Chicago Bird Alliance Announces Naming Contest for Piping Plover Chicks

The Chicago Bird Alliance is holding a naming contest for four new piping plover chicks.

New parents Imani and Sea Rocket watched their four eggs hatch last week as experts and bird enthusiasts flocked to the beach to catch a glimpse of the hatchlings.

The new parents are doing well, according to Tamima Itani, lead volunteer coordinator for Chicago Piping Plovers.

Imani was born at Montrose Beach in 2021 to piping plovers Monty and Rose. Sea Rocket, a captive-raised chick, was released at Montrose Beach in July 2023. The pair have been inseparable ever since.

“They knew each other last summer,” Itani said. “When Sea Rocket came back this year, I felt like she immediately went to Imani.”

Imani and Sea Rocket’s clutches hatched about a month after the first egg was discovered in a protected area of ​​Montrose Beach. The new chicks were soon found either with their parents or taking their first steps as they learned to walk.

Piping plovers disappeared from Illinois beaches around 1955, and the first chicks since then hatched in 2019 at Montrose Beach.

The bird species is considered endangered in the Great Lakes region. According to the Great Lakes Piping Plovers, its decline is largely due to nest disturbance, predation and habitat degradation.

Montrose Beach is a refuge for piping plovers, protecting their nests from predators and other dangers and allowing parents to come and go freely, say officials with Chicago Piping Plovers.

The beach became a protected sanctuary in 2019 after Monty and Rose’s successful breeding marked the first time in five decades that piping plovers have hatched in Chicago.

The naming contest is a joint effort of the Chicago Bird Alliance, the Chicago Ornithological Society, the Illinois Ornithological Society and the Chicago Piping Plovers, a volunteer group dedicated to bird conservation.

Once the names are selected, the chicks will be ringed so they can be identified.

Interested individuals can submit one to four names through the organization’s form, and all suggestions must include an explanation to follow.

Organizers are asking that names reflect “Chicago’s heritage, culture and diversity.” Those suggestions cannot include names that refer to elected officials or public figures, organizers said.

The nomination process will be open until the end of the day Thursday. To submit names, fill out the form here.