What do these early bird arrivals mean? That it's maple syrup season?

Joseph Dits, South Bend Tribune
·8 min read
A few red-winged blackbirds have just recently arrived locally. More are expected to migrate when we get closer to spring. This is a file shot from another locale.
A few red-winged blackbirds have just recently arrived locally. More are expected to migrate when we get closer to spring. This is a file shot from another locale.

Some folks in Indiana, including here, recently saw formations of sandhill cranes flying high in the sky.

There have been a few sightings of red-winged blackbirds around the state, too. Mark Blassage, in South Bend, said Monday marked the earliest he’s seen one in the past four years (though a fellow birder on Facebook said she heard one on Feb. 8). Blassage has recorded the dates, and his next earliest was Feb. 17, 2022, while the others were Feb. 23 and 25 in the three prior years.

Indiana Audubon Director Brad Bumgardner explains that some of the birds that don’t migrate as far, like these, may show up early. But that shouldn’t affect most of the long-haul migrants who typically arrive in April or May.

February 2023:Why thousands of crows visit downtown South Bend at night

Still, the mild weather makes you wonder. Remember when I wrote that snowy/icy winter sports had a chance, oh, two weeks ago? We did, for a quick bit. Even ice fishing had one decent weekend. The refrigerated ice rinks are still bustling. So are the area’s downhill ski resorts, where snow conditions change constantly from morning to day to night.

Of course, we realize that we could yet be treated to a late-winter storm, even though national climate predictions still show us “leaning” toward above-normal temperatures and precipitation for the coming weeks.

Some folks have seen or heard sandhill cranes cruising high in the sky over Indiana in the past week. These were photographed last November along the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wis.
Some folks have seen or heard sandhill cranes cruising high in the sky over Indiana in the past week. These were photographed last November along the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wis.

On Monday morning, for the first time this winter, I spied one or two great blue herons atop a huge sycamore tree that bears a heron rookery with lots of big nests. It's along the east side of the St. Joseph River just south of Pinhook Park in South Bend. I drive by the rookery often. A few heron do spend the winter locally. You don’t see them that often. But they don’t use the rookery.

Bumgardner says that, given the recent warmth, the herons may be checking on the nests. But he says they probably won’t take a serious interest in the rookery for another three or four weeks.

Someone posted a photo on the Birding in Indiana Facebook page, taken Sunday, of at least 21 American white pelicans on the water’s shore at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis. Pelicans do pass through our area in the spring, eventually stopping off at lakes like the one at Potato Creek State Park in North Liberty.

People are often surprised to see robins and eastern bluebirds in winter, thinking they are supposed to be signs of spring. In fact, many of them remain through winter as long as they can find food.

The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival is running a contest on its Facebook page to see who can guess when a beloved bird with goofy mating antics, called the American woodcock, or timberdoodle, will return to the bird-watching tower at Indiana Dunes State Park. So far, guesses range from now until early March.

It should be interesting for this weekend's international Great Backyard Bird Count (birdcount.org).

Maple sap time

The daily temperature swings are good for getting tree sap to flow — especially if it hits below freezing at night and above freezing in daytime. That’s good news for people who make maple syrup, but only if they've tapped their trees.

Want to give it a try?

∎ Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle invites volunteers to help with its annual tree-tapping day from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 18. Experienced sugar makers will take you into the woods, the “sugar bush,” and show you how to drill holes, insert spiles and hang tubes to collect the dripping sap. Kids often help. Register by Feb. 16 at bendixwoods@sjcparks.org or 574-654-3155.

Also, volunteers are needed to help cook the sap into syrup in the park’s sugar house this season. Training will be provided. If interested, email Hannah at hbranchick@sjcparks.org.

March 2022:Maple syrup fest is back at Bendix Woods. Here are surprising trees you can tap.

All of this leads to the 50th annual Sugar Camp Days from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 18-19 at Bendix Woods with the usual array of activities, maple treats and Lions Club pancake-and-sausage breakfast.

Tools for tapping maple trees sit in the sugar bush last year at Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle.
Tools for tapping maple trees sit in the sugar bush last year at Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle.

