Waukegan’s piping plover scene became a lot more crowded this week.
Three chicks were released along the Waukegan shoreline Tuesday, the same day three resident piping plovers were named and banded for identification, according to the Lake County Audubon Society.
“It was very exciting to get the news that they were going to bring us three siblings: two females and a male,” Carolyn Lueck, Lake County Audubon Society president, said. “And the timing worked out that they brought them down the same day as we banded our wild-fledged birds.”
The three piping plovers already living in Waukegan were banded and named Dune, Pebbles and Drifter, references to the Great Lakes region.
The last is a shortening of the word “driftwood.” Lueck said the bird’s name was originally going to be “Drift,” but it was changed due to the plover’s tendency to explore away from its siblings.
“Since he (or she) first was hatched and then an hour later started exploring, he’s just kind of been the adventurer,” Lueck said.
The chicks were raised by Pepper and Blaze, regulars to the Lake County beach.
The three plovers released Tuesday were raised in captivity at the University of Michigan Biological Station. The two females are Amaura and Anorith, while the sole male is Archen. All names reference creatures from the Pokémon franchise.
Lueck said the names are a cool way to bring in a crowd unaware of piping plovers.
“Let’s just say there might be some piping plover trading cards in our future,” she said.
The sexes of the three chicks hatched in Waukegan won’t be known unless they return next year. By then, the plovers would have sex-distinct features such as variations in black bands on their foreheads, Lueck said.
She said the six piping plovers are joined in Waukegan by two other visitors: Frankie and Buddy. These siblings, hatched this year at Montrose Beach, are the grandchildren of Monty and Rose
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, who sparked a citywide conservation movement after raising the first successful piping plovers chicks in Chicago in more than 70 years.Lueck said the Lake County Audubon Society likes to get attention on piping plovers because protecting their habitats also helps plenty of other plants and animals.
“The more we can get the word out about these precious little birds, the better it is for a lot of different things,” Lueck said.