Endangered piping plovers return to Chicago's Montrose Beach with a newly discovered egg.

Piping plovers, an endangered shorebird species, have returned to Montrose Beach in Chicago, with the discovery of a new egg signaling hope for their conservation. Two male plovers, named Pippin and Uncle Larry, have arrived earlier than usual. Once absent from Chicago for over 70 years, their reappearance follows successful breeding in 2019. The species was federally protected in 1986, and their numbers in the Great Lakes region have risen from 13 pairs in the 1980s to 70 breeding pairs recently.