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Sure Signs of Spring
Two sure signs of spring here today. The first came when I got out of my car this morning and started across the parking lot towards the barn. Birds were chirping away when I heard something that made me smile….
BIRDIE-BIRDIE-BIRDIE, BIRDIE-BIRDIE-BIRDIE
Years ago, I remember my dad telling me that cardinals had two different songs – one for winter and one for summer. The winter one was just a hard, sharp CHIRP that was repeated and repeated and repeated. It always kind of reminded me of someone poking me in the arm reminding me it’s winter. But when spring came, the cardinal’s call turned to something that, to us, sounded like he was calling out “birdie-birdie-birdie, birdie-birdie-birdie”. I don’t always notice right away when the call changes from summer to winter but my ears definitely perk up when I hear that first triple “birdie” call. I know spring is here.
The second sign – I have finished putting the summer camp schedule up on the website! Haven’t got all the individual dates up on the calendar yet but everything is listed on the camp page under the ACTIVITIES header (or just click here) and registrations are open! Pretty soon they’ll be filling the pools!
Don’t forget to get your Maple Syrup Festival tickets! It’s just a few days away now!!
Critter Cam
Jean took the Flip Cam out to the apiary to check in on our bees. Take a look!
Sap Savers
Our new naturalist, Jenny Rupp was part of the crew that tapped our first maple trees of the season this past Saturday. She is anxious for her first syruping season!
What a marvelous winter it has been for those of us who enjoy being outdoors! Winter is sneaky sometimes, and waits for the most inopportune time to bring on the cold weather! If you found yourselves out and about on Saturday morning, you may have noticed a severe drop in temperature from the day before. At the Indian Creek Nature Center, we can’t wait to start preparing for spring and the Annual Maple Syrup Festival!
Bags fill with sap to be boiled into maple syrup at the Nature Center
Saturday, volunteers from the community and staff from the nature center could be seen making their way down Wood Duck Lane carrying drills and hammers. Not even a negative wind-chill could stop us from taking the first steps toward delicious maple syrup! Now is the time to start collecting the sweet sap that is just beginning to slip through the trunks of the trees! It only took an hour for our great group of volunteers to make a dent in the sugar bush. Some of the trees had even started dripping before we left the area! Here’s hoping for a great sap season!
If you happen to have access to silver maple trees and are interested in tapping them this spring, come down and get some spiles (the metal spouts that help gravity pull the sap out of the tree) and more information from the friendly staff at our center.
~Jenny Rupp
What Happens When We Don’t Have Winter?
We’ve been getting lots of calls from people wondering how this unusually warm winter is going to affect their trees and plants. Will we have sap for maple syrup? What if my trees bud and it gets cold again? I have spring flowers already coming up…what should I do? Director Rich Patterson gives us his thoughts…
Many people have called the Nature Center asking how our long string of mild days and nights is impacting plants and wildlife. It’s not easy to simply answer except that native plants and wildlife have lived here for thousands, hundreds of thousands, and….in some cases…..millions of years. During that long history with Iowa’s climate, they’ve likely experienced severe cold, heat, dryness, wetness, wind, and anything else nature can hurl at them. Anything vulnerable disappeared long ago. So, the long-term impact of short bursts of unusual weather on natives is probably small.
Warm weather helps many animals, especially those that need to move around and forage on the ground. Deer, pheasants, cottontail rabbits and many other species are likely helped by warm weather.
The impact on plants is less clear. Generally native trees come through a mild winter just fine. Fruit and ornamental trees are another story. They may be programmed by nature to break dormancy when warm weather comes and then suffer if the temperature plunges. So, days of mild weather gets sap flowing and if a massive cold front roars through and the mercury drops to 20 below overnight tree deaths are possible.
Only time will tell the full impact of warm weather.
