Science & Nature
Piping Plover Egg Confirmed at Montrose, With Imani and Sea Rocket Officially Expecting
Chicago’s piping plover pair, Imani and Sea Rocket, are officially expecting.
Plover monitors announced the first of potentially four eggs was laid Sunday morning at Montrose Beach. Piping plover moms typically lay one egg every other day until they complete a full clutch of four, according to the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort.
Sea Rocket joined Imani at Montrose barely a week ago, and the two immediately reconnected. The pair will now take turns incubating their egg(s).
This is Imani and Sea Rocket’s second year breeding at Montrose. In 2024, the couple hatched four chicks, only one of which, Nagamo, survived.
Bachelor plover Pippin is still the odd man out at Montrose.
Monitors have been hopeful that Nagamo would either return to Montrose or another Great Lakes beach. Experts note that plovers making their first migration north usually arrive later than more experienced birds.
There's been no announcement yet from Lake County, where Illinois’ other plover couple, Blaze and Pepper, have settled down for the second year in a row in Waukegan. The two fledged three chicks in 2024, and monitors are on the lookout for those youngsters as well.
The most recent tally of piping plover nests across the Great Lakes stands at 39, which is comparable to 2024. The first chicks are set to hatch at the end of May.
There are approximately 80 breeding pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers, which were listed as endangered in 1986, when the number of pairs plummeted to scarcely a dozen.
The species’ recovery will be considered successful when there are 150 breeding pairs.
While the return of nesting piping plovers to Chicago’s beaches — beginning in 2019 with the arrival of Monty and Rose — has captured the city’s collective heart, monitors ask that visitors to Montrose give the plovers space and respect the boundaries of the birds’ protected area of beach.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
