Baker’s Lake Heronry

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Hideous but functional, this scaffolding that sits on a tenth of an acre in the middle of Baker’s Lake is the Spring home to Double-crested Cormorants, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. The “island” used to consist of actual living trees but the acidity in the bird’s feces essentially destroyed the natural habitat, so the Forest Preserve District of Cook County spent a quarter of a million dollars to erect the scaffolding that exists there today. Built with telephone poles and 2×4’s and lined at the base with dead Christmas trees, it’s not pretty but it gets the job done.