A Postcard from the Moss: March 2025
Brooklyn Wildlife Area
I love sending postcards when I travel, so once a month I share photos with a postcard-length blurb about a place I’ve recently visited.
March weather is always an unknown. Will it be 70°F or snowing? There was one last1 gasp of snow during the first week of the month, so I took advantage of the frozen ground to go for a hike before mud season.
I had the trail mostly to myself at Brooklyn Wildlife Area—a nature preserve near Madison, WI that features “a mix of wetland, prairie, oak savanna and hardwood forest.”2 The snow was only intermittently thick enough to leave footprints in my wake, but each step created a satisfying crunch, thanks to last autumn’s fallen leaves underneath the sprinkle of powder.
For a couple miles, just the white noise of wind filled my ears. Then I stepped into a sunny, protected section of the trail and was greeted with a cacophony of mid-morning birdsong. I opened up the Merlin app3 on my phone and stood absolutely still for a full minute while recording. Soon, the choir’s voices were separated and identified: House Finch, Blue Jay, House Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, and Common Grackle.
A few steps further and I was back into the quiet of the wind.
Upon reaching the boundary where the Brooklyn Wildlife segment of the Ice Age Trail meets the Montrose segment, I turned back towards the car. Once more I heard the birds—this time adding a Red-winged Blackbird to the chorus—and once more I passed the mossy logs and rocks, all slightly more visible to me as the sunshine eroded away the snow cover.
How to visit:
Brooklyn Wildlife Area is located near Brooklyn, WI—about half an hour south of Madison—and is home to a 3.4 mile segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. There are several parking lots, but no bathrooms, potable water sources, or campgrounds.
Not the last gasp, after all! On the day this post was published, snowflakes were falling outside my window.
According to the Wisconsin DNR’s page for Brooklyn Wildlife Area.
Those mushrooms are fantastic, all lined up in a military formation. Thank you for sharing!
Looks like a lovely day! I had to google some of those birds - the dark-eyed junco is so pretty.
We've also still had a bit of snow. Snow + longer days is such a good combination!