Get Outside in February

Missouri Maples

February is when the tree sap starts flowing! You can tap almost any deciduous tree in late winter to collect sap for making syrup. However, sugar maple tree sap has the highest sugar content, around 3 percent. While this seems low, most other trees have only 1 percent or even less.

While humans enjoy sap for syrup atop a stack of warm, fluffy pancakes, squirrels also enjoy the sweet stuff, just in another form. Red maple flower buds are swelling and may start to open up on warm days in late February. Squirrels nip off buds and lick the sweet sap that oozes out of the twigs.

Love is in the Air … and in the Ponds

With Valentine’s Day in the middle of the month, February is all about love. But not just for humans. Plenty of animals look for their mates this month, including these herps:

Spotted salamanders congregate in fishless ponds to breed starting in late February. This activity is triggered by the first warm rains, and temperatures at or above 50 degrees. 

Small-mouthed salamanders breed from late February to early April. Large numbers congregate at ponds, sloughs, or flooded ditches. 

Tiger salamanders engage in courtship and egg-laying from February through April. 

Long-tailed salamanders breed November through early March in or near springs or cool, rocky creeks.

The Spring Chorus

The boreal chorus frog’s call is a rasping, vibrating prrreeep that sounds like running a fingernail over the teeth of a pocket comb. Listen for their unique calls on mild evenings in late February. Joining the concert are spring peepers, upland chorus frogs, and Illinois chorus frogs. If they were to make an album, it would surely be called The Early Sounds of Spring.

Woodchuck Weatherman

Woodchucks — also known as groundhogs — start to emerge from hibernation in Missouri as early as the first week of February, but severe cold weather may delay them. 

Today’s legend says if the groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, we’ll have six more weeks of winter. No shadow means an early spring. The gist of this is, if it’s sunny on this day, we’ll have six more weeks of winter. 

Did you know old-time Ozarkers had Feb. 14 as the magical day, not Feb. 2. I wonder if they were just trying to avoid getting their Valentine a sweet treat or a bouquet of roses?.

Missouri Trappers 2026 Fur Auction

Saturday • Feb. 29 • 7:30 a.m.

Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 700 S. Sturgeon St., Montgomery City, MO 63361

Registration is not required. For more information, call Jim Love, auction chairman, at 636-359-2203 or visit missouritrappers.com/fur-auction.

All ages

The Missouri Trappers Association will hold its annual fur auction, featuring both green and finished fur. Everyone is welcome to attend, even if you are not selling fur. To get a complete set of rules, visit the website above or call Jim Love.

Virtual Vises: Fly Tying at Home

Thursday • Feb. 26 • 6–7 p.m.

Registration required by Feb. 26. For more information, call 888-283-0364 or visit short.mdc.mo.gov/oJL.

Online only

Ages 14 and older

Come and tie flies with us as we pick a new theme each month. Each month will have a new MDC tyer from around the state. Tonight’s session will feature TJ and Mike, and the theme is ”Picking the Right Hook.” Our book for the night will be the Mustad catalog. We will tie some old favorites on an appropriate hook and an inappropriate hook to show the difference in proportion and how it should swim or be retrieved.

Buy native tree and shrub seedlings from MDC’s George O. White State Forest Nursery

Place orders before April 15 for spring delivery. Scan the QR code or visit mdc.mo.gov/seedlings to learn more.

Natural Events to See This Month

Here’s what’s going on in the natural world.

• Dark-eyed juncos start migrating north.
• Eastern cottontails begin breeding.
• Grass pickerel, our most common pike, spawn in late February.
• Harbinger of spring is one of Missouri’s earliest blooming wildflowers.
• Looks for mosses and lichens on winter walks.