An endangered pair of piping plovers, Monty and Rose, are just weeks away from returning to Montrose Beach.
The birds were first spotted in 2019 where they successfully raised hatchlings and returned in 2020 to do so again.
“As plovers have a nesting site, and they get more experience and more comfortable with it, they tend to show up earlier and earlier every year,” Edward Warden, Conservation Stewardship Coordinator at Shedd Aquarium, said Thursday.
“So, there’s a very real possibility that in the last week of April, Monty and Rose will be back at Montrose and getting ready to lay a new set of eggs.”
To prepare for their return, Shedd Aquarium will co-host a special spring cleaning at Montrose Beach as part of its Action Days program. A variety of agencies and organizations are assisting.
“Montrose is a very large public beach, and so there’s a lot of space, it gets a lot of utilization and so that naturally leaves an impact on the space,” said Warden. “Additionally, over time we have allowed a lot of debris to build up in the Great Lakes — Lake Michigan, especially.”
Although registration for next weekend’s event has already filled, there are still opportunities throughout the summer to volunteer.
Those interested can visit www.sheddaquarium.org/actiondays.
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