Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file
Piping plover pair Monty and Rose’s nest was attacked by a skunk at Montrose Beach Dunes Wednesday night.
Though the endangered plovers were not harmed, the skunk reached into the wired protective enclosure surrounding the nest and ate all four of the plovers’ eggs.
“But Monty and Rose are resilient,” writes Tamima Itani, vice president and treasurer of the Illinois Ornithological Society, in a new blog post on chicagopipingplovers.org, a website dedicated to providing information and updates about the plovers’ well-being and whereabouts.
Two bird watchers have already spotted the plovers courting and scraping a nest Thursday morning, according to the blog post.
Piping plover pair Rose and Monty have laid four eggs on Montrose Beach Dunes suntimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from suntimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo
Rose and Monty, Chicago’s much loved piping plover pair whose presence on one of the city’s busy beaches made headlines, may have reunited once again on Montrose Beach Dunes.
Rose, who made an 1,100-mile journey to Montrose Beach from Key Preserve State Park in Florida where she spent winter, was spotted back on the lakefront Sunday morning.
Monty may have been spotted back in Montrose on Monday.
Though the number coordinates on the piping plovers could not yet be confirmed, the plover that was sighted wore a green band, as Monty does, explained Louise Clemency, field supervisor for the Chicago office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.