Piping Plover Imani returns to Chicago beach for third year

BJ Lutz
·1 min read

CHICAGO — One of the Great Lakes Piping Plovers that has called the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area home since hatching there in 2021 has returned to the area for a third season, the Chicago Park District confirmed.

Imani was spotted along the Lake Michigan shoreline on Thursday.

The federally endangered bird is one of the offspring of Monty and Rose. The pair captured hearts when they began nesting at Montrose Beach in 2019. Monty passed from a respiratory infection in 2022. Rose has not been spotted since then and is also believed to have passed.

Imani has returned to his birthplace each year and is still looking for a mate.

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His return is a welcome sight for conservationists whose efforts have helped contribute to growing the birds’ population. There are now around 70 breeding pair of the birds, up from what was once fewer than 20.

Monty and Rose were memorialized by the Chicago Park District in February with the renamed “Monty & Rose Wildlife Habitat” at the Montrose Dune Natural Area.

A a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized bird nests in the sand along Lake Michigan.
A a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized bird nests in the sand along Lake Michigan.

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