Science & Nature
Plover Chick Lost at Montrose, 3 Remain: ‘This Piping Plover Chick Will Be Remembered’
A newly hatched piping plover chick snuggles up to its parent at Montrose Beach, June 30, 2024. Parents Imani and Searocket are still incubating three more eggs. (Courtesy Chicago Piping Plover Watch)
Chicago’s piping plover monitors are mourning the loss of one of the recently hatched chicks at Montrose Beach.
The news was shared Wednesday evening on social media, with monitors confirming only three chicks were still present.
“The 4th is no longer with us due to unknown circumstances,” monitors said. “While not a pet, this piping plover chick was much loved and will be missed. This piping plover chick will be remembered.”
The chick’s parents, Imani and Searocket, continue to watch over the rest of their brood, the couple’s first. Plover parents use different piping calls to warn their little ones of dangers, which include gulls and other birds that prey on the tiny chicks.
This year’s chicks are the first at Montrose since 2021, the last year Monty and Rose raised a brood, which included Imani.
In each of their breeding seasons, Monty and Rose suffered losses, despite the vigilant efforts of plover monitors:
— In 2019, the pair’s first nest was entirely lost to a storm surge. Of the second nest, only three of four eggs hatched, and only two of those chicks survived. These were the first piping plover chicks to fledge in Chicago in 71 years.
— In 2020, four chicks hatched but only three survived.
— In 2021, four chicks hatched, including one incubated at Lincoln Park Zoo, but only two survived.
The overall success rate of piping plover nests across the Great Lakes is 1.3 chicks per nest.
Lake County’s piping plover family is still thriving at Illinois Beach State Park. Mom Blaze has reportedly already left on her journey south, with papa Pepper keeping watch over his brood of three.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
