Two male Piping Plovers were spotted at Montrose Beach last Friday, raising hopes for a new nesting season along the city’s lakefront. The birds, identified as Pippin from Wisconsin and Uncle Larry from Michigan, both hatched in 2023, signal an early start to the breeding period, which typically runs from May to August, according to WGN-TV.
The sightings were first reported by Mark Kolasa, a volunteer steward at Montrose Beach Dunes, and confirmed by the Chicago Piping Plovers organization, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times. Their arrival is especially meaningful as the endangered shorebirds had disappeared from Chicago since 1948 until the famous pair, Monty and Rose, returned to nest in 2019. Both birds died in 2022, but their offspring, Imani, continued the legacy, fathering chicks last year—only one of which, named Nagamo, survived.
With the return of Pippin and Uncle Larry, conservation groups such as the Chicago Bird Alliance and local ornithological societies are hopeful that nesting will again take place this summer. Volunteers and birders are closely monitoring the site, eager to witness a new chapter in the city’s ongoing effort to protect the Great Lakes Piping Plover population.
