Living in Brookfield Wisconsin can be very relaxing if you take the time to enjoy the surroundings. Mostly large-ish lots with nice to awesome homes. Enough greenspace to attract and support a diverse population of wildlife. Multi-acre tracts of old woods, acres and acres and acres of river conservancy, even a few "hobby farms" still on the western fringe. I've written about the coyotes, the noisy birds and chipmunks in the morning, and the prolific deer population eating my ornamentals as if they were a breakfast buffet!
But there is a rare and magical side of our local wildlife that most people have never had the opportunity to experience. It's the OWLS.
It's only happened a few times in 18 years. Once, when we lived in Elm Grove (adjacent to Brookfield), I was driving home at about midnight. Even though it was a major road, there was no traffic at that time. It was an unlit stretch of road, but the night sky was bright. As I was nearing my home., passing my neighbor who has enormous Austrian pines across her front yard, a huge bird swooped down from one of the big conifers, in front of but above my car and disappeared into the woods across the street.
About two years later I got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water. Above our kitchen sink is a large corner window that faces the driveway. It had snowed. One of our cars - a black Mazda - was parked on the driveway, covered with light snow. The asphalt was covered as well. Near the front driver's side tire something on the ground looked - with my nearsighted vision - like a black plastic garbage bag caught up in the wheel well. I went back into the bedroom to get my glasses to get a better look. It was an owl dismembering a rabbit! It hopped up onto a snowbank and continued to devour its prey. I woke my husband to watch this nature show with me. The big bird had about a 5 foot wingspan which it flexed every few minutes. It's head was sort of swiveling back and forth - I suppose watching for danger. After finishing the rabbit, the owl took off with a low sweep, then an arch up toward the big pines.
We moved into this house in Brookfield about 8 years ago. It had about an acre of land, as did most of the neighbors. Being an older, established neighborhood, there are lots of big trees, huge conservancy (swamp) a couple of blocks west and 8 or 9 acres of woods across the street.
Three years ago, the night after my youngest child, Martin, had graduated from Brookfield East high school he was preparing for a trip to Mexico. It was late-ish, about midnight. He was in his room packing, so I sat down in his room to spend some quiet time with him before he left. We were talking quietly and the rest of the hosue was totally silent. As if in the far distance I heard something. When I stopped talking in mid sentence Martin stopped packing and stood still. We heard the owls.
We quietly crept out to our screened porch at the back of the house and sat down. All the windows were open, there was a half moon, tiny breeze. After a few minutes of waiting we heard a "woo-oooh....woo-oooh" followed a minute later with a similar, but distinctly different voice and location "hooo-ooo" , and a minute later - a THIRD different voice and location! Three different owls were in close proximity - we could guess which trees they were probably perching in by where their voices were coming from. It was THRILLING! Their voices are very subtle - easy to miss if there is any other sound around.
We sat there, enchanted, for at least 45 minutes until the owl conversation was over. It was magical and spiritual! My son and I felt a new bond with each other and with the nature right in our own backyard.
Recently - about two weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night -- 3-ish. I lay in bed trying to get back to sleep and I heard them again! All the windows were open in the cool night air. This time there were only two. I closed my eyes and listened for as long as I could before falling asleep again. Nothing that I had worried about the day before mattered right then. I felt, once again, the priveledge of witnessing the magic of the natural world.
Ben Mullikin with Pat Morita
So, Brookfield is abouth 15 minutes west of the downtown area, Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewer's baseball stadium), The Mitchell Park Conservatory (botanical gardens in geodesic domes!)Many residents of Brookfield work in Milwaukee County.
