Chicago Piping Plovers

This is the time of year to recharge for the intensity about to burst!
~ Janet Pellegrini, Chicago Piping Plover Monitor, 2019-present 🧡

56 days until April 18
(Imani returned in 2025 on April 18, Sea Rocket on May 9, Pippin on April 11)

Vote Monty the Piping Plower!
Voting runs through February 14.
www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...

📸: Daniel Eastman (Monty)

WEBINAR: Bird Advocacy & Conservation Projects Around Chicago — Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society) Chicago Bird Alliance is hosting a webinar to highlight bird advocacy and conservation projects in and around Chicago on Wednesday, February 11th from 6-7:15 pm Central. Leaders from local organizatio...

This Wednesday Evening!
Register for this free event highlighting Chicagoland conservation projects, including your Chicago Piping Plovers! 🤍
chicagobirdalliance.org/new-events/2...

It's Reverse the Red Day!
It is still possible to save species from extinction by working together. Join us!

Central to our energies is recovery of endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers. Pictured is Imani, 2021 Monty & Rose chick, 2024- nesting male.

📸: Daniel Eastman
@reversethered.bsky.social

WEBINAR: Bird Advocacy & Conservation Projects Around Chicago — Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society) Chicago Bird Alliance is hosting a webinar to highlight bird advocacy and conservation projects in and around Chicago on Wednesday, February 11th from 6-7:15 pm Central. Leaders from local organizatio...

Register for this free event highlighting Chicagoland conservation projects, including your Chicago Piping Plovers! 🤍
chicagobirdalliance.org/new-events/2...

I obviously voted for Monty and Abolish ICE, but it's time for the Plow-colator is pretty damn good, too.

You get to pick up to six names Chicago, so here's a great option for your second choice!

*hug* 🤍

Fellow Chicagoans, we are kindly requesting your consideration of 'Monty the Piping Plower' as one of your six votes. 💚
www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...

Oh, This Would Be Epic!
Whoever submitted 'Monty the Piping Plower' to the annual Chicago "You Name A Snowplow" Contest is genius!

Fellow Chicagoans, we would be honored if Monty made your list of six votes. Voting is now open through February 14.
www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...

Jobs & Internships — Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society)

Summer Internship
As our minds drift to warmer weather and the anticipated return of our beloved Piping Plovers and other shorebirds, an opportunity!
chicagobirdalliance.org/employment

2016
Chicago always has and always will love each and every resting and nesting Piping Plover that touches down on our shores. 🤍 #2016throwback

Thank you, as always, for your support - for celebrating the milestones, sharing the wonder, and standing with us through each season’s joys and trials. On to 2026!

4/4 fin

It's easy to feel discouraged by the challenges of protecting a species on the brink. But time and time again, our Piping Plovers astound us with their resilience.
3/4

With their population still under constant threat, every single Piping Plover is precious - each one a beacon of hope for a species fighting for its future. Conservation is never a straight line; it’s filled with victories and setbacks, moments of doubt and moments of awe. 2/4

The story of the Piping Plovers at Montrose is already rich with legend, and the 2025 Great Lakes Piping Plover breeding season at Montrose Beach, with its highs and its heartbreaking lows, added another unforgettable chapter to this ongoing conservation journey. 1/4

📸: Tamima Itani

Thanks for your interest and question! The glasses are an annual fundraiser conducted by @chicagobirder.bsky.social . Any glasses that did not sell during the main fundraiser were available at their in-person events. They may be sold out for this year.

Readers Share Eco-Friendly Projects Happening In Their Communities (Gift Article) Readers submitted more than 3,200 ideas for our 50 States, 50 Fixes series. Before the year ends, we wanted to share just a few more of them.

Excited to share the feature in this @nytimes piece of Monty & Rose and how Chicago worked and works to protect your Chicago Piping Plovers!
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Chicago Park District Limits Access to Snowy Owls, Citing Safety Concerns. Here’s What to Know About the Arctic Visitors Chicagoans have been going gaga over a pair of snowy owls that have settled in at Montrose beach. Maybe a little too gaga.

Chicagoans have been going gaga over a pair of snowy owls that have settled in at Montrose Beach. Maybe a little too gaga.

https://to.wttw.com/4pt3oTd

Special note: The absolutely stunning painting seen in this picture is by Waukegan Piping Plover Monitor Oliver Slater. 6/6

Pictured on left are Brad Semel and Dr. Cuthbert and on right are some of your Illinois Piping Plover monitors (Waukegan and Chicago).

