#Chicago Ornithological Society

[guy60660]

Chicago Ornithological Society | Alex Tomlinson

[copperbadge]

[ID: Three images; top right, several quilted pieces are laid out, which in the top left image have been sewn together to make a bag lined with fabric covered in camping-themed images. Bottom image is a large front view showing the finished bag; the fabric patchwork contains dachshunds, California Flag bears, and on the sides, dinosaur skeletons, with more camping fabric for the strap. There is a heart stitched onto the front, a Chicago Ornithological Society patch on the flap, and two buttons that look like clock faces, which hold the flap shut with elastic loop closures.]

The sewing project I referenced recently is nearly complete! It's a toddler-sized messenger bag with loop closures friendly to little fingers for my baby niece U, daughter of my brother-from-another-mother R. U will be two years old this July, although the gift is for when I see her this April.

I was sad to learn in a recent conversation with R that he and his wife Q, who I liked very much, are divorcing. I can't say I was entirely surprised; I love R but both he and Q are strong personalities and they've been dealing with a lot, separately and as a couple. Baby U is young enough, and her parents both self-aware enough, that it's been as easy on her as it can possibly be, but it's still a big upheaval for a tiny child and I thought she might like to have a little bag made just for her, for treasures or a stuffed toy or similar.

Besides, messenger bags are the one "fashion" thing I'm into, and as the Messenger Bag Uncle I have to make sure she learns early how fantastic they are.

[warningsine]

The American Ornithological Society, the organization responsible for standardizing English bird names across the Americas, announced on Wednesday that it would rename all species honoring people. Bird names derived from people, the society said in a statement, can be harmful, exclusive and detract from “the focus, appreciation or consideration of the birds themselves.”

That means the Audubon’s shearwater, a bird found off the coast of the southeastern United States, will no longer have a name acknowledging John James Audubon, a famous bird illustrator and a slave owner who adamantly opposed abolition. The Scott’s oriole, a black-and-yellow bird inhabiting the Southwest and Mexico, will also receive a new moniker, which will sever ties to the U.S. Civil War general Winfield Scott, who oversaw the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples in 1838 that eventually became the Trail of Tears.

The organization’s decision is a response to pressure from birders to redress the recognition of historical figures with racist or colonial pasts. The renaming process will aim for more descriptive names about the birds’ habitats or physical features and is part of a broader push in science for more welcoming, inclusive environments.

“We’re really doing this to address some historic wrongs,” said Judith Scarl, the executive director of the American Ornithological Society. Dr. Scarl added that the change would help “engage even more people in enjoying and protecting and studying birds.”

Advocates of this change believe that many English common names for birds are “isolating and demeaning reminders of oppression, slavery and genocide,” according to a petition in 2020 that was addressed to the American Ornithological Society. The petition was written by Bird Names For Birds, an initiative founded by two ornithologists to confront the issue of these bird names, which it describes as “verbal statues” reflecting the values of their eponyms.

But some birders, while expressing sympathy for the cause, said that they were unsure that this was the right route to take. “I’m not super enthusiastic about it, but neither am I super disappointed about it,” said Jeff Marks, an ornithologist at the Montana Bird Advocacy.

“We’ll lose a little bit of knowledge about some key people in the history of ornithology, and that saddens me,” Dr. Marks said. “But maybe in the scheme of things that’s just not that big of a deal.”

Jordan Rutter, a founder of Bird Names For Birds, said the petition was inspired by what became a momentous encounter in Central Park in 2020, when a white woman falsely reported to police that Christian Cooper, a Black birder, was threatening her.

The Central Park encounter inspired the creation of Black Birders Week, an annual campaign to celebrate the lives and careers of Black birders, which then spurred an avalanche of similar initiatives in the sciences against the backdrop of a nationwide racial reckoning. In 2021, the Entomological Society of America began the Better Common Names Project to change the names of insects deemed inappropriate or derogatory. Astronomers have also advocated for the renaming of major telescopes that they say alienate people from marginalized backgrounds.

In birding communities, pushes to move away from problematic bird names have produced mixed results. The Bird Union and the Chicago Bird Alliance recently changed their names to avoid an association with Audubon. But the board of directors at the National Audubon Society voted to retain its name this year, saying that the mission of the organization transcended the history of one person.

