before sunset and half an hour after which is an interesting time to be about town. So I've got, I, I've, all of my favorite stories kind of involve my interactions with the people who live in the community because you do raise suspicion and attract attention by not moving on a street corner in Toronto for an hour. And people are always very curious to know what you're doing and are also always very surprised to hear that there are species at risk that inhabit their neighborhood and sometimes even their own building. So kind of getting the opportunity to, while I, I get to survey the species that I care about deeply, I also get to kind of share that knowledge with members of the community so that they can be more involved in the conservation of species at risk on their block. That's always a lot of fun. Some people don't believe me though.

Meredith 43:55

So, rapid fire, what do you think is the most underrated or overlooked thing about this species?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 44:03

This is gonna sound peculiar, but their mouth like all, like some aerial insectivores have this really unique kind of, they've got tiny beaks and then this massive escape jaw. And I think chimney Swifts don't get enough credit for their ability to kind of open their mouth like a whale and just skim through the sky and eat aerial insects like plankton.

Meredith 44:25

And what do you think is the biggest myth or misunderstanding that comes with this animal?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 44:30

Definitely that they cause problems. Like, just like you just said, they're great neighbors. Everyone seems to be concerned about them living in chimneys and the mess that they'll make and the bugs that they'll bring in and the, and the feces, they'll leave. And none of this is at all a problem. They're really clean species and, and you never would know that they're there.

Gwendolyn 44:53

Yeah. It's so funny. Even sometimes I've seen. practitioners, so people who specialize in cleaning chimneys or repairing chimneys, and they will have this terminology where they call chimney swift's pests. And they are not pests because they don't have any of the attributes that pests have. They really don't cause any issues. So think that a lot of people have a knee jerk reaction an animal living in their chimney. And leads to, I think, a real misunderstanding of the species. And, and some people try to villainize them when they are again, the best neighbors you could ask for.

Meredith 45:42

We need to attend some chimney sweeping conferences and, and

Gabriel Evans-Cook 45:46

Yeah.

Meredith 45:47

get on a panel. This species have any like hidden talents that people wouldn't know about?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 45:53

Yeah, there's a few, there's a few things that the species has specifically in its physiology. Like one of the things that I, I find interesting is that they have these barbs at the end of their tail similar to some woodpecker species that help them with their vertical clinging because like unlike other aerial insect or Swifts can't perch, so you'll never see them on a wire. They only kind of vertically clinging to rough surfaces. Like Gwen had said, kind of like, kind of like bats, but right side up. So the adaptations they have for that are really, really cool.

Gwendolyn 46:21

Yeah, yeah. So they're just so well adapted to this clinging lifestyle and their toe arrangement is called pamal. And so most bird species have three toes that face forward and one that faces backwards. And this is called an A odile configuration, but chimney Swifts can take the toe that faces backward and actually swivel it to the front that all four toes are facing forward. And this allows them to really securely clinging to these vertical surfaces. And that's called a Pam ProAct arrangement. And they are one of only two groups of birds. Swift and mouse birds are the only two groups of birds that have this co arrangement. So it's really remarkable and unusual adaptation.

Meredith 47:17

Yeah, I've never heard about that. I could see that being like part of a freaky bird hidden talent show, but like, look what I can do

Gabriel Evans-Cook 47:24

Yeah.

Meredith 47:26

And then if this bird were to get up on stage and give humans a TED talk, what's the title of their talk? What do you think they want, they would wanna communicate to us?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 47:37

I think it depends on the type of swift, it depends on the attitude. The one that, the one that I, that just comes to mind is, I, I think something called like brick by brick. How to turn your Enemy into your friend. A relationship with Chimney, swift and Urban Centers.

Meredith 47:53

I am signing up for that talk. I love that so much.

Gwendolyn 47:57

Yeah. Yeah. Something. I also think something like love thy feathered neighbor, how

Gabriel Evans-Cook 48:03

Oh yeah.

Gwendolyn 48:05

can change your life. And this the motivational thing about how to steward your chimney for chimney Swift.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 48:13

Yeah.

Meredith 48:13

Okay, let's get these guys up on stage. They're sounding like they're presenting some great ideas. And then, I mean, we've talked a lot about some of the coolest things they do, but have you found anything particularly surprising that you've learned, like working with this species?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 48:29

Yeah. Their acrobatics are really, really impressive, more so than I think they get given credit for. There was a study that was done that analyzed the movement behaviors of chimney swifts when they're returning to roost because during migration, specifically, they will mass roost in singular chimneys as large flocks. During the breeding season, there's usually like only two or three chimney swifts per chimney, but during spring migration, fall migration, there can be hundreds and even sometimes thousands in a given structure, and they all will return to roost within the same period of time. And they have really unique vocal patterns and acrobatic physiology that allows them to coordinate entry without colliding into each other. That I just find remarkable.

Meredith 49:19

It sounds like the DVP could learn a thing or two from navigating about navigating from chimney swims.

Gabriel Evans-Cook 49:27

Hundred percent.

