Imani, one of the fledglings of the federally endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers Monty and Rose that nested in Chicago at Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, returns to Chicago’s shoreline for the summer.
The Chicago Park District is excited to share that Imani, one of the Piping Plovers, that has called Montrose Dunes home since 2021 has been spotted on the shores. In 2023, Imani was joined by three Piping Plovers that were released into the wild at Montrose Beach Dunes on July 14, 2023 with support from US Fish and Wildlife, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Birders volunteers.
The reared chicks were released in Chicago to help boost the bird population and reduce the risk of extinction of these endangered species. These birds have not been spotted.
Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, 900 W. Montrose Harbor Dr. is a Chicago Park District (CPD) Natural Area on the city’s north lakefront. More information is available at www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/lincoln-park-montrose-beach-dunes-natural-area.
We ask that visitors follow the guidance provided on signage near the protected area. We are adding fencing along the pier and the Dune Beach for protection. This will close the lakefront section of the Dunes for foraging shore birds, including Imani.
The Great Lakes piping plover population, once down to less than twenty pairs, has rebounded, thanks to recovery efforts, to around 70 breeding pairs. More information about the Great Lakes piping plover recovery effort is available at www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/pipingplover. Details about our very own brood is available at www.chicagopipingplovers.org.
From eagles courting in Big Marsh Park to the Great Lakes Piping Plovers building a family near the Montrose Dunes, the Chicago Park District’s citywide natural habitat restoration efforts have created ideal environments for endangered species to return to the Midwest, and call Chicago’s newly reclaimed natural areas home.
In 2021, the Chicago Park District announced the expansion of the Montrose Dune Natural Area in Lincoln Park to support valued wildlife, plants and the interests of nature enthusiasts who visit the area daily. The 15.9-acre habitat became the summer home of migrating shorebirds that foraged the area, including the federally endangered Great Lakes Piping Plover, which first nested at the site in 2019 and made subsequent visits. The Piping Plovers were the first to fledge in Chicago and Cook County in 71 years.
In 2024, Monty & Rose, the endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers were memorialized by the Chicago Park District in the newly renamed ‘Monty & Rose Wildlife Habitat,’ located at the Montrose Dune Natural Area.
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