Comments on: Where are the acorns?

Where are the acorns?

afu — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:55:29 -0800

Where did all the acorns go? With reports of acornless oaks coming in from all over the U.S., what is a squirrel to do?

Oaks produce acorns according to a mast cycle, which is thought to be related to climate, but the exact connection is far from clear.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:19:00 -0800

I love in the squirrel clip where the squirrel is laughing really hard and then suddenly he's weeping and going, "I never knew my father, I never knew him! No, I can drive, really, gimme my keys." I never appreciated how similar we are. Acorn/squirrel recipes.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:53:19 -0800

Jeebus! Just when I thought ACORN has gone away it turns out that acorns have gone away.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:36:02 -0800

He's not drunk! Someone turned up the gravity on the tree! He's fine, give 'em one more for the road!

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:39:44 -0800

I'm sure NOTHING AT ALL is wrong with the environment. Though maybe this will lead to a year in which no new humans are born.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:55:04 -0800

The Mystery of Masting in Trees.

Over far-flung areas virtually all the oaks of the same species, and perhaps more than one species, are already gearing up to produce the seed crop of the decade. Or not. In fact, there may be almost no acorns, and a substantial proportion of the wildlife will starve or have to eat something else. Such highly variable and synchronized reproduction is known as "mast-fruiting" or "masting."

Good background article from American Scientist. Specifically discusses California oaks.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:59:28 -0800

Short version: synchronized lean years thin out the acorn predator population. The trees are colluding to fuck over the squirrels.

By: slater

slater — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:09:57 -0800

Too much masting, and you'll go blind!

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:24:19 -0800

I noticed that pretty much every halloween pumpkin in the neighborhood had huge chunks missing. The squirrels must be hungry.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:26:48 -0800

They've been ignoring the pleas of the maples.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:47:44 -0800

Report from my yard: Butternuts are still going strong, as are squirrels.

By: unSane

unSane — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:47:55 -0800

Acorns come and go. One year in Toronto we had so many of them that walking down the garden path was like one of those cartoons where they spread marbles underfoot. The next spring we had tiny oaks growing EVERYWHERE, even where there was no dirt. Then the next year, nothing. Maples are similar but a bit less dramatic. We had no maple seed last year at all and this year there's loads.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:55:26 -0800

We had a bumper crop from our Spanish oak here in Texas about 4 years ago -- literally 4 inches deep in the flower beds -- look out while walking to the car -- I got hit on the head several times, -- and almost nothing since. We had a few last year, and this year, nothing. Might've been due to the giant hailstorm that knocked half the leaves off the thing in April. Or maybe they're colluding down here, too.

By: hexatron

hexatron — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:14:19 -0800

No acorns at all here in northern New Jersey. The squirrels ate all our pears and were seen stealing garden tomatoes. The starling migration skipped us too--they usually arrive in a giant horde, and some pick acorns and drop them to the ground, while others eat the fallen. So many are picked it sounds like rain. But not this year.

By: forforf

forforf — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:29:36 -0800

Heh, I was thinking about a post of this as well. Anyway, here's a story about missing acorns that came across my google research. Kinda fun, if you're into that kind of story-telling. 'Beasts of New York' via Jon Evan's blog.

By: intermod

intermod — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:32:39 -0800

ZERO acorns from our huge white oak in Atlanta GA. We just realized this yesterday, and it's creepy to hear that the same has happened in Virginia, New Jersey, Long Island ... cue Hollywood!

By: FauxScot

FauxScot — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:38:00 -0800

At one time, American chestnuts (C. dentata) was the dominant mast producer in the eastern deciduous forests. Highly edible, non-alkaline nuts comprising the majority of the individual trees... each large one produced 1 to 3 bushels of nuts per year. In North America, American chestnuts flower in June, and are extremely reliable and very productive mast producers. I've seen this acorn mast failure before, and can always tell it by the squirrel corpse count on the highway. One year... I think 1999, I counted 200 dead squirrels in the interval from the NC state line on US 19-23 near Johnson City, TN to Johnson City... a distance of about 20 miles. I stopped at 200 as it got boring. Not an acorn to be found that year, and the woods was picked clean of anything edible. In my experience, it happens every 3 to 4 years with oaks. I used to give a lot of talks on American chestnuts, and used this example a lot. I think most modern folks have a hard time imagining how profoundly forest ecology in the east changed between 1904 and 1960, when the chestnut blight had pretty much eliminated the species from the overstory. (It still is abundant in the understory if you know what to look for.)

