4 piping plovers hatch at Montrose Beach

A nest of four piping plover chicks has hatched at Montrose Beach on the Chicago lakefront.

The group Chicago Piping Plovers is monitoring the endangered birds, and said the new chicks are now exploring the lakefront, and staying close to their parents, Sea Rocket and Imani.

Chicago Piping Plovers is asking everyone to give the birds space, and not to share the exact location of their nest online.

Piping plovers have frequently nested at Montrose Beach since 2019.

Monty and Rose — named after the beach that is in turn named after the east-west street of which it serves at the mouth — were the first to nest at Montrose Beach in 71 years when they appeared in 2019.

Monty and Rose were Imani's parents. Sea Rocket was a captive-reared chick that was released in Chicago in 2023 along with two other plovers, Wild Indigo and Prickly Pear.