Lucky Seven: The plover chicks’ Uncle GluG drops in!

A new adult Piping Plover appears at Montrose for a total of seven endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers at Chicago beach in another win for habitat restoration and conservation.

Ann Gunkel

As a Plover Monitor, I’m well aware of the precarious status of our precious urban habitat, shoreline and of endangered species – specifically, Monty & Rose, Chicago’s famous great lakes piping plovers--- who have thrilled us by nesting at Montrose these past three years. On Tuesday afternoon as the drizzle stopped and the sky began to clear, I had the pleasure of being the first to see a third adult piping plover at Montrose (the largest gathering of piping plovers in Chicago & Cook County recorded in the last 17 years). I spotted it at the shore around 1:40 pm when Rose unexplainably left her watch of the chicks to fly to the beach. At first I thought she was fed up with waiting for Monty. I followed her and saw her hassling a second adult plover. She drove it down the shoreline. “Boy, she sure is peeved with Monty,” I thought. “Guess he took too much time feeding while she was watching the kids.” But about 30 minutes later, USFWS Plover Intern Staś Gunkel and Plover Monitor Ani Chandler both yelled, “There are three adult plovers in the protected area!” Staś saw them scuffle briefly and they all returned to the back of dunes. The plover team on duty of Lin Johnston, Ani, Staś and myself shared duties watching the family and gathering ID info on the newcomer. Rose's earlier behavior suddenly made sense. She was harassing an interloper; there was a NEW piping plover at Montrose! 

I spotted the newcomer preening on the protected beach. Staś got his scope; I got my camera; we waited for the visitor to move into our sights so we could start identifying bands. It took some patience but we got the orange flag (signaling that Yes, it was another Great Lakes PIPL!) and green over black. Then we got silver band over green. (Band Codes: Of,GL:X,G). Over about two hours, I patiently stayed at a distance trailing it for clear ID photos of band numbers when it moved to the public beach feeding near sunbathers oblivious to the endangered visitor in their midst.

The Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team has confirmed that our new visitor is GluG, Monty’s half-brother whose own chicks on North Manitou Island in Northern Michigan have already fledged. It turns out he stopped in on his way south! Even more delightful news, he’s family. GluG and Monty are both sons of YOGi. He is two years younger than Monty, was hatched in 2019 at Silver Lake and nests in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Forest on the northern island 6 miles off the Michigan coast.

With four healthy chicks hatching to Rose & Monty this past week, I didn’t think the excitement could escalate. But it sure did. This is the second time in the 21st century (and likely much of the 20th century) that seven (yes, 7!) Great Lakes Piping Plovers have been seen at Montrose simultaneously. It is the only time since 2004 recorded in Ebird, which at first rejected my sighting (telling me --until I proved the case with documentation-- that this was too many of the endangered species to all be present at this site!) 

There is no better testament to years of painstaking habitat restoration than this wonderful occurrence at one of the busiest public beaches in a large American city. The Park District’s protected zone for nesting plovers, years of habitat restoration work and the now three-years-long effort of teamwork by US Fish & Wildlife Service, Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team, the Illinois DNR, Chicago Ornithological Society, Illinois Ornithological Society, Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Park District, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the USDA keep yielding important results for this precious place and for a species that was on the brink of extinction just 40 years ago. The small army of plover monitors protecting Monty & Rose’s nest, chicks and fledglings can claim yet another win for conservation in the Windy City. They say luck happens to those who are prepared. Our crowd of conservationists and birders is just that. If you build it, they will come.

July 13, 2021. Photos of GluG by Ann Gunkel.