Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage

"Up and down the East Coast, residents and naturalists alike have been scratching their heads this autumn over a simple question: Where are all the acorns?"

www.cnn.com...

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According to the article this phenomenon is only occurring in parts of Virginia but has left most residents/scientists scratching their heads.

The article also goes on to say that there is an abnormal amount of dead squirrels this year as well, although I think that could be a direct result of a lower food supply (acorns).

I wonder if this is at all related to the problems facing honey bees (Colony Collapse Disorder).?? I'd like to know if anyone else in North America is experiencing any strange seed related phenomena.

Peace

PS: Im quite sure "questioningall" will be jumping all over the dead squirrell news.



[edit on 12-12-2008 by TheRealDonPedros]

[edit on 12-12-2008 by TheRealDonPedros]

I live in another state but there is no acorn shortage here. Maybe the squirrels and deer are eating them quicker than usual.

In other threads on here, particularly the ones about the supposed web bot prediction of huge earthquakes this week, there have been numerous people all over the east coast talking about the oddity of missing acorns this year. I read one reply that this just happens every so many years in a cycle. I have never heard of this happening that I can remember in years past so I don't know what to think of it. Hopefully some of the people that posted in the EQ threads will come here and share their info about the acorn shortage.

reply to post by EarthFairie


"I read one reply that this just happens every so many years in a cycle."

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I think the Virginians have never seen anything like this according to the article.
It could just be fear mongering by exaggerating a few isolated cases or it could be something more serious (and a million things in between).

The squirrels are huge this year up in my end (Niagara, Canada) so I think its business as usual aside from the overabundance of food (fat bastards).

Peace

[edit on 12-12-2008 by TheRealDonPedros]

[edit on 12-12-2008 by TheRealDonPedros]

reply to post by EarthFairie


I had a similar experience with a large lot of Walnut trees on my property. I asked my elderly neighbor, who was a wealth of knowledge and my good friend, about it.

He explained that many species of trees, especially nut trees, did not produce fruit or nuts consistently from year to year. Depending on the weather or other suppressors they might produce a bounty one year followed by a year where they produced little or none at all. It takes a lot of energy for the tree to produce fruit and sometimes they just have to regroup for awhile to get their strength back.

I began to pay attention to the cycle my own trees went through and saw that this was indeed true. Following an extremely harsh winter (I live in northern NY) or hot summer my trees showed a marked difference in the number of nuts they produced.

Honestly, I appreciated the years when they produced less. You ever try to pick up a few hundred golf ball sized nuts every time you wanted to mow your lawn?

(Actually I developed a method of using a 9 iron to pitch them back into the woods. Got rid of the nuts and practiced my swing at the same time.)

[edit on 12-12-2008 by zlots331]

Maybe the trees in that particular area know that the land around them will not be suitable for growing life soon, so are not wasting the energy on acorns...

Ok.. that was out there, that coffee needs to finish brewing...

We've been wondering where the acorns are.
Usually my daughter and I go out and gather bags and bags of them.
We bring them home and she feeds them to squirrels.
This year - absolutely no acorns anywhere near us.
And no squirrels either.

(philly area)

No shortage on my property. I live in southern New England.

I can vouch for this, I grew up in Virginia and every year the leaf raking commences in the fall, my grandmother has owned and lived on the same property for 40 years, I go out there to rake leaves every year and the same hundreds of year old oak trees are there, in my 3x 4 hour raking outings this year I must fully agree, comparing to years ago when we used collect them as kids, from the same trees there were thousands of them, this year I saw only a few of them and still about the same community of squirrels, I was scratching my head because it does not add up to why they have dissapeared.

We don't seem to have a shortage in So Cal - at least not in the mountains of San Diego. When we spent Thanksgiving break at our ranch, my daughters did their usual collecting/decorating of acorns on our property. I was too busy doing my usual collecting/searching for pottery and other Indian artifacts while we were there so I wasn't really paying attention to the quantity of acorns. When we go back to the ranch for Christmas vacation I'll try to pull myself away from pretending to be an archeologist and will double check the acorn situation.

Jemison

Originally posted by TheRealDonPedros
reply to post by EarthFairie

 

"I read one reply that this just happens every so many years in a cycle."

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I think the Virginians have never seen anything like this according to the article.

I related a story about the boom bust cycle of acorns and squirrels that I observed in Northern Virginia in 1991, I think, but it could have been in the late 80's too. I am pretty shocked that "scientists" are puzzled by this phenomena. It's wildlife biology 101. The oak trees were naturally selected through time to coexist with the squirrels. After all the oaks need the squirrels to spread the acorns away from the tree and bury (plant) the acorns in the ground, hopefully not eating them all.

The squirrels, being much smarter that you would think, have moved south.

About two months ago we had to start wearing hard hats when outside. The acorns are falling hard and fast and seem to be bigger than ever before.

It is also advisable to wear golf shoes to better steady yourself when walking on the lawn as the acorns form a thick slippery blanket.

Several small auto insurance companies are on the verge of bankruptcy due to the large amount of damage done to the vehicles by falling acorns.

There have been rumors of attic invasion by entire squirrel families.

If you will fill out the necessary forms and submit them to Squirrel Busters LLC. you may be eligible for a squirrel family to be shipped to your area along with enough acorns for a full years daily food.

We live in NE Florida. Last year we had what seemed to be a bumper crop of acorns. This year almost no acorns anywhere in our general vicinity. What the heck is going on? First the bees disappear without a trace, now the acorns are missing. There may be a connection between the missing bees and the missing acorns...
I don't think I saw even one honey bee this past spring and summer - despite the large number of flowers all around us. If we lose our bees we may all starve to death before global warming can get us..._javascript:icon('')

Well i can assure you there is no acorn or squirrel shortage in my back yard I have raked up thousands upon thousands of these damn things and yet those little rodents keep finding more are of my yard and garden to bury their damn food supply...hundreds of squirrels...at least.

My understand is they should enjoy a mild winter in the area. But what do I know about the weather I just read it in the Farmers Alminiac. Perhaps the scientist need to get out more often.

mikell

Trees that produce a mast crop do not always produce every year. Oak trees are notorious for not poducing acorns year to year. In Oklahoma we had a good mast crop of acorns this year. For those who have too many you might consider contacting one of the companies that makes deer feed. Deer feed containing acorns is very popular now. And for the record the squirrels will move down range a ways to where their food source is.

Oh and for an FYI I am an avid Deer Hunter, and we have to pay close attention to when acorns are produced and when they drop. The deer will change their feed patterns according to when or if the acorns fall or are even produced.

[edit on 15-12-2008 by LeaderOfProgress]