In 2022, the American Ornithological Society announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to determine how to address controversial bird names. Members of the committee met every two weeks for months, discussing topics such as the importance of name stability and how to determine the criteria for changing a bird’s name.

Wednesday’s announcement is the culmination of that effort. In its statement, the American Ornithological Society committed to changing all bird names derived from people and assembling a diverse group to oversee the renaming process, which it said would include input from the general public. More than 100 avian species across the Americas will be given new names.

“The idea of changing a bunch of names is, to many people — myself included, originally — throwing out a lot of history,” said John Fitzpatrick, an ornithologist at Cornell University. He said that he initially felt bird names should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but that further discussions convinced him that “there is no formula by which we can figure out which names are good enough.”

Notably, only the common English names of birds will change, since scientific names — which are traditionally in Latin — are governed by a rigid, universal set of rules that take into account evolutionary relationships between different species. (Latin designations taken from people’s names exist as well, such as Capito fitzpatricki for the Sira barbet, a Peruvian bird named after Dr. Fitzpatrick.)

The decision to change common names of birds “makes perfect sense” to Mr. Cooper, whose fame has led him to hosting a National Geographic birding show. “There’s no reason to have a person’s name attached to a bird, because it doesn’t tell you anything about the bird,” he said.

Mr. Cooper mentioned the Wilson’s warbler, a canary songbird with a characteristic black cap. Changing the name to something “like black-capped warbler,” he said, would give birders a better idea of what to look for.

But to Jerry Coyne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago who is an avid birder, the need for more descriptive names did not seem pressing. Performative acts like this “are really deeply injurious to science,” he said. “We cannot go back through the history of science and wipe out everybody who was not a perfect human being.” Dr. Coyne added that the effort to update so many names would be better invested in something more impactful to society, such as teaching underprivileged children about birds.

The American Ornithological Society plans to pilot a renaming program next year, starting with around 10 birds. Eventually, the program will expand to address all namesake birds in the United States and Canada, and then move on to avian species in Central and South America, which is the extent of the society’s naming jurisdiction.

Carlos Daniel Cadena, an ornithologist at the University of the Andes in Colombia and a leader of the English Bird Names Committee, expects the changes to entail a slight learning curve but also present a new opportunity for the public to bond over birds.

“It’s going to be a level playing field where we all need to learn together,” Dr. Cadena said.

He noted that the process might be adjusted for birds in Latin American countries, where people commonly refer to them by their scientific names.

With thousands of species across the Americas, birds are as diverse as the communities that cherish them. “Birds are by far the most accessible and beloved feature in biodiversity worldwide,” said Dr. Fitzpatrick. He added that more colorful names for these creatures would heighten “the ease by which new birders of every stripe” can enjoy them.

[tsmom1219]

2024 Chicago Bird Photography Contest

The Chicago Park District, Chicago Ornithological Society, and Chicago Bird Alliance want you to capture the vibrant avian life of Chicago through your lens and participate in the inaugural Chicago Birds Photography Contest. Photographers of all experience levels are invited to compete with winning submissions eligible for eternal bragging rights and cash prizes. Deadline to enter is August 1.…

[chicagobirder]

Drink 🍻 and save 🐦!!!

Piping Plover Pale Ale is back for a limited release with proceeds going toward our conservation initiatives. The last two releases of this cactus flavored brew sold out on the same day so mark your calendars!

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Hispanic Heritage Month: Louis Agassiz Fuertes

In a departure from our usual uncharismatic animals, and to mark the end of Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, I’d like to discuss a man easily comparable to Audubon: Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

Fuertes was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents in 1874. His father was an astronomer and civil engineer, and recognised his son’s talent and passion for birds at an early age; this revelation might have been aided by an incident involving young Fuertes tying a live owl to the kitchen table. Fuertes became an Associate Member of the American Ornithologists Union at age 17, and was mentored at Cornell University by Elliott Coues, the nation's leading ornithologist.

After graduating, Fuertes went on expeditions to document new species. These expeditions were led by a number of famous explorers, including artist Abbott H. Thayer, financier E. H. Harriman, and zoologist C. Hart Merriam. As he established himself as an ornithologist and illustrator in his own right, Fuertes continued to travel the world, covering much of North America and venturing to other countries like the Bahamas, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and Ethiopia in pursuit of new species.