By: selfmedicating

selfmedicating — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:42:40 -0800

This is why I love metafilter - I hadn't even realized this was literally going on in my own backyard till reading it here. So, is it a bad idea to put peanut butter out for the squirrels? I live in VA near the area described in washington post article. Last year I raked up literally bags and bags of acorns. This morning, I found 5 acorn caps. I feel kind of bad for the little fuzzy-tailed rats.

By: FauxScot

FauxScot — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:43:13 -0800

Wanna see something really scary, google "Sudden Oak Death Syndrome" (SODS) and/or Phytopthera ramorum. A nasty, nasty little booger of a highly lethal tree pathogen that unlike other Phytopthera, can be spread airborne. There's a Forest Service task force keenly watching the eastern forests for its eventual and almost certain appearance. (First noticed in California, it is a non-specific pathogen, but seems to like oaks a lot.) It could be the 21st century's version of the chestnut blight. (Insert sounds of ominous music here.)

By: lester

lester — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:51:40 -0800

i was in norther wisconsin a few weeks ago, near the chippewa flowage. there, the oaks had produced a bumper crop of acorns this year. the old timer at the lodge confirmed that there were more then usual, probably because it had been a wet summer. i even brought a bagful home, so if anyone wants, i could send you one.

By: Inspector.Gadget

Inspector.Gadget — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:06:10 -0800

What is a squirrel to do ? Go nuts.

By: lyam

lyam — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:16:21 -0800

I have at least an inch deep layer of acorns in my front and back yard here in NC. We had a couple of guys come by a month ago asking if they could rake up the acorns for hunting deer. If we'd have said no, we'd probably have three inches of acorns. Guess the acorn drought skipped us this year.

By: krilli

krilli — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:30:36 -0800

The oaks are like Porsche, and the squirrels and the weevils are the hedge funds.

By: netbros

netbros — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:01:41 -0800

How do you get an elephant up an oak tree? Sit it down on an acorn and wait 50 years.

By: bitslayer

bitslayer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:03:16 -0800

So long and thanks for all the... what do acorns eat?

By: Araucaria

Araucaria — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:07:01 -0800

Sunspots? This has been a particulary quiet year, especially since July.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:12:32 -0800

The next M. Night Shyamalan movie.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:30:05 -0800

It's been warmer on average for years, which is good for saplings, so the oaks have probably been producing a lot of acorns. This year has been generally pretty cool so maybe they are taking a break. Some sort of built in thermometer plus how much energy is available for producing acorns. This year is slightly cool, plus low energy (from all the previous years acorn bumper crops due to warmer weather) has triggered a mass no-acorn year.

By: stet

stet — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:35:12 -0800

The acorns are no doubt spending time with the bees. we are so fucked

By: tkolar

tkolar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:39:32 -0800

The next M. Night Shyamalan movie. Actually I'm pretty sure it's the last one.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:41:03 -0800

Lots here in N. Central Texas, not a bumper crop, but little squirrel-diggings all over my yard that mean saplings in the spring, and on my porch roof, it sounds like a light hailstorm when the wind blows. For the acorn-deprived areas, I'm sadder about the consequences for things that eat squirrels (like hawks) than I am for the squirrels theselves, the nasty little buggers.

By: notashroom

notashroom — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:07:24 -0800

I don't know about acorns, but I definitely have hickory nuts this year in my yard near Atlanta, GA. There aren't nearly as many as the last few years (my driveway isn't completely covered), but there are some. Maybe even the trees are sick of the nuts in this country.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:13:17 -0800

Maybe Obama can spread the ACORNS around. I slay me

By: quin

quin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:27:38 -0800

selfmedicating : So, is it a bad idea to put peanut butter out for the squirrels? Depends on your definition of "Bad". If it includes you getting ready for bed and glancing out your back window to see tens of thousands of glowing eyed forms sitting silently... waiting, then yeah "bad" might be a word you could use. Other words might be "plague", "hoard", and "squirrel cataclysm" (also known as the "squirrclysm")

By: porn in the woods

porn in the woods — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:39:48 -0800

"It's your world and I'm just a squirrel / Trying to get a nut to move your butt to the dance floor"

By: chlorus

chlorus — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:40:20 -0800

what do acorns eat? Dead voters.

