The 2021 Season: some tears and a whole lot of love
Siewka enjoys the power of their wings. Photo Credit: Tamima Itani
The third season of Monty and Rose nesting at Montrose is winding down. What a season it has been, so much joy at times, but also a lot of pain.
Little Rosie, as I like to call her, arrived on April 25, much earlier than her anticipated May 1 arrival. As in the past, Monty must have been in touch with Rose through means only known to them, as he arrived on April 26. Within a few days, they were busy scraping nests in multiple locations at the Montrose Beach Dunes: across from the Pier Tower, by the 2020 location on the dunes, and in the new habitat addition. It was hard to keep track of them! On May 12, Brad Semel (IDNR) went into the new habitat addition and confirmed a nest with 3 eggs. By May 14, the nest had 4 eggs and incubation started. The nest was directly in front of the wall by the walkway and monitoring was a breeze from there. Monty and Rose were obviously thanking the Chicago Park District for making this wonderful gift of new habitat to them and the rich fauna and flora of the area.
Things were going so well! Unexpectedly, the first terrifying moment came on May 17th, when the surveillance cameras showed a balloon caught against the exclosure and the plovers off the nest. In the middle of the night, Louise Clemency (USFWS) and Jim Van der Kloot (USFWS) went to Montrose to retrieve the balloon. Disaster averted...this time.
Monty and Rose received their shiny, new adult bands on May 25, a unique combination of bands and colors that immediately identifies them without reliance on dots, stars or numbers. Monty's old band was broken and Rose's bands brittle, it was time for them to get fresh bands! Thank you to Stephanie Schubel and the Great Lakes Piping Plover team for making the trip early in the season to place these bands.
With just five days from the eggs hatching and excitement building, the surveillance cameras once again delivered heartbreaking news, and revealed a skunk reaching inside the exclosure late on the night of June 2. I was on shift the next morning and arrived to an empty exclosure and nest. The skunk had persisted until a weld in the exclosure broke, at which point the skunk was able to reach in, grab the eggs and devour them. That morning, Monty and Rose were observed courting anew and mating. Within 6.5 days, by June 9, eggs were being laid, in a new location on the protected beach. The cycle started anew, with a larger exclosure and the USDA cameras installed. Monitoring became more difficult, as the line of sight to the nest was not as direct or close, and in many instances, volunteers would have to stand in the beating sun and the strong heat.
With all fingers and toes crossed, the days went by. As the hatching date approached, various tools were used to relocate gulls and raptors.
Then the day we had been awaiting for so long came, Wednesday July 7th, when the first chick hatched at 1:50 pm and the second chick hatched at 3:15 pm. The following day, July 8th, a third chick hatched at 7:48 am. Strong winds were blowing and the chicks chose to stay brooding under their parents - who can blame them!
Monty and Rose continued to incubate the remaining unhatched egg. Their dilemma was evident: to take care of the three hatched chicks and take them feeding, or wait for the fourth egg to hatch? In the early morning on Friday, July 9th, Rose was observed first incubating the egg, then getting off and observing it for some twenty minutes. Afterwards, she left and her attention shifted entirely to the three chicks. It was agreed that an egg rescue attempt was worthwhile. That's when we moved in, and the remaining egg was collected by Cassi Saari (Chicago Park District) and Claire Raver (Cardno) and taken to the Lincoln Park Zoo by Louise Clemency for incubation.
Zoo Baby hatched at the Lincoln Park Zoo in the early hours on Saturday July 10, 3.5 days after their older sibling hatched. Sunny Nelson, curator of birds at the Lincoln Park Zoo brought Zoo Baby to Montrose and released them to Rose and Monty, who welcomed their baby with open wings. Without a doubt, this was the most moving moment of the entire season: Rose rushing to Zoo Baby and immediately brooding them, and Monty later flattening in the sand and piping softly to attract the baby to him.
For a few days, we enjoyed four healthy babies scurrying on the protected beach. All the monitors will relate to counting “1, 2, 3, 4" a few dozen times during a shift and starting all over again if one chick disappeared for a few moments! All chicks were banded on July 20th, receiving bands and the stars celebrating their Chicago birthplace.
Sadly, tragedy struck on July 24 and again on July 26, when a chick disappeared on each of those days. We will never know what happened to them. So many sad possibilities: raptors were hanging around on both days, as well as Great Blue Herons, Gulls and Killdeer with chicks. We were taught the fragility of Piping Plover life in a shared environment and the limitations of humans' ability to protect them.
In a lively event at Montrose Beach, the two surviving chicks were named Imani and Siewka, names submitted by Dori Levine and Aerin Tedesco and picked from scores of names by our wonderful partners on the name selection committee.
With July winding down, we knew Rose would be leaving soon. She disappeared for 2-3 days and we thought she was gone south for the season, but she made a reappearance one morning, bands covered in mud and looking a bit worn out. Where had she ventured? Was she taking a break before heading South? On Sunday August 1, as we stood watch, we observed Monty chasing her off the beach a few times, until she took off for good at 8:46 am, flying over the protected beach and the pier tower, them heading south on what was likely the start of her long journey south, strong north winds in her wings. Hope you’ve made it to your wintering grounds safely, little Rosie! You gave so much of yourself this season, laying a second clutch of eggs in the span of a month. You are such a mature and awesome Mama and we admire your determination, persistence and love for your chicks. Your son Nish, who had a smashing success at Maumee Bay with Pennsylvania mate Nellie, raising four chicks of his own, left to go south on the same morning as you did. We know that you both spend your winters at Anclote Key, what stories will you be telling each other this fall?
Imani and Siewka are growing under Monty’s and our watchful eyes. Monty chases away any bird that poses a threat or food competition to his chicks. We have observed him flying from one point to another to encourage his offspring to fly. Imani was first to test their wings, but Siewka soon followed. As of August 8, they were both observed flying some 100-200 ft. It is fascinating to observe Monty and how he is handling his parenting duties with great intelligence and patience. Soon, he will leave on his journey south and Imani and Siewka will make their own journeys soon thereafter.
Thank you to each Piping Plover monitor, Montrose Beach Dunes volunteer, and nature and wildlife agency representative for the weeks of dedicated volunteering and the effort expended to maintain habitat and safeguard plovers, nests and chicks. Thank you to the Lincoln Park Zoo for giving Zoo Baby a fighting chance. Thank you to the Great Lakes Piping Plover team for the hand holding, expert advice and repeated travel for banding. Thank you to everyone who submitted name proposals and to the member of our naming selection panel for selecting meaningful and charismatic names. Thank you to the members of the press for so generously covering Monty, Rose and their offspring, spreading awareness and creating interest among the Chicago metropolitan area. Thank you to the Chicago community for your support throughout the season, you are the best!
To love Piping Plovers is one of the greatest gifts, opening the doors to kinship with a fascinating and diverse group of people sprinkled across the US, passionate about the plovers’ present and future.