 Between these travels Fuertes collaborated with the curator of American Museum of Natural History, Frank Chapman, to create field guides, dioramas, and book illustrations. Fuertes also discovered a species of oriole, known now as Fuertes's oriole or the orchard oriole (Icterus fuertesi). Beginning in 1923 Fuertes regularly lectured on ornithology at his alma mater, Cornell. He completed his last expidition in 1926-27, when he accompanied W. H. Osgood on the Chicago Field Museum’s trip to Ethiopia and produced some of his most famous works. Shortly after his return, Fuertes was killed in a train accident. He was 53 years old.

Fuertes’s legacy continues on in two species of bird: the Orchard Oriole and Fuertes's parrot (Hapalopsittaca fuertesi), which was rediscovered in 2002 after being thought to be extinct. To honor his adventurous spirit, the Boy Scouts of America made Fuertes an Honorary Scout after his death in 1927. The Wilson Ornithological Society established the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Award in 1947, and he has been credited with influencing other later wildlife artists.

If you like what I do, consider leaving a tip or buying me a ko-fi!

[rjzimmerman]

Yep, this is a thing in Chicago. Twice a year, every year. You hear the bad shit about the City, mostly from asshole trump, but Chicago people are good people about most things, including wildlife, animals in general, birds, environment, green space, etc. Excerpt from this Chicago Tribune story:

Turning your lights off tonight might do more than save electricity, birders say. It might save some birds.

The migration forecast map from Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology shows Illinois at high intensity for migration Thursday evening, a peak of activity in the next few busy days for the birds.

Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago Audubon Society, said “it’s like a weather report for birds.”

The forecasts predict migration three hours after sunset, according to the Cornell lab, and are based on models from decades of bird movements detected by the NEXRAD weather surveillance radar network.

For Chicago, the BirdCast predicts more than 200 million migrations across nine states. In Illinois, 30 million birds are predicted to be flying over the state Thursday night, with nearly 110,000 forecast to fly over Chicago alone.

Local birding organizations recommend shutting off any nonessential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. One study carried out in New York found that a trip through beams of light had the potential to throw birds off their migratory course. A report from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology noted the high number of migratory birds passing through the city, and put Chicago at the top of the list for generating light pollution.

Chicago has the Lights Out program, which recommends tall buildings go dark after 11 p.m. during migratory seasons.

[uwmspeccoll]

Feathursday Corvids!!

Give us Corvidae anyday!! This color plate is from a 1930 painting by the American animal artist Walter Alois Weber, published by the University of Minnesota Press in the 1934 book Bird Portraits in Color by the American physician and ornithologist Thomas Sadler Roberts. 

Walter A. Weber was a trained zoologist who held positions at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the National Park Service in Oklahoma, the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., and he was the chief nature artist at the National Geographic Society from 1949 to 1971.

Thomas S. Roberts was a practicing physician in Minneapolis with life-long personal and research interests in ornithology and natural history. His interests led him to become a professor of ornithology and director of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota. Two years prior to the publication of the book featured here, Roberts published the comprehensive, 2-volume The Birds of Minnesota, also published by the University of Minnesota, which included the same illustrations as Bird Portraits in Color.

Shown here from top to bottom are: Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia); American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos); Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana); Northern Raven (Corvus corax).

View other portraits from this volume.

View more Feathursday posts.

[americaswild]

Chicago is for P/Lovers

A pair of Great Lakes Piping Plovers have nested at Montrose Beach in Chicago this summer. The spot they picked is adjacent to a world-renowned bird sanctuary and a growing dune ecosystem supported by the Chicago Park District Natural Areas program, and dedicated stewards, volunteers, and supporters. The nesting spot is also adjacent to volleyball courts, a kayak rental, a restaurant with live music, and one of the busiest beaches in Chicago.  

