the sap ran today

[sugarnut]

i started tapping a few trees today. the tubing isn't ready, so i used a few jugs. i am also trying out some homemade stainless tubing spouts. i need to use a short section of tubing to direct the sap into the jug. the few trees i tapped before the last big chill had totally frozen and the smooth, stainless spouts don't seal all that well. i had sap flowing between the tubing and spout. hopefully the sun will thaw them and it will flow.

i also have a positive ID on the sapsucker. it is a red naped sapsucker...another gift from our canadian friends, lol. (you all can have him back...and you can also keep those 10° F temps) the little bugger is fairly tame and wouldn't "shoo" away from the trees i was working on.

i need to correct myself. someone pointed out that red-naped sapsuckers are western birds...and they are right. i mistook a female yellow-bellied for a red-naped.

they may not kill the trees, but they have more sap dripping from above than i have dripping down below, lol. i'll have to take some pics of that and of the damage they have done for the past ??? years on a yellow delicious apple and a crabapple tree.

[sugarnut]

If we never had sap suckers we wouldn't have humming birds either as they go hand in hand. Untill there is enough flowers blossoming around they feed on the holes the sap suckers make.

i must be at the far north portion of their southern migratory area. i am just a stone throw away from the PA/MD state line.