CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Imani, a beloved piping plover who was born at Montrose Harbor, appears to have a roommate, and observers say the two male birds are trying to show the other who's the boss.
Imani is the offspring of Monty and Rose, the nesting pair of plovers who captured the city's imagination in 2019. Monty died in 2022, and Rose has not been seen since.
Tamima Itani, lead volunteer coordinator for Chicago Piping Plovers, said she’s referring to the new bird as the Cat Island plover — as it was born on Cat Island, Wis. She said he first showed up at Montrose Harbor over the weekend.
It didn’t take long before the two birds started showing some territorial behavior, she said.
“Imani and the Cat Island Plover were walking in parallel with each other, and initially he thought that may be a sign of friendship, but actually that’s a very territorial thing that male piping plovers do with each other,” Itani told WBBM. “They’re kind of drawing a line in the sand between them, like, ‘That’s my side; that’s your side; you stay in your territory; and I’ll stay in mine.’”
Itani said the Cat Island plover is probably exploring different beaches as he returns home after wintering down south. She said Montrose Harbor tends to attract all kinds of birds due to the way that it juts out into Lake Michigan.
“My understanding is that, from the air, it’s really visible to birds, and they’re attracted to it,” she said.
Given that it’s currently the prime breeding season for piping plovers, Itani said she wasn’t surprised to see Imani and the Cat Island plover get territorial so quickly.
“They’re in their breeding plumage, they have their breeding hormones, so they’re going to be very territorial,” she said. “As the season advances, toward the end of the summer, they’ll lose their breeding plumage and they’ll mellow.”
Although this spat between Imani and the new plover has been slightly amusing to Itani, she also signaled that she’s a little nervous for Imani — who’s yet to find a mate at Montrose Harbor.
As long as this Cat Island plover remains at Montrose Harbor, there’s a chance that a female Great Lakes plover could choose him over Imani.
“It’s totally my nightmare,” Itani said. “I’m like, ‘What if a female shows up and then she mates with the Cat Island piping plover instead of Imani?’ I mean that is pretty dramatic.”
The best case scenario, she said, would be for two females to arrive and to mate with both Imani and the Cat Island plover.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Itani said her group is still looking for monitors to help watch over the plover area on Montrose Harbor, which is closed to the public.
“Unfortunately, people sometimes ignore the signs and go into the protected area, so we just remind the people that the protected areas are closed to people,” she said. “But we also watch for potential threats to the plovers.”
Itani said candidates should be able to move around the beach and should have binoculars and a cell phone. Bilingual candidates are highly desirable, she said.
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