Active Syrup

 Not much quilting happening, it's been very busy around here but I can add a bit to the maple syrup post.

The other day PH asked if any of the trees around here (see background for trees!) and I pointed to two I knew of.  Yesterday I was filling the suet feeders and right at nose level I noticed something move.

The dark strip on this tree is a line of sap running out of the tree.  It's wet.

You can't see it very well, I could only get the camera to focus from this distance but what I saw moving was sap dripping from the tree like a drippy faucet that needed a new washer. Quite an active drip. Just about midway on this photo you can see the next drop forming, ready for the dive.

See that dark blob?  It's an active run.  

I tasted it.  Not like the squirrels do, putting my mouth to the tree and licking, but put my finger out to catch a drip.  It's sweet water. Doesn't taste maple, just sweet.

At the ground where the crumbs from the suet lay for the ground feeding birds they aren't consciously choosing the wet spot. I thought they would.  Then I remembered birds don't really 'taste' like the squirrels do. 

Next year I might just get a bucket and spigot.