Chicago piping plovers gear up for migration as monitors work to raise awareness

Chicago's beloved piping plovers are gearing up for migration.

The plovers were gone from their summertime home at Montrose Beach as of Sunday, but they were still in the Chicago area.

The endangered birds captured the city's heart after two birds — named Monty and Rose as a play on "Montrose" — first nested at Montrose Beach in 2019. They were the first piping plovers to nest at Montrose Beach in 71 years.

The two birds met at six weeks old and stayed together their entire lives. 

Since then, conservation efforts have helped create a home for piping plovers in Chicago.

Monty died of a fungal infection in 2022, and Rose never came back to the beach after that — which an expert said meant she likely died at the same time.

But one of Monty and Rose's offspring, a male named Imani, went on nesting at Montrose Beach and was paired with a female named Sea Rocket. She was a captive-reared chick that was released in Chicago in 2023 along with two other plovers, Wild Indigo and Prickly Pear.

This year, Imani and Sea Rocket became the parents of four chicks, all named after Chicago music legends — Tweedy for Jeff Tweedy of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco fame, Mavis was named for Mavis Staples of the legendary Staple Singers and solo renown, Buddy for blues icon Buddy Guy, and Frankie for late house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles.

Mavis and Tweedy both died a short time after hatching, but Buddy and Frankie both fledged and survived.

"So we hope we'll see them together back at the beach next year, and then, you know, Imani and Sea Rocket will hopefully come back as well, and we'll have even more plovers in the Chicago area," said John McElhattan, lead monitor for Chicago Piping Plovers.

Piping plovers reached the point of nearing extinction in the 1980s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed them on the federal endangered species list in 1986.

"Back in the '80s, they were down to only about 12 or 13 breeding pairs throughout the entire Great Lakes, which was a really dire situation for the whole population, but now, this was actually a record year, and we had 99 breeding pairs across the Great Lakes," McElhattan said. "So ever since they were listed, they've made a great recovery so far."

McElhattan added that it is impressive that piping plovers are thriving in Chicago, as opposed to less populated areas.

"Every site counts, and then our site in Chicago, you know, it's really special that we have it, because we're the third largest city in the country, and yet, you know, we prove that we can have this beautiful, thriving nature in the middle of the city," said McElhattan. "You know, a lot of the sites are much more remote, up in like Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, so it's pretty fabulous that they can make it in the hustle and bustle of Montrose. It's really special and unique for plovers."

McElhattan said what the Chicago Piping Plovers organization does in the future depends on the birds themselves and whether they keep coming back. But no matter what happens, the plan is to go on raising awareness and getting volunteers involved — and McElhattan said he hopes to see a broader range for piping plovers in Chicago.

"You know, I'd love to see plovers at more Chicago beaches — all those fabulous beaches on the South Side, Rainbow Beach, 63rd Street Beach. You know, there they have the natural areas that the Park District has worked so hard to create, like we have at Montrose. They've been such a fabulous partner," he said. "So the more plovers we have on Chicago beaches, the happier I would be. I would love to see it all over Chicagoland."

More information on Chicago Piping Plovers can be found on the group's website and on its Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky pages.