Science & Nature
Waukegan Has Piping Plover Fever, Too, With a Full Nest and Great Egg-spectations
Piping plover eggs, like the one pictured here, are well camouflaged. (Keith Lott / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest)
Waukegan is on piping plover chick watch.
Close on the heels of a similar announcement in Chicago, Blaze and Pepper — the piping plover momma and papa who raised three chicks in 2024 — are on the nest with a full clutch of four eggs, Carolyn Lueck, president of Lake County Audubon Society, told WTTW News.
The duo, who are fast becoming Lake County’s very own version of Chicago’s Monty and Rose, arrived on a private Waukegan beach two weeks ago, within hours of each other.
If all goes well, Leuck said she expects chicks to begin hatching mid-June, but the plovers’ season has already been threatened by rough weather, including wild temperature swings and severe storms.
Strong winds on Tuesday pushed waves within feet of the nest and there were “tense moments” in fear of a washout, “but thankfully, the water began receding,” she said.
While plover monitors wait on Blaze and Pepper’s new chicks, what of their 2024 fledglings — Sage, Willow and Juniper?
The big story is Sage, who was spotted a week ago at a beach just north of her parents. And she seemed to have found a mate — a banded but unnamed male who hatched in 2024 at Sleeping Bear Dunes.
The two were observed exhibiting courtship behavior and making scrapes (the precursors to nests) but haven’t been seen since.
Are they hunkered down somewhere in the dunes? Did they move to a different beach? Have they headed to Sleeping Bear?
“We don’t know, but we’re thrilled one of our three chicks made a successful migration home, and we’re watching closely to see where this pair turns up,” Leuck said.
(Meanwhile, Juniper was ID’d over the winter in Mexico; there’s been no word to date on Willow.)
For as much attention as Chicago’s piping plovers receive, Waukegan is also all-in on protecting these endangered shorebirds.
In 2019, Lake County Audubon Society and the city of Waukegan established the Sharing Our Shore - Waukegan program to recruit and train volunteer plover monitors. The group also provides outreach and education on other bird species found along Waukegan’s lakefront.
The city has declared May 29 Piping Plover Day, to be celebrated annually. For the inaugural event, Lake County Audubon will screen a film on the return of piping plovers to Waukegan’s shores.
“These birds are both fierce and vulnerable, and it’s up to us to give them the extra bit of attention to help them on their path to recovery,” Leuck said.
With two confirmed nests in Illinois — one in Waukegan and one at Chicago’s Montrose Beach — the state is doing its part to help the Great Lakes piping plover population rebound to a sustainable level. In the 1980s, the number of breeding pairs had dwindled to 13, and is now up to 80 — halfway to the target goal.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
