The two surviving chicks of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers Monty and Rose may soon be flying south. But some of the birders who kept watch over them this summer gathered at Montrose Beach to wish them luck with their proper names before they’re gone.
Imani and Siewka will be the latest plovers to look for as part of the Montrose family, birding and conservation groups announced Friday night in front of the cordoned-off dunes habitat where Monty and Rose nested for their third summer.
To choose the names, a few hundred options were submitted by the public and then narrowed down by a committee including representatives from nature and environmental organizations. The final selections sought to “reflect Chicago’s culture, heritage and diversity,” the committee said.
Imani, submitted by Dori Levine, means faith in Swahili and represents faith in eventually seeing the day when Great Lakes plovers are no longer endangered, birders said. There’s a yellow star on the bird’s identification band.
The bird that hatched at the Lincoln Park Zoo, whose band has a green star, will be called Siewka — the Polish word for plovers. The name was submitted by Aerin Tedesco in honor of Chicago’s deep-rooted Polish community.
Despite Friday celebrations, Tamima Itani, of the Illinois Ornithological Society, said it’s been a difficult third season overall for Monty and Rose, who became the first of the endangered shorebirds to successfully nest in Chicago in decades after becoming leading players in a battle over a beachside music festival.
Earlier this month, four chicks hatched as part of Monty and Rose’s second clutch of eggs; one chick was helped along by the Lincoln Park Zoo. The first clutch ended up as skunk food after the plover predator managed to scoop up the eggs from a protective cage. This week, two of the chicks appeared to be missing. But, still unable to fly, the disappearances signaled a likely victory by one of many chick predators.
“Things were going so well, and then all of a sudden they were eaten by a skunk,” Itani said. “And then — bam, bam, we lose two chicks.”
The summer challenges faced by the shorebirds represent why they’re endangered, Itani said. “It’s because they’re so vulnerable.”
Still, the conservation community is delighted Monty and Rose came back to Montrose and the two chicks have survived this far, Itani said, along with how much support the city has put behind two pocket-size birds — and their offspring.
Nish, one of the plover chicks from last summer at Montrose, became part of the first plover pair to nest in Ohio in more than 80 years and successfully fledged four chicks this summer.
Those four are part of 121 wild chicks fledged so far this summer, said Jillian Farkas, the Great Lakes piping plover recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A few more could still be added to the count, which is already a jump from the 87 wild chicks fledged last year.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a preferred plover nesting spot, had a remarkable year, Farkas said, with a 2.5 chicks-per-pair fledge rate.
“I hope some of the chicks come back,” said Jennifer Johnson, a Wild Indigo associate with Audubon Great Lakes who was on the naming committee. “And I’m just looking forward to seeing the piping plovers keep having more successes like this.”
Monty and Rose first met on a Waukegan beach when they were less than a year old, and tried but failed to nest in the suburb in 2018. In 2019, they flew south to Montrose and fledged two chicks. Last summer, they fledged three.
In recent weeks, plovers at Montrose Beach have come and gone. Monty’s half-brother stopped by on his way south. Rose, typically the early bird to leave Montrose, seemed to have departed in recent days, but was back at the beach by the end of the week with Monty, Imani and Siewka.
The chicks were banded earlier this month, which helps researchers identify and track them throughout their lives. The Montrose chicks have a star on their bands, a nod to the Chicago flag.
For now, the two chicks remain under Monty and Rose’s watch. They’re likely to fly south in a few weeks.
“We all have witnessed what Nish went on to do,” Itani said. “And we’re hoping these chicks will go on to do just as much.”
