Piping plover Imani was seen hanging around another piping plover, likely female, as birders cross their fingers for a match.
“Everybody is really delighted to have a female here,” said Tamima Itani, the lead volunteer coordinator of Chicago Piping Plovers. “This is a significant event, and we’re all very happy for it.”
According to Itani, birders first spotted Searocket on Wednesday morning. The pair have been following each other around since her arrival, Itani said.
Bird monitor Chuck Berman, 71, from Oak Park, said he saw Imani and Searocket “next to each other” Thursday morning. It’s a “good sign,” because piping plovers tend to be territorial.
“That’s what you hope for, to see that,” Berman said. “Our job is to pay attention. If there’s eggs, try to alert people.”
Birders, binoculars hanging from their necks, brought out chairs on the beach and roamed around the pier, hoping for a sight of the piping plovers. They carried cameras with large lenses, ready to capture a shot.
Searocket is a captive-reared piping plover, raised in Michigan, Itani said. In July of last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released her and two others at Montrose Beach, when they were 2-month-old chicks.
The Great Lakes population of piping plovers is considered endangered. According to the U.S. National Park Service, there are currently 75 to 80 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes area.
“Their numbers dropped to between 12 and 17 breeding pairs in the 1980s,” Itani said. “Strong measures were put in place to help with the recovery.”
Before she left Montrose Beach, Searocket had a fishing line trapped in her foot. Birders tried to catch her to remove the fishing line, but they were unsuccessful and “very concerned” about her survival, Itani said.
“Apparently, she managed to get rid of it, because her foot looks fine,” Itani said. “I was just very emotional about the fact that she’s back.”
When Searocket was a chick, it was hard to tell if she was a male or female, Itani said. But now it’s more clear, as her features suggest she is likely a female, Itani said.
The coloration of her beak is smudged black and orange. A male’s beak is more sharply delineated between the colors, Itani said.
The son of beloved bird couple Monty and Rose, Imani has not had much luck in previous years. Birders hope he can live up to his parents’ love story at Montrose Beach, where Imani hatched.
Last year, a female piping plover made an appearance at Montrose Beach, but although Imani showed interest, she did not.
“She would have been from the Great Plains, so she was probably on her way to the Great Plains,” Itani said.
The last time there was a female Great Lakes piping plover, the population Imani hails from, of a breeding age was in 2021.
But Imani might have some competition. As of Thursday, there were two more piping plovers at the beach — one from Cat Island in Wisconsin and another unidentified one.
When birder Kris Wylder, 59, from Irving Park, walked along the pier, she saw the Cat Island piping plover walking up and down the shore, catching worms.
“Hopefully, she hooks up with one of the boys,” she said.
“I’m eternally hopeful,” Berman said. “These birds are incredible. They return from hundreds and hundreds of miles, sometimes a lot more than that, to the exact same beach.”
