Science & Nature

Piping Plover Nest Watch Is On as Imani's Mate Lands at Montrose and Waukegan's Pair Makes Safe Return Too

The moment Illinois piping plover watchers have been waiting for finally arrived: The ladies are back.

Sea Rocket, the female plover who mated with Monty-and-Rose scion Imani in 2024, landed at Montrose Beach over the weekend, identified by her telltale leg bands, according to Chicago Piping Plovers. She joins Imani and Pippin, in a repeat of last year's love triangle.

Plover monitors will be keeping a close eye on mating and nesting behavior, with Sea Rocket and Imani having hatched four chicks in 2024. Only one, Nagamo, survived to full fledge. With Nagamo's sex unknown, hopes have been high that the chick might be a female and a potential partner for Pippin.

The size of the protected beach at Montrose could likely support two nesting pairs of plovers, according to wildlife experts.

Further north, the Lake County Audubon Society celebrated the return of piping plovers Blaze and Pepper in Waukegan, where the first-time parents raised three chicks in 2024. The couple are already reportedly mating and choosing a nesting site.

Monitors are keeping an eye out for the pair's chicks — Juniper, Sage and Willow. 

While Imani and Sea Rocket's wintering sites are unknown, Blaze spends her off-season in North Carolina and Pepper winters in southern Florida.  

Unlike the Chicago piping plovers, who've opted to nest on a public beach in a nominally protected area, Waukegan's pair nest in a private area with no public access. Plover monitors in Lake County are granted limited permits to watch over the birds. The area is under surveillance and violators are heavily fined, per Lake County Audubon.

The Great Lakes piping plover population was listed as federally endangered in 1986, having fallen to a low of scarcely a dozen breeding pairs, all located in northern Michigan. Conservation efforts have helped the numbers rebound to roughly 80 breeding pairs, but that's still far short of the target of 150.

The primary threat to piping plovers' survival is human activity. In addition to the loss of habitat due to development along Great Lakes' shorelines, recreational use of beaches disrupts plovers' feeding and breeding. 

People are asked to give plovers their space and respect barriers placed around protected beaches. The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort also urges people to keep dogs on leashes and away from plover sites and asks people to pick up food scraps, which attract gulls and other animals that prey on plover eggs and chicks.  

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 |  [email protected]

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