Tree Quest

After last spring's tree tapping escapade, when we mistakenly tapped two ash trees and three oaks, we set about identifying our maple trees this time while they still had leaves on them. Not as easy as you might think, because when the woods are thick, it's very difficult to tell which leaves belong to which tree. But the reason we had so much trouble in the first place became clear - we really don't have any mature maples on our property. Lots of young trees, and a ton of maple leaves to be seen when you walk in the woods, but very little suitable for tapping. So that was a disappointment.

Here's Mr. L. trying to get close enough to one of our larger candidates to sample one of its leaves (we also wanted to distinguish between types of maple - sugar, red, silver or black). I love the way that he's managed to get a leaf on his head.

Polk County, Wisconsin