Wild Milwaukee: What Critters Do You See About?

So, Thursday afternoon, I'm leaving Columbia-St. Mary's Hosptial on the east side of Milwaukee, heading down the winding Water Tower Road, and just below the crest of the bluff I have to stop for a jaywalking pedestrian.

He's taking his sweet time, strutting like a king, absolutely confident that he's he biggest, baddest boy on the block.

He acts like he's the mayor, so I decide to call him Tom Barrett (meaning no disrespect to the pugilistic city executive himself, just a play on words).

'Cuz he's a turkey. A tom turkey, judging by its size, its feathers and its beard. And by its attitude.

He was as cocky as a congressman.

Not only I but another oncoming motorist had to stop for the slow stroller. He wended his way between our bumpers as if he had all the time in the world. He appeared to know he was something to look at, and that our time, in comparison, meant nothing.

Though this happened far from Wauwatosa, metro-wise, it got me to thinking a few things maybe worth a few words.

One, does this guy have some idea that, if he doesn't get hit by a car, he's one of the safest turkeys in Wisconsin, with hunting season and Thanksgiving close upon him?

And two, just how much wildlife is moving back into metropolitan Milwaukee – or has managed to remain?

I've seen wild turkeys before on the County Grounds, and my neighbor across the street had one in his yard.

I saw pheasants in the Menomonee Valley back when it was a post-industrial wasteland, but not since.

In my own back yard, I've seen:

• A 10-point white-tail buck
• Does and fawns galore
• (story and video from when Wauwatosa Patch was very new)
• A den of coyotes
• A scruffy, confused mink that I used to watch in better, sleeker form down by the river before he was evicted by the Hart Park flood management project
• Woodchucks that honeycombed my hillside with groundhog condos
• Raccoons – armies of raccoons
• Opossums, legions of them
• Barred owls, screech owls, great horned owls
• Red-tailed, Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks – and even a goshawk
• Indigo buntings that fought with chickadees (even though they had no reason to)
• Wood ducks trying to raise a family (conquered by raccoon army)
• Every other migratory bird in the book, at one time or another
• The notorious Butler's garter snake
• And many, many more...

We are lucky in Wauwatosa, if we love wildlife, to be beneficiaries of the vision of Charles Whitnall, the godfather of the , who left us with long, lovely green parkway corridors along our waterways, which are much enjoyed and employed to this day by the wild ones.

It's remarkable how much green space we have here in Wauwatosa, and how resilient and adaptive nature has been to our presence.

I'd like to read, in the comments section, what you've seen in Wild Wauwatosa, and if you've gotten pictures, upload them to the Pics and Clips section of Wauwatosa Patch and I'll share them.