While we find ourselves in that space in between breeding seasons, the energy remains palpable when you bring together even a small fraction of the many scientists (Dr. Cuthbert and Brad Semel), volunteer monitors (Waukegan and Chicago monitors), and others dedicated to the recovery efforts. 5/6

... afforded those in between moments, room for interactions that give even greater insights into recovery efforts and strengthen bonds among those in attendance. 4/6

It was a wonderfully informative lecture, a mix of the art and science of recovery, recognition of many hands, and delightful anecdotes. Further, this intimate setting, which included a beautifully curated exhibit that runs through October 31, ... 3/6

After Four Decades, Efforts to Save Great Lakes Piping Plovers Are Seeing Signs of Major Success With dedication and ingenuity, a recovery team has been helping the endangered shorebirds overcome old and emerging threats while reaching new heights.

As noted in Audubon Magazine Summer 2025, "many people have carried forward the work of saving Great Lakes Piping Plovers, but it all started with Francie Cuthbert." 2/6

www.audubon.org/magazine/aft...

The Spaces In Between
This past Thursday evening, Sharing Our Shore-Waukegan and Waukegan History Museum hosted a lecture by Dr. Francie Cuthbert. 1/6

Breeding Season and Pre-Breeding Season
There is never a post-breeding season when it comes to our Piping Plovers! Work is year-round.

Pictured are reps of the Chicago Park District, IL Dept of Natural Resources, and Chicago Piping Plovers having their Fall habitat management discussion.

Piping Plover Cleanup — Chicago Ornithological Society To prepare for the return of plovers to Chicago and help address some of the biggest threats to their habitat, we’re hitting the beach. Join us for a stewardship day as we tackle trash, invasive speci...

www.chicagobirder.org/events/2025/...

Your point is well taken. This has been scheduled for close to a year. Volunteers can donate any amount of time they wish.

A workday at 63rd Street Beach next Saturday. 3 fledglings spent a lot of time at 63rd Street Beach and may return to it for nesting in 2026. Volunteers are needed then too.

Join the stewards of Montrose Dunes and Montrose Bird Sanctuary on Saturday, October 18 at 9am for the final workday of 2025. Volunteers will remove invasive species, collect trash, and get the site ready for winter. RSVP is optional (email montrosedunesnaturalarea@gmail.com).

tonyfitzpatrick9 on Instagram: "“Montrose Plover , 2019 ( In a Mirror of Chicago , Tomorrow )”…In the late Spring of 2019 my phone rang in the Studio. It was a loc…" “Montrose Plover , 2019 ( In a Mirror of Chicago , Tomorrow )”…In the late Spring of 2019 my phone rang in the Studio. It was a local Music Promoter wanting to know if I knew any of the "Bird People" in Chicago. I assured him that I , in fact, considered myself one of the "Bird People" . He told me that he had scheduled an EDM music festival on Montrose point , and that he'd been getting some resistance from said "Bird People". I reminded him that Montrose point was, in fact, a Bird Sanctuary , and more importantly the nesting site of two critically endangered Piping Plovers ; who were the beloved "Monty and Rose". If they successfully bred there ? They'd be the first nesting Piping Plovers in over a half of a century. There were fewer than 60 breeding pairs of Piping Plover's left on the Planet.This is where the intersection of "Critically endangered and Extinction" was. I told the Music promoter this. He assured me he wanted to "mitigate" any fears the "Bird People" had. He seemed to think that the big worry was the noise , when in fact the big worry would be the human traffic a music festival would bring into a nesting site. He assured me he would find another beach. He didn't. He said they moved the festival 3000 meters away from the nesting site and had "Directional Sound" . I told him that again, the sound was not the big worry -- the big worry was 15 to 20,000 people walking around the site . The Plover nests are--at best haphazard in their construction-- usually 6-8 twigs and the eggs laid on the sand. They are tiny birds who are not exactly architects for this reason. For centuries they nested here unmolested by humans -- the big concern was other predators -- When humans showed up ? Habitat destruction became the biggest threat along the lakefront...Except on Montrose Point which became an ideal landscape for Water and shore birds. Piping Plovers are not the only endangered species there.Bank Swallows also nest there and are also endangered . All manner of Pelagic Birds travel through there-- often breeding there ; it has become one of Nature's few success stories of late.

Rest in Peace, Tony 🤍
www.instagram.com/p/DKiBOkcvkF...