Monty and Rose are the two beloved piping plovers that surprised the Chicago birding community by settling at busy Montrose Beach to nest and raise their young for three consecutive years. When they first arrived in 2019, the number of their endangered species had diminished to 70 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes region.

After Monty died recently after making the spring migration back to Northern Illinois, and after Rose did not return, we reached out to Bob for his thoughts and those of others in the birding community.