U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Chicago Park District celebrate the release of federally endangered piping plover chicks back into the wild at Montrose Beach in Chicago, Illinois. This release marks the first time piping plovers have been released outside Michigan and works toward the recovery goal of 50 pairs of plovers outside Michigan.
The 5-week-old plover chicks were rescued in New York after each nest lost an incubating adult. Federal, state, and zoo staff helped transport chicks to Michigan where they were raised in captivity at the University of Michigan’s Biological Station near Pellston, Mich., where the Detroit Zoo manages a captive rearing facility for Great Lakes piping plovers. At the end of summer, their journey will continue when they migrate south for the winter.
“Our hope is that these chicks return to Montrose Beach next year and nest here,” said Brad Semel, Illinois Department of Natural Resources endangered species recovery specialist. “Everyone is excited because we have seen that captive-reared chicks are more likely to return to their release beach the next spring.”
GLRI funding has supported piping plover captive rearing efforts like this one since 2010, in addition to nest monitoring and habitat restoration.
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