By: dilettante

dilettante — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:41:00 -0800

Let them eat walnuts.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:50:24 -0800

Where did all the acorns go? ♫♬ Long time passing... I want to know Where have all the acorns gone? Long time ago... ♫♬

By: jamjam

jamjam — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:25:36 -0800

Short version: synchronized lean years thin out the acorn predator population. The trees are colluding to fuck over the squirrels. Squirrels could respond by foregoing reproduction in lean years to reduce their food requirements, but such a strategy only makes sense if they can live through to a better day-- otherwise, a big risk of no squirrels at all. And they do appear to be unique among rodents in their ability to wait things out, according to a recent study made for other reasons: Lifespans ranged from three years for the mice, to 23 or more for common backyard squirrels. They could also respond by hibernating early. Cicadas come out in cycles of prime numbers of years in order to avoid predators (13 years and 17 years, depending on the population) and it would make sense for the oaks to use prime numbers, too, if their years of no mast were governed by an internal clock, but the excellent article linked by ryanrs makes a good case for environmental cues instead of an internal clock.

By: workerant

workerant — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:32:26 -0800

Last weekend I went for a hike in Frozen Head State Park. We traipsed through lots of fallen oak leaves, but I don't recall seeing a single acorn. However, this year's bumper crop of falling black walnuts has left bruises on me and several of my offroad motorcycling friends.

By: jet_silver

jet_silver — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:43:57 -0800

Sudden oak death syndrome (previously) does not kill all the oak trees. At my place there are perhaps twenty oaks of varying age and situation that have succumbed out of about 120 that I can easily see. Another ten looked as though they had it but are now green again. Most of the trees that have been affected are in the path of surface runoff (they are on flattish areas that have sheet runoff, or they're in ravines), though there is supposed to be an airborne route of infection. Acorn woodpeckers are the main consumer of acorns at my place - there aren't any squirrels. The woodpeckers don't seem to want anything to do with trees that have died of SODS. They use dead, standing trees as "granary trees" where they store acorns. Of the twenty trees that have died at my place not one is being used as a granary. There is a tall dead maple that they're using for that, as well as an oak whose crown was broken off from windthrow. This year there are quite a few acorns at my place and there are also lots of them in the town of Sonoma, California.

By: Benjy

Benjy — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:52:36 -0800

This year the trees in my yards have gone insane--more acorns than I've ever seen. So much that there's a danger of stepping on some and rolling on top of them for a few feet (found that out the fun way). I assumed that this was happening everywhere, but it sounds like the opposite is true, which makes it even *weirder*.

By: KAS

KAS — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:06:03 -0800

selfmedicating : So, is it a bad idea to put peanut butter out for the squirrels? Same general area - I have to sneak food to the squirrels because my neighbors hate me feeding them. Interestingly, the squirrels do not do destructive things to my house like they do to my neighbors (karma, bitches!!). I toss peanuts into my yard (about a half acre away from my actual house), in the morning (so that whatever raccoons and whatnot don't eat it all up). They will also eat up birdseed - I had a feeder that quickly turned into a squirrel feeder but I decided to feed them further away from the main house.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:09:58 -0800

So, is it a bad idea to put peanut butter out for the squirrels? Probably. Its difficult to just feed a specific wild animal. You would most likely just be feeding ants, mice, rats, and birds before a squirrel got a chance at it. You could buy a squirrel feeder or "seed" some walnuts. I'm pretty sure they can open walnuts.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:42:50 -0800

The only place where I've seen acorns of late is in the little islands of treed turf in the Wal-Mart parking lot near my work. It's odd that the little decorative trees would be making a better effort than their native brethren.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:44:28 -0800

It was my understanding that squirrels actually help seed-nut trees propogate (burying the nuts, forgeting where they put them) - ? "So, is it a bad idea to put peanut butter out for the squirrels?" We've got the ones by us trained pretty well with that. Also other forms of nuts. I myself like firing walnuts or filberts at them with a (non-hunting) slingshot. The density of the nut means it will fly at, but not hurt, the squirrels. (I just toss it to them if they're within arm range of course). Long odds on hitting one in the hands or chest since the nuts tend to have erratic ballistics, but we both seem to get a kick out of it. Like a small bag of paper money falling out of the sky. Also squirrel fishing is fun. I understand some people at Dartmouth were doing that. But you tie some fishing line or something - I find heavy carpet thread is best, since if it snaps it won't hurt them - around a walnut and hang a nut out from a high place, perhaps on a stick, and hold it just off the ground. When they grab it you hoist them into the air, swing them to and fro. Pretty fun stuff. (We get up to some things at Rancho Smed. This one time, we stayed up late, like way past 11 pm.)