Gwendolyn 49:28

Oh yeah. I get really surprised by their habitat choices because I'll get to like a church and it has this big, beautiful chimney that's completely intact and it looks like the perfect habitat. And then the Swifts end up using this like rundown chimney that has like a pipe coming out of one side instead. And I think that really highlights their site fidelity, which I don't know if we've mentioned yet. It's, they come back to the same site year after year after year. And so even if that site and it becomes really run down, They will continue to use that site, which again, it makes it super important to preserve those sites.

Meredith 50:17

Preserve and restore.

Gwendolyn 50:20

Yes, exactly.

Meredith 50:22

I love that. And since you do work in urban areas, I'm sure, I mean even from public or maybe from family, have you had like a funny or unexpected reaction than, you know, getting told off that you've gotten from people when you tell them what you're doing for work?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 50:39

Oh yeah, everyone, everyone has the first impression that I'm Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins until I go into detail about my work. Whenever I give them the spark notes, it's, I'm, I'm dancing with penguins and covered in soot. I.

Gwendolyn 50:55

Yeah. Yeah. A lot of, a lot of questions like, oh, so you climb down into chimneys all the time. Right? No, that's another great thing about chimneys, so you don't actually have to get yourself dirty to survey them.

Meredith 51:08

Yeah, don't wanna do the confined spaces. Training like that would be a little too narrow. And then if the species were to win a contest, fastest, smartest, strongest, what category are they dominating?

Gabriel Evans-Cook 51:22

Well, I'm biased. I feel like a protective parent. I think, I think chimney Swifts are the best at everything. But I also will recognize that they, they might just go home with a participation medal. You know, they do, they are a fragile bird that is very sensitive to their environment. They are specialists in urban environments living amongst generalists. So they are very easily outcompeted, which is one of the reasons why there are species at risk. So I guess my answer is they're going home with a participation ribbon. But I'm proud. I'm proud of.

Meredith 51:53

And then obviously evolution is weird. It makes weird things. Is there a feature or behavior that makes you go, Ugh, nature is so neat or weird or amazing?

Gwendolyn 52:03

Yeah, I think they're, they're really amazingly well adapted species. behavior that I think is so cool is that they actually sometimes show a, a kind of cooperative breeding where there will be the main pear that's the breeding pear. They're the ones that are the biological parents of the chicks in the nest, and then they will be helped in the care of the young by one or two other adults that are sometimes not even related to the breeding pear. So it's this kind of behavior that, you know. It used to be that we thought only humans were capable of that, and we're now learning that there are so many species that show this kind of behavior, including Jimmy Swift.

Meredith 53:00

So not only are they good neighbors to us, they're good neighbors to each other, and they're, they're helping everybody rear their families. And that's a wrap on this episode with the Chimney, swift and Gabriel and Gwendolyn. A huge thank you to Gwen and Gabe for sharing their passion and knowledge. You can't help but walk away from this episode with a whole new appreciation for the Chimney Swift. Now it is time to test your knowledge. Did you learn something new? True or false? Chimney Swifts can perch on wires and branches like other small birds. The answer is obviously false. Unlike most birds, chimney, Swifts can't perch at all. Instead, they clinging vertically to rough surfaces like the inside of chimneys or hollow trees, thanks to their unique toe arrangement and their stiff tail bristles. So if you see a tiny bird clinging to a brick wall like Spider-Man, it might just be a chimney swift. Now time for our jargon. Buster, you probably heard the word anthropogenic a few times in this episode, but what does that actually mean? Anthropogenic is just a fancy way of saying caused by humans. So when we talk about anthropogenic habitat, we mean human made environments like buildings, road chimneys, anything we've constructed. In the case of chimney Swifts, their original homes were hollow trees and old growth forests. But as those forests were cleared, they adapted to nesting in our chimneys the twist. Now, even those chimneys are disappearing as buildings change or chimneys get capped. So when we talk about conserving anthropogenic habitat, we're really talking about protecting the spaces where wildlife and humans overlap. And speaking of spaces where wildlife and humans overlap. Last week I mentioned I was traveling to Belize, and you'll never Belize it. Sorry, I had to do it, but I found my target bird, the white collared mannequin. And if you don't know why that is so exciting, I highly recommend checking them out on YouTube. They have an amazing mating territorial dance, and rather than their vocalizations being made with their snx or their version of the vocal chords. Their call is made by rapidly clicking together two highly specialized bones in their wings. Like I said, YouTube it. This felt like a really big deal because this will probably be the last target bird I chased for a while. As I mentioned in this episode, I'm gonna be having my first child in June, and I know it's gonna make chasing rare birds a little more challenging, but I cannot wait to share my passion for all things wild with them. So if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. It helps rarefied reach even more people who care about protecting our planet's rare species. And as always, you can follow us on Instagram at rarefied dot pod and sign up for a newsletter on our website for updates behind the scenes content and sneak peeks at what's coming next. Until next time, get out there and explore the wild, because every species has a story and every one of us can make a difference. I'm your host Meredith Meeker. Thank you for listening and happy trails.