Park District names wildlife area after piping plover couple, ensuring Monty and Rose live on in history

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

Chicagoans may remember Monty and Rose, the piping plover couple that arrived at Montrose Beach in 2019 and had a fan following.

The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners voted to rename the Montrose Dune Expansion Area as the “Monty and Rose Wildlife Habitat” last week to honor the place where the two birds’ love story first started. The 3.1-acre area was added to the Montrose Dune Natural Area in 2021 to provide more permanent protection for piping plovers and other endangered wildlife.

“We’re hoping that this, because it is such a specific story … will give people some perspective and maybe a little more curiosity,” said Matt Igleski, executive director of the Chicago Bird Alliance. “If they’ve never heard this story, maybe that will prompt them to look it up.”

The two piping plovers were the first to fledge in Chicago and Cook County in 71 years. In 2020 and 2021 they went on to mate and hatch their chicks. Monty died in 2022 and Rose is feared dead, but their presence at Montrose introduced many in Chicago, and nationally, to birding and the importance of conservation.

The Great Lakes Piping Plovers are considered federally endangered. As of last year, there were 80 pairs of piping plovers in the Great Lakes region, according to Audubon Great Lakes.

Monty and Rose’s story showed “how Chicago came together to take care of these two birds,” said Heather Gleason, Chicago Park District director of planning. Within the next few week, the Park District is hoping to put up signage in the area displaying the new name.

“We also wanted to make sure we’re telling the story of these birds as well,” Gleason said.

“There’s just something about plovers that’s endearing. They’re this cool little shore bird, they kind of run fast across the sand doing little things,” Igleski said.

Igleski said he hopes people begin to understand that it’s important to share spaces with wildlife, especially for species like piping plovers, which need the area along beaches that Chicagoans might frequent during the summer.

“It’s just really getting people to understand that we have to create ways for us to share those spaces and not create more and more areas where those birds and wildlife can’t be,” he said.

In 2021, Monty and Rose had chicks named Imani and Siewka. Imani was spotted at Montrose Beach last year trying to find a mate so he could nest.

“We’re really excited that Imani is one of the chicks that keeps coming back,” Gleason said. “We just continue to hope that this remains an important site for these nesting birds.”