Plover makes annual Texas two-step to Chicago

Chicago's beloved shorebird goes for the full Monty with Great Plains plover nearby.

And they say nothing ever happens around here. First came the news that Monty had arrived in Chicago on Thursday morning, April 21, just a day or so after leaving Texas.

Block Club Chicago @BlockClubCHI

Breaking bird news: Monty is back at Montrose Beach! buff.ly/3K9H37X

Then the wait was on for Rose, who was last seen at Florida’s Anclote Key in February. The Chicago Tribune ran a front-page story yesterday with the headline of “Where’s Rose?” (Also: please note that the plovers need space if you do go to visit!)

Chicago Piping Plovers @ChicagoPiping

Wow! Front page news! If you visit Montrose today, please remind your fellow beachgoers that the plovers need at least 100 feet of space. Migration is tough. They need to feed and rest as well as monitor for aerial predators #plover #chicago #sharetheshore #springmigration #bird

Monty’s 2022 arrival this year came with a twist. Another Piping Plover already was at Montrose Beach as you may have noticed in the above photo. It was an unbanded bird, that is, it didn’t have the plastic leg bands that biologists use to track the plovers. The suspicion is that it’s from the Great Plains population of plovers (the vast, vast majority of Great Lakes plovers are banded). In full disclosure, Monty had a dalliance with this plover, displaying for it and scraping a nest. The plover appears to be uninterested at the time of this writing.

Now we wait for Rose as another season of plovermania is well under way.