Tundra Swans– One of the reasons I enjoy making maple syrup every spring is that it provides an opportunity to be outside and experience through sight and sound the phenomenon of bird migration.
On Saturday March 29th, I heard the first of the tundra swans coming through. That compares with : March 16, 2007, March 25, 2006, March 26, 2005, March, 2004 and March, 15, 2003.
Tundra swans winter around Chesapeake Bay of Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They pass through this area on their return trip to the nesting grounds in the arctic. This year Lake Pepin was mostly ice covered. When the lake is open, it is a desirable resting spot. In previous years. it was quite common to see several waves of swans get up off the lake as they continued on their way.
This past week, I was overwhelmed with the volume of sap flow due to ideal temperatures. With this coming week weather forecast and more sap than I know what to do with, I pulled all my taps yesterday March 30. Now the hard work begins.
Friday March 21 was the first full day of spring and will be remembered by at least 8 inches of wet heavy snow. Remarkably this day also included my first observations this spring of wood ducks, turkey vultures and red-winged blackbirds. It was amazing to see the vultures circling overhead surrounded by large white snowflakes.
This wet heavy snow provided a good opportunity for me to finish off my first batch of maple syrup in the shelter of my garage. The previous day I had cooked down nearly 80 gallons of sap to the reduced volume of 3 gallons on my backyard wood fired stove.
Sandhill cranes- Almost like clockwork, I hear cranes fly over our house in Wacouta every morning between 8 and 9 am since March 15. Yesterday March 26, two pairs of cranes landed in the picked cornfield east of the house and fed for nearly 1 hour. What an exciting observation. I am reminded that it was about this time last spring when Kathy and I drove to Grand Island, Nebraska to witness one of nature’s great spectacles–the migration of nearly 500,000 sandhill cranes. The cranes that we see here winter in Florida while the western birds travel from New Mexico and Texas.
Bruce has been posting about Sandhill Cranes. John Penoyer, president of the Minnesota Nature Photography Club sent us some photos so we can see what Sandhill Cranes look like in the Spring. Thank you John!
John has a web site with more Nature photos: www.impressionsofnature.net
click the photos to view larger versions
There is a half moon today. At sunrise it is at it’s zenith and will share half of the day with the sun.
I looked at the phenology section of my weather calendar and it referred to dogwoods as “glowing signs of life” which prompted me to run out and look at some dogwoods for myself. I’m not sure what I expected to see, but to me they looked exactly as they did two weeks ago which is the same as they looked in the dead of January. Slender red branched shrubs with most of the tops nipped off by deer.
Maybe whoever wrote that entry for the weather calendar was saying the red stems of dogwood are the only thing out there that aren’t brown or black.
Almost, but not exactly true. Bright orange bittersweet berries still cling stubbornly to the vine and the northeast facing rock outcrop on the road cut near our house is covered with wet, green moss. It will be greener when things warm up. In town trash is appearing in yards and sand covers the brown grass along the boulevard. The grass is matted and too wet to rake.
The warmth is here, but plants and animals have some catching up to do. The leaves on my red oak still cling to the branches and the new buds above them still look completely dormant. A few short days ago they were frozen solid and covered with snow. March is the month of Spring fever and unexpected snow.
I may be late with this, but I plan to put up a couple of blue bird houses today. Here’s a web site that seems to have pretty good instructions for that:
http://www.bluebirdsforever.com/houses.html.
If someone knows something about dogwood and what is meant by “glowing signs of life” , I would be interested.
I’ve written a little more about the moon and Spring trash – you can click this link if you’re interested
The calendar says it is spring. And the birds seem to agree. The pileated woodpecker is especially vocal and geese call out overhead. Chickadees and cardinals can be heard in the morning. But winter is not leaving quietly this year. Yesterday before sunrise the thermometer read 12 degrees, and on Thursday it snowed six inches. A friend who heats with wood has used up his winter supply.
Thankfully, the maple trees are active. After a few hesitant efforts, the sap started running on Saturday. By Sunday afternoon the two trees had yielded seven gallons. Monday produced another five.
There are roughly three dozen young maple trees nearby. The largest is about 8 inches in diameter. Many are much smaller. I suspect all are descendants from these two mature trees and a third one now gone. Around the hard maple, the saplings are fairly evenly distributed in all directions. But around the silver maple most of the young trees are on the northern, uphill side. I’m not sure whether this is a result of soil conditions, or competition for sunlight or the prevailing wind when seeds drop. But is it rather pronounced.
Local interest in tapping maples must be strong. Runnings Farm & Fleet in town said they have had dozens of calls from people looking for spiles. Unfortunately they don’t have any. Lyle at S&S Sugar Bush said Roth Sugar Bush (www.rothsugarbush.com) and Anderson’s Maple Syrup (www.andersonmaplesyrup.com) sell spiles and equipment. Does anyone know a local retail source?
