Being a first-time plover parent isn't easy

But overall it's been quite a successful summer.

Chicago has breeding Piping Plovers again. Photo taken from fishing pier at Montrose Beach.

It’s been a roller coaster since the last edition of This Week in Birding on July 1.

When we last published, Piping Plover chicks had just hatched at Chicago’s Montrose Beach and on Waukegan’s shore. They became the first plover chicks to hatch in Illinois since 2021. The result was wonderful photos of fluff balls like this one:

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A post shared by @lake.county.birds

Piping Plovers lead a perilous existence, though. Only a fraction of young ones make it to fledging. Four chicks hatched to first-time parents Imani and Sea Rocket at Montrose three weeks ago. Just one is with us now. Experts are looking into what has happened to the deceased chicks, as they experienced somewhat similar symptoms before passing. That shouldn’t diminish what Imani and Sea Rocket have accomplished at all.

“The piping plover population in the Great Lakes faces an extensive list of mortality risks,” said Brad Semel, an endangered species specialist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Those risks could be predators like larger birds or vermin, humans and their all-terrain vehicles and off-leash dogs, avian diseases and bacterial and fungal infections. Plovers also face environmental risks like severe weather, dramatic temperature changes or the availability of food and shelter.

Further, the info we have about the plovers is a testament to Chicago’s corps of volunteers:

“Monitoring efforts at Montrose provide an incredible insight into nearly all aspects of plover activities,” Semel said. “Nowhere else throughout the range of plovers is this intensive level of monitoring achieved, and it gives us a unique perspective on what is happening during plover nesting and chick rearing.”

The mood is more upbeat a short flight north of Chicago in Waukegan. By all accounts, the three chicks there—offspring of Pepper and Blaze—are doing well and on their way to a southern departure. More on them in a future post.

What’s heartening is scenes like this one, the remaining juvenile Piping Plover at Montrose testing out its wings.

chicagopipingplovers

A post shared by @chicagopipingplovers

Further, the Great Lakes population as a whole includes 78 pairs and 84 nests and has been on track to tie the 2023 record 80 pair count. There are plenty of silver linings in plover world when you start to look.

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Vacation-related content!

Imagine a female Evening Grosbeak crossed with a female American Goldfinch and that will give you a sense of the European Greenfinch.

Birding wasn’t my primary purpose while on vacation, but I did encounter some birds along the way. The European Greenfinch (above) is a bird of gardens, meadows, and wood edges across Europe. It has a chattering song, interspersed with buzzy “dzweeeeee” calls. This one was silhouetted at sunset in the foothills of the Dinaric Alps.

Paragliding is a favorite adventure sport in the Julian Alps. Here’s a shot of a motor-powered paraglider making their way over a castle beside a crystalline Lake Bled. Not exactly a bird, but I do keep an eye on the sky even when I’m overseas!

The man-made Eisbach River emerges from underground in a park in Bavaria. A stone step at the outlet generates a standing wave about half a meter tall. The wave has attracted surfers from around the world for more than 40 years. This woman wowed the crowd of tourists and locals present on a recent Sunday.

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A tribute to Flaco

TWiB was an early fan of Eurasian Eagle-Owl Flaco, both because of our love of urban wildlife and the way the indomitable raptor avoided recapture and thrived in NYC for some time. Flaco’s story inspired many millions of people before he passed earlier this year.

Now there’s an effort to publish an illustrated book on Flaco this winter. Flaco: The Owl Who Escaped Captivity & Captured the Hearts of the World will be the definitive visual remembrance and tribute to Flaco’s year of independence that inspired our own humanity. 

There’s a Kickstarter under way to cover the cost of printing the book. The deadline for funding is August 2, and there are all sorts of neat rewards available to donors. Flaco is a visually-driven book with more than 120 four-color images. American ecologist and author Carl Safina will be writing the foreword. The first half of the book is devoted to photography of Flaco (approximately 60 images). The second half investigates Flaco’s profound effect on us: the visitors looking into the branches, Flaco’s followers on social media, or the thousands around the world who were touched by his story. Flaco informed the work of filmmakers, visual artists, musicians and writers, so samples of their work and interviews will be included.

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