Season's first piping plover egg spotted at Montrose Beach

Montrose Beach resident piping plovers Imani and Sea Rocket are expecting a chick again.

The Piping Plover Group posted that an egg was laid at Montrose Beach on Saturday morning. The group is expecting three more eggs.

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

"A successful nest will help boost the endangered population of Great Lakes piping plovers," the group said.

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.