3rd piping plover chick dies in 5 days at Montrose Beach

A third piping plover chick has died, just days after two others passed away, leaving just one remaining from this year’s hatching, said a volunteer organization dedicated to protecting the endangered birds.

Late Saturday, the chick was seen “lethargic and struggling” by observers near Montrose Beach after “feeding and moving normally” throughout the day, according to a statement from Chicago Piping Plovers. After being cleared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the chick was collected and taken to Lincoln Park Zoo for observation.

Despite no signs of external or internal injuries, the chick died overnight after being given warmth, fluids and oxygen.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

“We are saddened to report the passing of another chick,” the statement read. “Chicago Piping Plovers and its partners remain grateful for the outpouring of love and support. We are working to understand the factors that have led to the demise of our precious chicks.”

The death of the first chick was announced Wednesday after it was found dead on the beach with a growth on its neck and taken to Lincoln Park Zoo for a necropsy. The next death was announced Friday after an almost identical string of events led to a chick dying at the zoo overnight.

The surviving chicks had been examined by a veterinarian and banded Friday, and neither exhibited any signs of illness or injury, the organization said. A team of biologists from several agencies collected the two chicks Friday morning for examination, though they were later released.

Imani, the chicks’ father, was hatched at Montrose Beach in 2021 to piping plovers Monty and Rose. Sea Rocket, the hatchlings’ mother, was a captive-reared chick released at the beach in July 2023. Imani and Sea Rocket’s four eggs hatched June 30 and July 1, about a month after their first egg was found in a protected area of Montrose Beach.

Montrose Beach became a protected sanctuary in 2019, the same year the first piping plover chicks hatched in Illinois since they disappeared across the state in 1955. The Great Lakes population of piping plovers is considered endangered, with 75 to 80 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes area, according to the U.S. National Park Service.