Photo: Nesting plover performing “broken-wing” display in response to nest disturbance. Credit: Tamima Itani

The birding community, led by the Chicago Ornithological Society, Chicago Audubon Society, and the Illinois Ornithological Society, quickly mobilized to recruit volunteers and establish shifts of birder volunteers who monitor the nesting piping plover pair and share their excitement and information with other Montrose beachgoers.  Almost two hundred volunteers have been taking turns at two-hour shifts and will be out watching the birds from 6 am to midnight during the busy holiday week.  The plover pair,  named Rose and Monty by the Montrose birding community, have been the stars of tremendous media interest, appearing regularly in photos and videos on TV news and of course on Facebook and other social media (see below photo). Such is the general excitement that Chicagoans around town are now regularly spotted wearing “Chicago is for P/lovers” t-shirts.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) have been working with the Piping Plover Volunteer Monitors and the Chicago Park District to monitor and assess threats to the nesting pair and plan responses. Working with the Chicago Park District, the USFWS and IDNR have roped off the nesting area and have placed a cage around the nest to protect the eggs from predators and other dangers.  The nesting plovers can freely move in and out of the protective cage, and they take turns sitting on the nest while the other parent feeds on the beach.

“I feel so fortunate that we had this wonderful birding community that could mobilize so quickly,” USFWS Field Supervisor Louise Clemency says. “These birds would not have had a chance without the COS quickly enlisting such large numbers of volunteers to watch over the plovers.”  

Photo: FWS biologist installs nest cage while parent plover displays nearby.  The plover returned to incubation immediately after nest cage was installed. Credit: Brad Semel IDNR

This is the plover pair’s 2nd nest this year. The first nest of four eggs was located in an area that became flooded and the eggs were rescued into the care of the Lincoln Park Zoo, then transferred into the Great Lakes Piping Plover Salvage Captive Rearing and Release program. Their current nest is located within an area already roped off to protect a colony of nesting bank swallows.  A new larger area was roped off to protect the nesting plovers from disturbance.  

Nearly extinct from the Great Lakes region in the early 1980s, the pair represents one of approximately 70 breeding pairs of Piping Plovers in the entire Great Lakes region. This is a major milestone in their recovery, increasing from a low of just 13 pairs!

Photo: Piping plover nest. Credit: Tamima Itani

[kevindurkiin]

Mamby on the Beach Potentially Moving Due To Endangered Birds

Most outdoor festivals and events have a proviso stating “rain or shine,” assuring ticket buyers that the event will go on for as long as it can. But what about endangered species? A new challenge faced by Mamby on the Beach in Chicago threatens the event’s venue.

A pair of endangered piping plovers who have built a nest at Montrose Beach has gained the attention of bird conservation groups lead by the Chicago Ornithological Society, as well as the Montrose Lakefront Coalition, which is seeking to have the festival moved away from the Montrose Beach area. The birds have laid four eggs, an event which Chicago Sun Times calls “a rare and cherished occasion among birders.”

Jerry Mickelson, who heads up concert organizer JAM Productions, sent a letter to MLC that read, in part: “Why do you feel that MAMBY music fans do not have the right to enjoy Montrose Beach just like others do? Who appointed MLC as gate keeper?”

He went on: “Let me warn you that there are millions of dollars at risk here and all of you might be exposing yourselves to this liability by your interference with our right to hold this event at Montrose Beach that you have requested/insisted the park district not allow.”

The original four eggs were moved into the protection of the Lincoln Park Zoo after high water threatened them earlier this week, but the plovers appear undeterred and once again engaging in courtship activities. Should they lay another set of eggs, the chicks likely wouldn’t learn to fly until late August, stated Jill Niland of MLC.

The musical festival is scheduled to take place on Aug. 23 and 24 and expected to draw as many as 20,000 people to the lakefront each day, which raises concern over “waves of people and noise pollution from three stages disrupting the piping plovers and any potential offspring.”

No decision has been made at this time.

This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Mamby on the Beach Potentially Moving Due To Endangered Birds

Mamby on the Beach Potentially Moving Due To Endangered Birds published first on https://soundwizreview.tumblr.com/

[bluebuzzmusic]

Mamby on the Beach Potentially Moving Due To Endangered Birds

Most outdoor festivals and events have a proviso stating “rain or shine,” assuring ticket buyers that the event will go on for as long as it can. But what about endangered species? A new challenge faced by Mamby on the Beach in Chicago threatens the event’s venue.

A pair of endangered piping plovers who have built a nest at Montrose Beach has gained the attention of bird conservation groups lead by the Chicago Ornithological Society, as well as the Montrose Lakefront Coalition, which is seeking to have the festival moved away from the Montrose Beach area. The birds have laid four eggs, an event which Chicago Sun Times calls “a rare and cherished occasion among birders.”

