SheaLoner
Crowing
Gopher or some type of ground squirrel gets my vote.I've never seen a gopher here but that doesn't rule it out. We have mound tunnels all over the place but I assumed they were moles because the dogs catch them from time to time. But it's my understanding that moles eat grubs, not roots... We do NOT have any exit/entry mounds that I've seen like I would expect from a large burrowing animal like a groundhog or gopher.
As for the syrup thread, here's a link - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tree-sap-gathering-and-syrup-making.1351273/