Overview
- The hatch, confirmed Tuesday, produced four chicks at Montrose Beach that can feed and move on their own but cannot regulate body temperature and remain highly vulnerable to predators and heat stress.
- Chicago Piping Plovers monitors are supporting the family on site and have asked visitors to stay clear of the nesting area, leash dogs, pick up trash and avoid disturbing the birds so parents can tend the chicks.
- The chicks are likely offspring of Sea Rocket and Imani, continuing a local lineage that links back to Monty and Rose and to Sea Rocket’s 2023 release after captive rearing.
- A community naming contest is open for the new chicks with online submissions accepted through 7 p.m. on June 21, and the birds will be banded later to make individual tracking possible.
- The Montrose hatch is part of a decades-long Great Lakes recovery effort for piping plovers, a species listed as endangered for roughly 40 years that has relied on monitoring, habitat protections, predator management and occasional captive rearing.