Jerry Mickelson, who heads up concert organizer JAM Productions, sent a letter to MLC that read, in part: “Why do you feel that MAMBY music fans do not have the right to enjoy Montrose Beach just like others do? Who appointed MLC as gate keeper?”

He went on: “Let me warn you that there are millions of dollars at risk here and all of you might be exposing yourselves to this liability by your interference with our right to hold this event at Montrose Beach that you have requested/insisted the park district not allow.”

The original four eggs were moved into the protection of the Lincoln Park Zoo after high water threatened them earlier this week, but the plovers appear undeterred and once again engaging in courtship activities. Should they lay another set of eggs, the chicks likely wouldn’t learn to fly until late August, stated Jill Niland of MLC.

The musical festival is scheduled to take place on Aug. 23 and 24 and expected to draw as many as 20,000 people to the lakefront each day, which raises concern over “waves of people and noise pollution from three stages disrupting the piping plovers and any potential offspring.”

No decision has been made at this time.

This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Mamby on the Beach Potentially Moving Due To Endangered Birds

source https://www.youredm.com/2019/06/15/mamby-on-the-beach-potentially-moving-due-to-endangered-birds/

[copperbadge]

Had a boring training meeting that I knew I wouldn't have to talk or be on camera for today, so I busted out the heavy-duty thread and stitched some patches onto a bag I just bought.

I went with a "Chicago" theme featuring Hewn Bakery, @hoot-alex's Chicago Ornithological Society design, Transit Tees' Italian Beef patch, and a Sue Crossing patch that I bought twenty years ago on my first visit to Chicago -- this will be the fourth or fifth bag I've sewn it onto, so good value for the money.

Three of the enamel pins are org-specific (Music Box Theater, Chicago Fire FC, Art Institute Lion) but the hot dog, Chiberia, and "star bar" are from Big League Pins.

[ID: The flap of a small "map case" style bag; patches stitched neatly onto the bag feature the logo of a local bakery, Hewn, reading "Hand Forged Artisan Bread"; a Woodpiper bird with a Chicago star at its feet; an Italian Beef sandwich; and Sue the T-Rex in a traffic-sign reading Sue Xing. Enamel pins surrounding the patches show a vintage sign reading "Music Box", a hot dog labeled "never ketchup", a stylized text reading "Chiberia", a Chicago star in a blue bar logo, one of the famous Michigan Avenue lion sculptures, and the Chicago Fire soccer logo wrapped in a footie scarf. The whole thing is doing its best to be symmetrical and mostly succeeding.]

[acommonloon]

Dan's Feathursday Feature: Common Loon — Chicago Ornithological Society

[chicagobirder]

Say hello to the new face of Chicago Ornithological Society!

We are proud to officially share our new logo designed by Alex Tomlinson. Join us as we celebrate this important milestone and the start of a new chapter that will only continue and expand our important work.

chicagobirder.org/blog/2023/8/27/the-woodcock-has-landed-a-conversation-with-alex-tomlinson

[secretofpet]

Today : Escaped pet parrots are now naturalized in 23 US states, study finds — ScienceDaily

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Simple –

When Stephen Pruett-Jones, PhD, an ecologist at the University of Chicago, first came to Chicago in 1988, he stumbled on a unique piece of the city’s history: the monk parakeets of Hyde Park.

The squat, bright-green birds aren’t native to Illinois, or the United States at all. The U.S. originally had two native parrot species: the Carolina parakeet and the thick-billed parrot. The Carolina parakeet is now extinct; the thick-billed parrot, a Mexican species that ranged into the southwestern states, was driven out of the U.S.

In the 1950s and 60s, tens of thousands of monk parakeets were imported from South America as pets. Inevitably, many of them escaped or were released. By 1968, they were found breeding in the wild across 10 states, including a colony in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, home of the University of Chicago campus.

Pruett-Jones, who usually studies wrens and other wild birds in Australia, noticed a large group of the parakeets on his daily commute. He started sending students out to study the birds and eventually organized an annual lab project to count them.

“I have never actually held a wild parrot in the United States,” he said. “But indirectly I’ve become the spokesperson for parrot research here because when I saw the monk parakeets in Chicago, I realized nobody else was working on them.”

