Warning! Extreme cuteness ahead! The Piping Plovers are back! From Block Club Chicago

Piping Plovers Pippin And Imani Return To Montrose Beach

Pippin has been spotted in Chicago the past two summers. He and Imani, the son of famed pair Monty and Rose, were seen Monday.

By Madison Savedra

UPTOWN — The first piping plovers have returned to Montrose Beach, the city’s popular plover spot.

Chicago Piping Plovers, a group dedicated to protecting local plovers, announced on social media Monday that bird watchers identified two banded birds on the shores. 

The first bird to land at the beach was identified as Pippin, a male bird who hatched on Cat Island in Green Bay in 2023 and has been spotted in Chicago the past two summers.

Just hours after Pippin was spotted, bird watchers also saw Imani, the son of the famed pair Monty and Rose.

The return of these birds to Montrose Beach marks the start of months of bird watching and updates to see if nests pop up and chicks hatch.

Imani is the son of the piping plover couple Monty and Rose, who became Chicago celebrities for their rare appearance and nesting at Montrose Beach in 2019. Monty died at Montrose Beach from a respiratory infection in 2022, while Rose’s whereabouts are unknown.

The pair inspired throngs of onlookers who now count on seeing piping plovers each spring. The near-threatened shorebirds’ return to Chicago also prompted the start of Chicago Piping Plovers, a collaboration of area birding societies that observe and protect the birds, their nests and chicks.

Imani and Sea Rocket, a female plover, ending up making a nest with four chicks last summer. All their chicks died except one named Nagamo, despite efforts by local preservationists.

In 2025, the pair had three chicks: El, Bean and Ferris. Ferris was killed by a hawk, but the other two survived.