Meet Searocket, Wild Indigo and Prickly Pear: The first captive-reared piping plover chicks released in Chicago
Three endangered piping plovers — all barely a month old — were released Wednesday afternoon in a protected site at Montrose Beach, marking what volunteers say is the first time captive-reared chicks have been released in Chicago.
It also marked the first time that captive-reared plovers have been released outside of Michigan.
A Chicago Park District video shows U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Armand Cann opening a pet carrier as the small birds flutter out, wasting no time in exploring their new home. Photos from lead volunteer coordinator Tamima Itani show the chicks sporting colorful bands on their legs, which experts use for identification.
“They came out, and they had this wonderful look on their faces,” Itani said. “They’re not shy. They’re not intimidated by the location or the novelty.”
Searocket, Wild Indigo and Prickly Pear join local celebrity Imani, who calls the beach home and is protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Park District and volunteers from the Chicago Ornithological Society, the Chicago Audubon Society and the Illinois Ornithological Society.
“For as long as they’re here,” Itani said, “we will be watching over them.”
In the early afternoon Friday, Montrose Beach brimmed with visitors swimming, sunbathing and kayaking, surely enjoying the bright rays of sunlight after a few days of rainy weather. A few birders had gathered at the edge of the protected area, an oasis from the bustling activity that is located at the southernmost point of the beach.
Volunteer monitor Ani Chandler looked through some binoculars and was able to locate Imani in less than a minute. Then, one of the chicks, impossibly small, appeared and approached the fence — even a few feet away from the bird, Chandler couldn’t read the band on its leg, which would have indicated the identity of the curious little fledgling.
The piping plovers will migrate south for the winter. “One of the things we know about captive-reared piping plovers is that 70% of them will come back to the location where they were released,” Itani said. “It gives us hope that next year some of them will come back to Montrose.”
The names of the chicks were inspired by the native plants of the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, according to local birding and conservation organizations. Experts say it’s a sign of a healthy ecosystem when native plants like sea rockets, blue wild indigo and prickly pear cactuses are thriving.
So was the return of two Great Lakes piping plovers to the beach beginning in June 2019, when Monty and Rose — Imani’s parents — began nesting, their story of love and resilience capturing the hearts of countless Chicagoans. Monty died of a respiratory infection in 2022, just a month after Rose went missing.
The Great Lakes Audubon Society said recently that so far this summering season, the region has seen 80 pairs and 84 piping plover nests, with 61 active broods and nests. This is the most pairs since the species was at a low of 13 pairs in the 1980s, when they became federally endangered.
As bird-watchers and curious beachgoers looked over one of the plover chicks at Montrose Beach Friday, another monitor warned Chandler: “There’s a great blue heron over there.” The imposing bird stealthily made its way in between the seagulls that dotted the shoreline.
“Whoa, you cannot miss that guy!” said Cindy Zucker, who was there with her daughter Erika Zucker-Lubenow.
Herons can be predatory to chicks, the monitor explained. But this particular one minded its own business, looking out into the sea before flying away.
Zucker bid the big bird farewell. She used to accompany a friend who was a piping plover monitor at Montrose Beach during their shifts a couple of years ago. “I’m going to become a bird-watcher now,” Zucker said, looking at the plover. “It’s time.”
Itani said two main factors led to the decision to release the three young plovers at Montrose.
“One of the factors is the desire to diversify and disperse the locations where the piping plovers are,” she said. This strategy helps reduce the population’s risk of extinction. “As their number increase, it is good to have additional sites where they nest.”
In a news release Thursday, the Chicago Park District said the chicks “are well-traveled.” They were collected from two failed nests in New York state. They were then transported to the University of Michigan’s Biological Station near Pellston, Michigan, where they were raised in a captive-rearing facility for Great Lakes piping plovers managed by the Detroit Zoo.
Four other young piping plovers from New York also raised in Michigan were released later Wednesday at Illinois Beach State Park in Lake County, where they will enjoy quiet and solitude.
The second factor — a major one — was that Illinois has been very welcoming to the piping plovers and that the community support has been very strong. “Which is not the case everywhere,” Itani said.
“We are thrilled Montrose Beach has been chosen for this conservation milestone,” said Brad Semel, endangered species recovery specialist at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. “Monty and Rose showed the world that Chicago could support plovers and these chicks will continue their legacy.”
A Park District official called the chicks a “beacon of hope” for their species and other endangered populations.
At Montrose Beach, visitors can look for volunteer monitors like Chandler wearing bright orange shirts, who can point out where the plovers are. But experts have reminded enthusiastic bird-watchers to give Imani and the new chicks some space.
“We ask people not to get close to the chicks. If the chicks happened to be at the public beach, they need to stay almost at a football field’s distance,” Itani said. “If people are trying to take photos with an iPhone, they’re too close.”
While Zucker and her daughter admired the plover in silence from afar, the latter asked, “Do you think they know we’re looking at them?”
“We were looking at each other,” Zucker said, nodding emphatically. “I sensed it.”