Those monk parakeets aren’t the only parrot species thriving in the U.S. as a result of the pet trade. In a recent study, Pruett-Jones teamed up with Jennifer Uehling, a former UChicago undergraduate student now working on a PhD at Cornell University, and Jason Tallant of the University of Michigan to research data on bird sightings from 2002 to 2016. They found that there were 56 different parrot species spotted in the wild in 43 states. Of these, 25 species are now breeding in 23 different states.

“Many of them were escaped pets, or their owners released them because they couldn’t train them or they made too much noise — all the reasons people let pets go,” Pruett-Jones said. “But many of these species are perfectly happy living here and they’ve established populations. Wild parrots are here to stay.”

A diverse new landscape for parrots

The study, published in the Journal of Ornithology, uses two different databases of bird sightings to track this diverse new landscape of naturalized parrot species. The first, the Christmas Bird Count, is an annual survey organized by the National Audubon Society that captures a snapshot of birds in the U.S. during a two-week period from December 14 to January 15 each year. The second resource, eBird, is an online database for bird watching enthusiasts to log all the birds they have seen.

Once Uehling, Tallant, and Pruett-Jones compiled the data, the most common species were monk parakeets, the Red-crowned Amazon, and the Nanday Parakeet. Most of these birds are concentrated in the warmer climates of Florida, Texas and California, but there are other large populations concentrated around cities like New York and Chicago. Pruett-Jones says there are now more Red-crowned Amazons living in California than there are in their original habitats in Mexico.

“The entire conservation focus for this species is now on a non-native, introduced, naturalized population,” he said. “The survival of the species is most likely going to come from efforts to save it someplace where it never existed before.”

Monk parakeets are reported to be agricultural pests in South America, but other than a few isolated examples, there is no evidence that any of the feral parrots in the U.S. are invasive or competing with native birds. Monk parakeets are the only species of parrot that build their own nests, however, and the bulky structures are known to damage utility lines.

Good luck talisman

The story of Chicago’s parakeets is one with the city, that of tenacious survival in spite of the elements. Most of the year they feed by foraging in parks and open grassy areas. They don’t migrate, but one of Pruett-Jones’ students discovered that they survive Chicago’s harsh winters by switching almost exclusively to backyard bird feeders from December to February.

Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African American mayor, lived across the street from one of the city’s best-known parakeet colonies and called them a “good luck talisman.” After he died in 1987, the USDA tried to remove the birds, but local residents threatened a lawsuit.

The parakeets stayed but their numbers have dwindled from a peak of about 400 birds to just 30 today. Some of the them have dispersed to greener areas in the suburbs, although the largest colony is now under the Skyway bridge connecting Illinois to Indiana. There are also signs of a nationwide decline in all birds, perhaps due to a disease or parasite.

Pruett-Jones may have become a national expert on parrots by accident, but he says this work is crucial to understand conservation of endangered species and how non-native or invasive species can spread.

“Because of human activity transporting these birds for our own pleasure, we have inadvertently created populations elsewhere,” he said. “Now for some of these parrots, they may become critical to the survival of the species.”

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Today : Escaped pet parrots are now naturalized in 23 US states, study finds — ScienceDaily

from Secret Of Pet All Goods For Our Friends

[rjzimmerman]

Last spring and summer, when Monty and Rose first appeared on the Montrose Avenue beach, the City cancelled a rock concert that had been scheduled for the site and shut it down from human visitors, to protect these birds.

Excerpt from this Chicago Tribune story:

The Illinois Ornithological Society, Chicago Ornithological Society and Chicago Audubon Society this weekend unveiled the names of Monty and Rose’s three fledged piping plover chicks.

This marks the second year in a row Monty and Rose have successfully nested at Montrose Beach. The pair have now fledged five piping plover chicks in that time, doing their part to ensure the survival of the species.

After wintering apart, the federally endangered plovers reunited on the Montrose Beach Dunes in May. Within days, the two were already spotted “engaging in courtship behaviors,” and on June 18, four piping plover chicks hatched in the favored nesting spot.

Unfortunately, one young plover did not survive, but 23 days later the Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team announced the remaining three chicks are considered to have fledged, or developed enough wing feathers to be able to fly.

The three birding organizations held a naming contest for the plovers and received more than 300 submissions before deciding on Hazel, Esperanza and Nish.

“These piping plovers have united thousands of people across the Chicagoland area and become strong ambassadors for birds and their conservation,” Tamima Itani, of the Illinois Ornithological Society, said in a statement.