Defying the elements and odds, storm-swept piping plover eggs rescued, yielding chicks

A remarkable chapter in the continuing story of the federally endangered piping plover is unfolding as four eggs washed away in a storm and exposed to elements for more than 12 hours were recovered and have hatched.

To the delight of those trying to restore the tiny shorebirds, plovers Pepper and Blaze — his mate from the previous two nesting seasons — arrived separately this spring at the same nesting area on a restricted beach along Lake Michigan in Waukegan.

But so did Pippin, another male who became a birder celebrity last year after becoming entangled in synthetic hair and losing a foot. He established and defended a territory and mated with Blaze.

A nest and four eggs followed, but potential disaster struck June 11 when a severe storm washed them away. Volunteers recovered them the next morning but the eggs had been battered by more than 12 hours of wind, waves, rain and cold.

“Simply finding them was incredible. The possibility that they might survive seemed almost unimaginable,” Carolyn Lueck, president of Lake County Audubon Society and chair of Sharing Our Shore -Waukegan, announced Tuesday in a news release.

They beat the odds.

The eggs were taken to Lincoln Park Zoo for emergency care and stabilization. From there, they were transferred to the Detroit Zoo, a partner in the Great Lakes Piping Plover captive-rearing effort, where they hatched.

The newly hatched chicks then were taken to the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan, and will become part of the captive rearing program there.

Lueck credited the expertise and rapid response of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Wildlife Services, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Lincoln Park Zoo, Detroit Zoo and members of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Program for making the outcome possible.

“Just four days ago, these eggs lay scattered on a storm swept-beach,” Lueck said. “Today, four healthy chicks are beginning their journey.”

In the meantime, Blaze and Pepper have reunited and a new nesting attempt could get underway in coming days, Lueck said. They are one of about 88 nesting pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers, which disappeared from Illinois beaches in the mid-1950s but are making a slow comeback.

Sharing Our Shore is a seven-year partnership between the Lake County Audubon Society and city of Waukegan.

Lueck praised volunteers who have contributed more than 2,000 hours each nesting season to monitor plovers, educate beach visitors, assist biologists and help ensure the endangered plovers can safely raise their young along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

“For the Great Lakes piping plovers, that’s more than a happy ending,” she wrote of the eggs hatching. “It’s another hopeful chapter in a recovery story that is still being written.”