UPTOWN — Two of Chicago’s most well-known seasonal residents have returned — and they’re anticipating.
Imani and Sea Rocket, two Nice Lakes piping plovers, have began a nest and laid an egg at Montrose Seaside, the volunteer monitor group Chicago Piping Plovers introduced Sunday. The primary of what’s anticipated to be a four-egg nest was noticed Sunday, the group mentioned.
It’s the second consecutive yr Imani and Sea Rocket have nested at Montrose Seaside, which has turn into a haven for the endangered piping plovers since Montry and Rose, Imani’s mother and father, first nested on the Uptown lakefront spot in 2019.
Final summer season, male Imani and feminine Sea Rocket laid 4 eggs of their nest at Montrose Seaside. Just one chick — later named Nagamo — survived, regardless of the most effective efforts of preservationists.
Imani, who was hatched at Montrose Seaside in 2021, returned to the lakefront in late April. Sea Rocket, who was launched into the wild at Montrose Seaside in 2023, returned final week, in response to WTTW.
After wintering in southern states together with Florida and Texas, piping plovers typically return to the location of their delivery, wildlife consultants have mentioned.
Imani has returned to Montrose Seaside each summer season since he was hatched, although final yr marked his first profitable time nesting on the seashore.
Imani is the son of the piping plover couple Monty and Rose, who turned Chicago celebrities for his or her uncommon look and nesting at Montrose Seaside in 2019 — the primary time such birds nested within the metropolis in 71 years.
These nesting efforts initiated a wide-scale preservation effort on the seashore, by which the piping plover household has been monitored intently by consultants and followers alike. In 2021, Chicago Park District officers prolonged the pure space at Montrose Seaside to incorporate the plovers’ most well-liked nesting space, which abuts the individuals seashore at Montrose Harbor.
Park District officers and companions will monitor the world the place the nest is to discourage predators. Individuals can assist shield the plover household by holding their distance from the nest, respecting the boundaries of the closed space, holding canine leashed and eradicating trash from the seashore.
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