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A dark night, cloudy, no moon, some rain and a bit of sleet, quiet except for some noise from the highway a mile or so away: perfect conditions to find them a screech owl, or a barred owl, or a great horned owl, or any owl at all.

The owl-prowlers stand near the quarry in Menomonee Park and the leader plays a tape of the call of a screech owl. It sounds like the muted neigh of a horse with a trill at the end.

A dog barks in the distance and a rustling of leaves causes the group to look through night-vision glasses that turn the darkness into a green glowing "daylight." They see a raccoon, not an owl, climbing out of a tree. It shuffles off toward the quarry, thinking, no doubt, it can see the two-legged creatures but they can't see it. "Let's try the other side of the lake," says Steve Mahler, leader of the owl watchers and owner of the Wild Bird Center in Menomonee Falls. "We might have more luck over there." Mahler has taken a small group of hardy naturalists out on his Owl Prowl. He explained before they began that it isn't always easy to find an owl one time in 10, if you're lucky, he told them. If they hear an owl, he said, that's success. If they see one, that's unbelievable. The group gets back in the Jeep and heads north. Steve Mahler and his wife, Diane, have owned the Wild Bird Center just two years, but Steve Mahler has been interested in birds almost all his life. He comes by it naturally. His parents and grandparents were bird-watchers. He's the grandson of Henrietta Mahler, who along with Helen Brachman created Henri's Dressing. Mahler lives in Germantown with his wife and 4-month-old son. "When we sold our shares in Henri's, we opened this store," he says. "We're here as a retail store, but we offer education, too." Every summer, the store hosts a nature camp for third- through sixth-graders. It also planted a wildflower prairie in the park and helped get the village to allow homeowners to plant prairies on their properties. The owl-prowlers head to a new location, and Mahler reminds them to be quiet. "Pretend you're trees," he tells them. "Remember, owls have tremendous hearing and sight. In a room full of people, an owl can hear the heartbeats. It could read a newspaper by candlelight the distance of a football field away." It's mating season, he says, and owls can be dangerous if they're offended. Their talons can go through skin, muscles and tendons. They can clamp right on the bone. Donna Lovingfoss, of Milwaukee, has been on many nature walks with Mahler and has seen her share of owls. "It's very relaxing and challenging," she says. "You listen and walk." Bob Meidl, of Milwaukee, was told by a friend about the Owl Prowl. "I wanted to see owls. Birds of prey are really exciting animals. Once a great horned flew right over me and you couldn't hear it." Owls eat anything snakes, mice, squirrels, cats, even skunks, Mahler says. "Yes, their ability to smell and taste is very limited," he says, playing another cassette, this one sounding like Santa Claus with a cold sort of a "ho ho ho hohoho" the call of a barred owl. The group waits, glasses ready, and then it all happens quickly. A huge bird lifts off the branch of a tree and swoops down into tall grass and disappears. "That was a great horned owl," Meidl says. "Unbelievable," Mahler says. The next day, Mahler and a few others go down to Lake Michigan to do a bit more bird-watching. They see some snowy owls, a number of different kinds of sparrows and a great horned owl. The Wild Bird Center has just about everything for birds and bird-watchers, including one of the largest selections of optics in Wisconsin, including all kinds of spotting scopes and night-vision equipment. Another Owl Prowl will be held in January or February. Already scheduled is the annual "In Pursuit of Eagles" trip to central Wisconsin Jan. 20. "And that's a guarantee," Mahler says. "We'll all see eagles. Last year, we saw dozens. I think it was 75 in all." There will be bird walks Dec. 30 and Jan. 13. ------------ The Wild Bird Center is at W186-N9519 Bancroft Drive, Menomonee Falls.

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