Science & Nature
Piping Plover Nesting Season Is a Record-Breaker, Greatest Number of Pairs Since Species Was Listed as Endangered
A newly hatched piping plover chick snuggles up to its parent at Montrose Beach, June 30, 2024. Parents Imani and Searocket are on the nest again in 2025. (Courtesy Chicago Piping Plover Watch)
The wait is still on for Chicago’s piping plover chicks to hatch, but in the meantime, there’s some big news to share from across the Great Lakes.
According to the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort, 2025 has been a year for the record books, with 82 breeding pairs counted.
That’s one more than the previous record and the most since the birds were placed on the endangered species list in the 1980s. The number is still far shy of the recovery goal of 150 pairs, but it’s a significant increase from the low point of just a dozen pairs.
In addition to two nests in Illinois — one in Chicago at Montrose Beach and another in Waukegan on a private beach — piping plovers are nesting in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.
The season hasn’t been without its challenges, though. Nearly a dozen nests were lost early on, the majority to egg predation. Ever the comeback kids, the plover couples bounced back with renewed nesting attempts, according to the recovery effort.
The first chicks began to hatch in early June.
Monitors in Chicago and Waukegan are keeping a close eye on their respective nests, looking for signs of hatching. Plover chicks are precocial, which means they’re up and running shortly after birth, foraging for their own food. This makes them particularly vulnerable to predators.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
