Science & Nature
3 Piping Plover Chicks Lost Over Weekend in Waukegan
Drifter, the most adventurous of Waukegan’s wild-born chicks, seen on the beach in late July. (Courtesy of Oliver Slater)
Just days after announcing the names of Waukegan’s wild-born piping plover chicks, plus news of the release of three captive-reared chicks on the same beach, Lake County Audubon Society shared a “heartbreaking update” on Monday morning that the wild chicks were lost over the weekend.
Though predation is one possibility, without witnessing what occurred, monitors can’t confirm what happened to the chicks — Dune, Pebbles and Drifter.
Carolyn Lueck, president of Lake County Audubon, told WTTW News, “We had teams out searching every possible area they could have been, but no luck.”
The chicks, which hatched in mid-July, were still short of being considered fledged, or capable of flight.
Pepper, the chicks’ papa, remains on the beach at Waukegan, along with the trio of captive-reared youngsters. Buddy and Frankie, who hatched this summer at Chicago’s Montrose Beach, have been frequent visitors as well. Their presence is a reminder, Lake County Audubon said, that the Waukegan shoreline matters not only to the birds who nest there, but to plovers moving throughout the Great Lakes region.
Monitors will continue to keep an eye on the newly released fledglings, as well as any piping plovers that stop over on their migration south, but this latest loss has been a tough blow, Lueck said.
“Working with wildlife comes with such highs and lows,” she said. “These three little chicks were watched over and loved by an entire community from the moment they emerged from their eggs. We so hoped we would get to watch them take flight.”
The three wild chicks were the offspring of Pepper and Blaze, who have raised chicks three years running in Waukegan. The year, Blaze originally paired up with Pippin, a perennial third wheel in Chicago’s plover mating games. Their nest washed away in a storm, though the eggs were rescued and eventually hatched at a captive-rearing center in Michigan. Blaze then reunited with Pepper and laid a second clutch.
Despite this latest setback, the Great Lakes piping plover population experienced its most successful breeding season in decades, with summer 2026 setting records for the most breeding pairs and the most fledglings since the population was listed as federally endangered in the 1980s.
Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]
