Piping plover egg being ignored by parents on Chicago beach hatches, baby is successfully returned
Baby piping plover chick returned to parents Monty and Rose on Chicago beach
Endangered piping plovers Monty and Rose laid four eggs, but once the first three hatched, they started to ignore the fourth one. That egg was taken away and was successfully hatched at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. This video shows the baby chick being successfully returned to its parents.
CHICAGO - Chicago's famous piping plovers Monty and Rose are the proud parents of a fourth baby chick, thanks to a little help from the Lincoln Park Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Monty and Rose, who nest at Montrose Beach, laid four eggs this year. By July 8, three had hatched - and those babies distracted mom and dad from the fourth egg. By July 9, they stopped sitting on it.
The egg was scooped up by humans from the Lincoln Park Zoo and hatched on July 10.
Video shows the baby Great Lakes piping plover chick being returned safely to mom and dad, who immediately started caring for it.
A skunk ate an earlier batch of Monty and Rose's eggs this year, so the safe hatching of these four baby chicks is a thrill to the many birdwatchers and zoologists looking after them.