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:13:02 -0800

Because the fat little squirrels near my house are getting fed cashews by a certain person I live with? Because my mother makes them peanut butter on bread? (not squirrel-ist, just think it's funny... one of ours will come up and touch your toe ever so gently, and Oliver Twist you into feeding him)

By: sponge

sponge — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:25:15 -0800

biennial bearing or a late frost, who knows cue internet hysteria

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:27:07 -0800

FROM: The Bees TO: Earthlings So long, and thanks for all the acorns!

By: ObscureReferenceMan

ObscureReferenceMan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:10:25 -0800

Last year I raked up a TON of acorns from just one tree in the front yard. And this year... nothing. I hadn't even thought about it until this thread. Definitely weird.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:12:26 -0800

Awhile back the local parks department was hassling local Koreans for taking too many acorns to make mook.

By: smoothvirus

smoothvirus — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:22:07 -0800

I'm sadder about the consequences for things that eat squirrels (like hawks) There's a hawk that lives on my block. I've never seen it take a squirrel but I have seen it chasing turtle doves and on two occasions I have found the remains of a bird it ate in my yard. I think the hawks will be OK. Do foxes eat squirrels?

By: Restless Day

Restless Day — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:42:37 -0800

I've got acorns, and my squirrels are really fat; I wonder if that means anything, like we're in for a cold cold winter.

By: Fupped Duck

Fupped Duck — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:13:55 -0800

"where have all the frogs gone" story re-hash, including vague ominous insinuations

By: robotot

robotot — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:00:48 -0800

Acorns are just interstellar spacecraft for the migrating cosmic bees.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:13:47 -0800

Was squirrel hunting a couple weeks ago. Saw more hunters than squirrels. Didn't check for acorns, though. didn't shoot no squirrels, either.

By: public

public — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:18:59 -0800

Isn't this pretty much the plot of The Happening, but for Squirrels?

By: zardoz

zardoz — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:57:45 -0800

Ten bucks says this is somehow connected to all the missing honeybees.

By: rtha

rtha — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:20:21 -0800

There's a hawk that lives on my block. I've never seen it take a squirrel but I have seen it chasing turtle doves and on two occasions I have found the remains of a bird it ate in my yard. I think the hawks will be OK. Some hawks eat mostly birds, and some eat mostly small mammals. That said, our local redtails love to chase the pigeons.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:01:46 -0800

North Texas here. I've got a ton of acorns...but no squirrels. It's the weirdest thing. No squirrels. I don't know if the ducks have chased them away, or if the development has...but I have no fuzzy ground rats. It makes me sad. My son is almost 6, and the first time he saw an actual squirrel is when he and I went to the nature preserve to go hiking. It's really very odd. On the upside, the ducks seem to be eating the acorns. (Who knew?) The wild geese are starting to arrive, and they'll eat them too. The only problem with having tons of giant birds in your yard eating the acorns is the massive amount of stinky goose and duck poo everywhere. I keep telling them I'm going to make duck l'orange and pate, but thus far, they don't seem terribly worried about it.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:17:34 -0800

You could get a pig and make prosciutto or parma ham or whatever they make from those acorn-fed pigs.

By: JMOZ

JMOZ — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:28:27 -0800

For what it's worth, I don't remember ANY acorns on the hundreds of oaks on our property this year (Northern Delaware). Nor do I recall any hickory nuts. This is in sharp contrast to last fall (when a helmet was necessary to go outside!), and the squirrels have been A LOT more aggressive with bird feeders, stray seeds (the buggers are causing damage to our deck!), etc.

By: unblinking

unblinking — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:27:56 -0800

To tie this to another season and region, in 2006, I launched a thread on Enviro-Mich related to failure of the acorn crop in Michigan. Several naturalists reported offlist a similar lack of acorns that year in south and central Michigan. Mast crops fluctuate, but obviously -- at times -- they may fail entirely. The subsequent 2007 crop was late and rather slight. The fall of 2008 brought early and massive drops -- so that acorns were available by the thousands at the edge of the pavement along every rural road in my vicinity, well into December.