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A pair of Great Lakes Piping Plovers (Monty & Rose) began nesting at the Montrose public beach in Chicago, IL in 2019, fledging 2 chicks for the first time in Chicago and Cook Cunty in 71 years. They returned in 2020, and several local bird conservation organizations teamed up to help educate the public on this exciting development for this federally endangered species, and to help monitor the plovers to ensure their safety during their stay in Chicago. Three chicks were fledged in 2020, Nish, Hazel and Esperanza.

Monty and Rose returned once more in 2021 and fledged two chicks, Imani and Siewka. Nish, who hatched in 2020, paired with a Pennsylvania Piping Plover, Nellie, and nested at Maumee Bay, OH, fledging 4 chicks, becoming a trailbrazer like his parents at it was the first nest and the first chicks to fledge in Ohio in 83 years!

In 2022, Monty arrived in late April. We anxiously awaited Rose’s return. Alas, she never came back from her wintering grounds in Florida. Then, in a sorrowful moment for all Piping Plover lovers in Chicago and beyond, Monty passed away on May 13, 2022, of a fungal infection. Monty and Rose will always be celebrated for endearing themselves to an entire city, and kindling great interest in the Great Lakes Piping Plovers, their plight and their future.

Imani, Monty and Rose’s son hatched in 2021 returned to Montrose in May 2022, after visiting Lake Superior near Duluth, MN. He settled in at Montrose and we kept hope that a female Piping Plover would show up for him to pair up with. Unfortunately, Imani remained a bachelor in 2022. He returned to Montrose in 2023, spending the summer primarily by himself on the beach, without a mate, occupying himself by chasing Killdeer off the protected beach.

Then, in July 2023, the Great Lakes Piping Plovers program, with permission from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, released three captive-reared chicks at Montrose: Sea Rocket, Prickly Pear and Wild Indigo. This was a breakthrough moment in the history of the program, to release captive-reared chicks outside Michigan. This was undertaken in the hope that one of the chicks would be a female and would return the following year to Montrose and mate with Imani.

This experiment was a resounding success! Sea Rocket, a female, returned in May 2024 and wasted no time pairing up with Imani and nesting. They fledged one chick, Nagamo, doted upon by his parents, especially his Dad Imani, as well as an entire community of Piping Plover fans.

Nearly extinct from the Great Lakes region, Imani and Sea Rocket represent one of approximately 80 Great Lakes Piping Plovers pairs and are thus an extremely rare treat! It’s important to provide them with the space they need to survive, reproduce, nest and raise their young chicks at this special Chicago site.

As a migratory species, Great Lakes Piping Plovers spend their nesting season in one area (the Great Lakes) where they breed and raise their young, and they winter in warmer areas (southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the United States, as well as in the Bahamas.) Learn more at the Great Lakes Piping Plovers website.

Monty and Rose Family Tree

Banner photo: Raed Mansour