Stepping out onto my front porch to retrieve the newspaper one recent mild morning, I listened for a bit of birdsong. What greeted me was a symphony – too many bird calls to distinguish and many more than I would’ve heard at this time last year.
Turkey vultures are considered by some naturalists to be a more reliable sign of spring than robins. The Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch near State College counted six turkey vultures on February 20.
Another sign of waning winter is the maple sap run. When daytime temperatures rise above freezing and nighttime temperatures drop below that mark, sugar water flows up and down through the phloem layer of sugar maple trees.
Maple producers, of course, tap into the phloem to collect the sap, then boil it down to make maple syrup and other products. This is a late-winter harvest. Once trees bud, the sap is no longer suitable for maple sugar.
Somerset County’s maple season didn’t officially begin until the tree-tapping ceremony, which was held this past Saturday. But Mark Ware, Executive Director of the Somerset Historical Center, who is plugged into the local maple-producing industry, told me the sap has been running for weeks.
In fact the producers have been watching for budding and are concerned that the season will end early. In contrast, last year the producers were boiling throughout most of March.
All of this is making Punxsutawney Phil look pretty good this year. For only the 18th time, according to records dating back to 1887, Phil predicted an early spring.
Now don’t think that this is turning into a tribute for a groundhog. Frankly, Phil’s accuracy record is well-below 50 percent.
Rather than travel to Gobbler’s Knob and stand outside in the pre-dawn hours of what’s often the coldest time of the year, you could stand by a crackling fire in your den, dressed in your favorite snugglies, flip a coin – heads is six-more-weeks, tails is an early spring – and more accurately predict the remainder of the winter season.
Nature’s signs are promising, though, especially considering that we’re barely out of February. We also can take comfort in knowing that the Earth’s rhythms are becoming increasingly joyful for us here in the northern hemisphere.
The true significance of February 2 is not the groundhog, but that itrepresentswhat the ancient Celts called a “cross-quarter day,” a day when the sun is halfway between its farthest point from the equator (solstice) and its position directly above the equator (equinox). Currently, the sun is approaching the spring equinox on March 20.
Such rhythmic assurances remain, whether we see sunshine or wind-whipped snow on any given day during this period. We’ll be getting more snow and freezing temperatures, but these times will be punctuated increasingly with more temperate conditions.
Embrace Earth’s rhythms and explore how they are on display during this time of transition.
State parks are great places to visit now. While you currently will see scheduled snowshoe and cross-country ski outings, birding programs and indoor events, park naturalists are adept at changing programming to accommodate conditions. Visit events.dcnr.pa.gov for a comprehensive calendar of events.
Hawk watches are opening for the spring migration season and are places to meet birders and learn more about migration through the Alleghenies. AlleghenyPlateauAudubon.org or TusseyMuntainSpringHawkWatch.org.
The Somerset County Maple Producers Association is hosting its Maple Weekend Taste and Tour on March 12 and 13. Fifteen maple camps will provide free tours, demonstrations and samples of the sweet stuff. SomersetCountyMaple.org.
This is a time of wonder, when you can watch the woods awaken, listen to songbirds and spot the first wildflowers. But will you be celebrating the approach of spring amid balmy temperatures and sunshine or snowdrifts? Forget the groundhog. Just flip a coin.