This article was also featured in our February 23, 2022 issue of Now in Nature.

What do these two pictures have in common? Trees and holes are the obvious answers.

In winter, many creatures are hungry for food to keep them alive. Our sugar maples provide a sweet solution.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers know this. They peck holes into the trees and eat the sugary offering that drips out. Their characteristic “sap wells” are often made in rows on many kinds of trees. Insects and other animals can’t resist!

Of course, sapsuckers aren’t the only animals tapping maple trees. Humans learned how to harvest this natural resource thousands of years ago. Indigenous peoples and settlers had creative ways to do this with very limited resources.  

Here at the Nature Center, we have many activities for you to experience this special gift from nature. This is our last weekend for Sweet Maple Days, where you can learn about history, tapping, collecting, and cooking sap to syrup. You may even see a sapsucker.