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Such an informative article. The loons are such magnificent creatures and their call is well known. If you listen in movies, whenever there is a quiet, peaceful moment there is always the call of the loon you hear. The photography is exceptional, capturing such rare moments.

I lived in Minnesota 23 yrs..We used to go to Mission Beach in Northern Minnesota in the summer to camp..The Loons were plentiful..Came right over to the boat with their babies. Love the sound of their crooning..Miss that…

I have several large red maples on my property and thought about trying to do syrup next year.  I am in North Carolina, is it possible to tap this far south?  I’m sure that the season is earlier than up north, how do you know when to tap?

Nice article. Gets the myco-mind craving for morel season. Hoping for a great year in the sylvan way.

Great article filling in the blanks of my loon knowledge. Very interesting and well written.

Great! Thanks for the informative article…how interesting!

Fascinating article!! I have lived in Gloversville, but saw the radical decline of the leather industry. As I was doing research on Ancestry, one of my relatives listed his profession as a “BLOODER” in a skin mill. I have asked around, even to the historical society, and they’re unclear as to what this profession would entail. If you could help me out, I’d greatly appreciate it! Thanks so much.

I just want to express gratitude for publishing this fine, eloquent piece…

My maple tree is about 4 years old now. Before, at this time of the year, it had leaves on it. So far, no leaves, but it has budded out. However, my larger maple trees are doing well and are all healthy. Can you tell me what is going on with this young tree? Thank you.

We have a Brandywine Maple about 5 seasons in the ground. This season we have buds but no leaves yet. Tree is not dead - the buds are green and strong. Every other tree in our area has foliage except our Brandywine. Daytime temps have been in the 70’s nighttime mostly in the 50’s. Any ideas on why we have no leaves here in mid-April??

There is a troubling effort to reassign the cairns and walls to Europeans.  For cultural sensitivity the creators must be known as Native Americans. We simply can’t rebuild manifest destiny and have to be inclusive.  Likewise, the Ptolemy white pharoahs must be quelched in favor of black Africans.

Maine holds a “Maple Sugar Sunday” too. This year it was Easter Sunday, and mostly for show, because the trees had shut down at least a week before.

Hi Donna. Red maples do seem to be, on average, less sweet than sugar maples by a few tenths of a degree brix. Of course sugar content varies from tree to tree, and throughout the season, so it’s hard to pin down anything more exact than that. They also break bud before sugar maples, so on most years you’ll get a shorter season if you tap only red maples.

Weasels taking on more than they can handle explains why our late cat, “Purr Puss”, on at least 3 occasions, brought weasels home for us to admire. Unlike other game she caught she would not eat it and leave that little round organ on the step. I had always assumed the weasel should have killed her until after the first time. She lived well into her teens, however.

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Alex -Glad you liked the article and are carrying the torch for these special places. Connecticut has lost so much of them that I am resorting to seeding a limited amount of pitch pine and scrub oak after burns and harvests where there is none.

Keep up the good work.

We have tapped our red maples for the past two years and are really enjoying the hobby. I am wondering about the sap-syrup ratios…is it 40-1 for red maple or is that just for the sugar maple? Our yield seems very low in comparison to the sap.

Thank you!

Nice article. I was wondering what causes these marcescent leaves to fall—that is, do they essentially “wear out” and get blown off, or do expanding buds push them off. Today I noticed that a shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria, a marcescent species) was losing leaves over time with some falling today, but no new growth is yet visible.

Thanks for the great article! I am involved in prescribed fire and other habitat restoration.  Through this work I have had the pleasure of working in many of the remnant pitch pine/scrub oak forests in New England and New York, including many of the sites you mentioned. 

I am dedicated to preserving and restoring this important habitat, and its great to read about it’s history.

In response to Sandy in Ohio, I was talking to a grower in Pennsylvania today, and he said that the Heartnut is indeed a good pollinator for a Butternut tree. I have only one tree in my yard, and it had few nuts last year, so I think its pollinator friend may have either died or been removed. As for recipes, you can substitute butternuts for any walnut recipe, only since I grew up with the butternuts, I think they are much better!