One of the federally endangered piping plover chicks that’s been roaming a North Side beach in recent weeks has ties to a prominent local family.
When the chick, who was rescued in New York state, was brought to Chicago for release at Montrose Beach, members of the relocation team noticed that the chick’s father was born at the same Michigan park as Chicago’s beloved piping plover Monty.
Could there be a connection between the feisty newcomer and Monty, who flew to Illinois as a young bird and caused a sensation in 2019, when he and his mate, Rose, chose to raise their chicks at bustling Montrose Beach?
[ How the ‘love story’ between Monty and Rose unfolded at Montrose Beach ]
A member of the region’s plover conservation team did some genealogical research and discovered that Monty was the chick’s uncle.
“It’s really sweet,” said Chicago Piping Plovers lead volunteer coordinator Tamima Itani, who noted that Monty’s son, Imani, who is also present at Montrose, has repeatedly chased the chick from his territory.
“I feel like telling him, ‘ Imani, c’mon, be nice to your cousin.’”
Some birders are already saying they see a family resemblance between Monty, who would lower his head and charge at interlopers, and his little niece or nephew.
In a recent photo shared on Twitter, the newly recognized member of the family had adopted his uncle’s low-lying stance —admittedly, a common posture among piping plovers — and appeared to be advancing at a good clip.
The Great Lakes population of piping plovers was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1986 , and in 1990 there were only 13 pairs in the region.
Since then there has been progress, with 80 pairs this summer, a record for the post-1986 era.
But the birds still face challenges, including loss of habitat, and when Monty, who died last year, and Rose, who is missing, started raising chicks at Montrose in 2019, the city rejoiced over what was believed to be the first pair to successfully breed in Chicago in decades.
There were Monty and Rose posters, T-shirts and beer cans. More than 100 volunteer monitors stepped forward to help keep the birds safe.
The monitoring team has continued its work, and is now looking out for Imani, a son of Rose and Monty, who has returned to Montrose Beach for two summers without finding a mate.
On July 12, state and federal wildlife agencies and the Chicago Park District released three piping plover chicks at Montrose, including the one related to Monty. The hope is that the captive-reared chicks will make themselves at home, return each summer, and raise their own families.
Four additional chicks from New York state — including three nieces or nephews of Monty — were released further north, at Illinois Beach State Park in Lake County.
The chicks related to Monty are Wild Indigo, who resides at Montrose, and Marram, Sunny, and Blaze at Illinois Beach State Park.
The vast majority of Great Lakes piping plovers are banded and the conservation team keeps records of both living and deceased birds, so exact family relationships can be traced.
The chicks that are related to Monty are the offspring of one of his brothers, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Lakes piping plover coordinator, Jillian Farkas. The brother was born at Silver Lake State Park in Michigan, to the same parents as Monty, in 2020. He was reared in captivity in New York, then released into the wild.
Monty’s brother bred successfully this summer at Sandy Island State Park in New York, but then disappeared, apparently the victim of a predator, Farkas said. Piping plover eggs need two parents working in shifts for successful incubation, so the eggs were removed for captive rearing.
A new partner stepped up to help the Great Lakes piping plover conservation team with incubation: the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, Farkas said. The eggs were then transported in a portable brooder, handed off in Pennsylvania, and brought to the Detroit Zoo, which completed incubation and cared for the chicks at its captive rearing facility in Pellston, Michigan.
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The Illinois Department of Natural Resources brought the chicks to their new homes in Illinois.
“It was truly a caravan of so many, many partners: zoo, state, federal — everybody,” said Farkas.
The chicks are doing very well, both at Montrose and in Lake County, according to Itani.
At Montrose, they’ve visited a bait shop and a hot dog stand, and traveled the entire length of the beach, from the protected natural area near the pier to rollicking dog beach.
“They’re absolutely darling when they take a nap in the afternoon,” said Itani, whose team of monitors is watching the chicks closely.
“They just burrow into the sand,” she said. ” And they usually they do it in the public beach so we have to stand guard because people don’t see them.”
