Piping plovers Pepper and Blaze hatch 2 new chicks at Waukegan Beach

After a dramatic nesting season, Waukegan’s piping plover mates welcomed two chicks.

The first of the “cotton balls with legs” hatched early Sunday morning, with a second following hours later. New parents Blaze and Pepper continue to incubate the remaining two eggs in the nest, the Lake County Audubon Society said in a post on social media.

Blaze and Pepper have been regulars at Waukegan Beach since 2023, nesting together in 2024 and 2025. This year, the former lovers reunited to build a nest just days after a previous clutch laid by Blaze and another mate, Pippin, washed away in a storm. The eggs were recovered by volunteers and rushed to the Lincoln Park Zoo, before being transferred to the Detroit Zoo. All four chicks hatched and are now part of the piping plover captive-rearing program at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan.

Waukegan’s new chicks follow the birth of four plovers at the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area in June. The Lake County Audubon Society called the births an “extraordinary conservation success” in a social media post.

For years, conservation groups have worked to bring the endangered shorebird back from the brink of extinction. Piping plover populations were nearly wiped out by habitat loss throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, dwindling to fewer than 20 breeding pairs by the 1980s. Thanks to captive breeding programs and local conservation efforts, the birds have made a comeback.