CUE A Ue BIOUN Ge BUI ET UN 35 
The Mud Lake Area 
By OrpHeus M. ScuHantz 
A Discussion of a Sheltered Bird Sanctuary as a Possibility 
in the Forest Preserve 
In the selection of a possible Bird Sanctuary in the Cook County Forest 
Preserve, there are many things to consider that would need to be taken 
into account before a decision could be made. The preserves are visited 
by so many people on Sundays and holidays, so much of the shrubbery has 
been destroyed and so many roads opened up, that it is difficult to find 
even a small area that is ideal for a sanctuary in all the thirty-three 
thousand acres that are included in the county preserves. 
Within the county are three principal streams: the Des Plaines, Salt 
Creek and the North Branch of the Chicago river, along which are strips 
or belts of woodland in which formerly there were many nesting birds 
every summer. Every spring migration brings the birds back and there are 
still many that nest in the preserves. Many more, however, that seek peace 
and quiet have been forced to locate elsewhere. Food, shelter and proximity 
to water are always important in attracting birds, and all of these are to 
be found in the vicinity of Mud Lake, just east of the Des Plaines river, 
about half a mile south of Ogden Avenue, where it is crossed by the 
Des Plaines river. Not anywhere else in Cook County is there more variety 
of topography and plant life, or proximity of still pond, and active stream 
with the many plant associations that here abound. 
Approaching from the north after leaving Ogden Avenue, the river path 
crosses highway No. 4, into a great open space, where there are many huge 
burr oak trees in which may always be found redheaded woodpeckers and 
flycatchers. In the spring of 1930 starlings were reported as nesting in 
several of them. Along the east bank of the Des Plaines are the customary 
water-loving bottom land trees, such as silver maple and ash, and on the 
higher banks oaks, hickories and black cherry with an undergrowth of 
water ash, wild crab, and hawthornes intermixed. 
At the north end of the pond called Mud Lake, which each year be- 
comes a bit shallower, is a concrete dike which has been raised by added 
earth until it effectually barred the Des Plaines from overflowing. On the 
right of the dike is the river, on the left an old beachline covered with a 
good stand of oaks. Along the dike have grown up several varieties of 
hawthornes, making an almost impenetrable thicket. Between the dike and 
Mud Lake is a marshy tract that is an ideal feeding ground for warblers, 
redwings, and many sparrows, and in early spring many migrating birds 
stop for several weeks because of the water and the abundance of food. The 
cardinal, Carolina wren, prothonotary warbler, rusty blackbirds, coots, 
rails, little green heron, swamp sparrows, redwings and numerous fly- 
catchers may always be seen. In the nearby river, ducks, an occasional 