∎ Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor hosts its hands-on Maple Sugar 101 class starting this weekend where individuals, families or groups of up to five people learn to make syrup, from identifying trees to tapping maples to cooking the sap into syrup. Each group takes home a quart of syrup. They are from 1 to 4 p.m. each Sunday from Feb. 19 to March 19. Cost is $60 for Sarett nonmembers. Register and find details at sarett.org/event/maple-sugar-101 or 269-927-4832.

∎ Elkhart County Parks will teach you about the entire process for tapping trees and making syrup, too, from 9 to 11 a.m. Feb. 25 at the Baldwin One Room School in Bonneyville Mill County Park near Bristol. Pancakes and maple syrup will be served, too. The program includes some outdoor segments. Tree tapping equipment will be sold.

The cost is $6 per person, open to all ages. Register by Feb. 24 at elkhartcountyparks.org.

Tree tapping will begin this weekend at Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle.
Tree tapping will begin this weekend at Bendix Woods County Park in New Carlisle.

∎ The Indiana Maple Syrup Association will see various maple syrup producers in Indiana, including in our region, hosting open houses March 11-12 at their farms and woods for sampling and learning. Learn more at indianamapleweekend.com.

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Keep on trekkin’

∎ Bushwhacking: Learn how to do off-trail hiking at 2 p.m. Feb. 18 when the Harbor Country Hikers meet for a hike at the New Buffalo Area Schools Nature Trails. There will be an easy one-mile option and a rugged three-mile trek. Meet in the parking lot at New Buffalo Elementary School, 12291 Lubke Road, New Buffalo. From U.S. 12 in New Buffalo, turn south on South Eagle Street, then right on West Detroit Street, which turns into Lubke.

∎ Hike with headlamps: Clamp on a headlamp, explore the woods and streets of Winona Lake and have some hot cocoa at 7 p.m. Feb. 18. This event, organized by Grace Outdoors, will meet at the Gordon Health and Wellness Center, 100 Publishers Drive, Winona Lake. It’s free, but donations will be accepted to assist a local person or family in need. Find details or register in a link in this column online.

∎ Camino walk: The local chapter of American Pilgrims On The Camino invites anyone to walk four miles with them at 3 p.m. Feb. 19 on the Mishawaka Riverwalk, starting in front of the new Ironworks Ice Rink, 410 N. Hill St., Mishawaka. Afterwards, the group will visit a nearby restaurant for refreshments.

Hunting & fishing

∎ Indiana next hunting seasons: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has posted hunting and trapping seasons for 2023-’24. Link to it in this column online. The DNR says dates for migratory bird and waterfowl seasons will be released this summer as they’re set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the state. Hunting and fishing licenses for the current season, linked here online, are good through March 31.

∎ Light goose permits: Indiana is accepting applications for a free permit to hunt as part of its Light Goose Conservation Order now until March 31. Link to it in this story online. This permit includes snow geese and Ross’ geese (white and blue phases of both species). But the DNR also advises that federally endangered whooping cranes are often found in the same areas as snow geese in fall and winter, and killing them is a serious offense. Whooping cranes are white birds, standing up to five feet tall with black wing tips.

∎ Trout stocking: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources reports that it stocked roughly 4,500 brown trout in northern Indiana streams in early January. Most of them were eight to 14 inches long. The season for harvesting trout ended Dec. 31, but they can still be caught as long as you release them back into the water immediately. The trout were stocked in the Pigeon River (Steuben and LaGrange counties), Solomon Creek (Elkhart County), Little Elkhart River (LaGrange and Elkhart counties), Rowe Eden Ditch (LaGrange and Elkhart counties), Cobus Creek (Elkhart County) and Little Kankakee River (LaPorte County). Anglers 18 and older must have a state fishing license and a trout/salmon stamp to fish for trout.

∎ Midwest Sportsmen Classic: A handful of experts on hunting and fishing will give seminars at this expo that will include a used gun auction and a 5,000-gallon water tank to demonstrate fishing techniques Feb. 16-18 at the Michiana Event Center, 455 E. Farver St., Shipshewana. There will be bow-hunting classes, too. Hours will be from 1 to 8 p.m. Feb. 16, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 17 and 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Feb. 18. Admission costs $15. Call 260-768-3300 or visit www.michianaevents.com/event/sportsmen-classic.

Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Migrating birds are early for spring as maple trees tapping for syrup