2010 Seeing Abundance of Acorns

A couple of years back, the DC area's wildlife struggled through an acorn shortage, leading to an odd sight on my stoop. But TBD.com reports this year, acorns are mounting a record-breaking comeback:

[T]he number of acorns falling on car hoods and driveways is at an all-time high in Allegany County, MD, which is located in the far western Maryland panhandle. There are an average of 25.65 acorns per oak branch. How is this fact known? Well, the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service keeps track of acorns on branches; this has been done every year since the 1970s.

The article I read said that lack of a major frost in the spring coupled with a dry summer helped the acorn crop breed furiously this year.  Of course, this makes it difficult to walk outside to get the morning paper and even maintain the lawn. Wildlife likes the acorns, however, so food is plentiful for them.

Watch National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski explain why acorns are so critical for wildlife.

A Sure Sign of Fall Drops In

I was out at National Wildlife Federation office in Reston on Monday and heard one of the early signs of fall -- big, fat acorns falling off trees, tearing through the canopy and crashing to the forest floor.

It was an encouraging sound in the wake of last year's odd acorn shortage. NWF naturalist David Mizejewski explains why acorns are so important to a wide range of animals:

Trees on Strike?

In ordinary autumn, acorns feature prominently at my home and office. Here in Ballston, my apartment is surrounded by big old trees that coat the ground in a crunchy carpet of acorns. And out at my office in Reston, the towering trees at neighboring Lake Fairfax Park deliver a steady bombardment of acorns plummeting through the canopy, then bouncing high off the paved paths (watching it makes you think twice about taking a walk without a helmet).

But this year, nothing. And I'm not the only one who's noticed:

Rachel Tolman, a naturalist at Long Branch, smeared a big glop of peanut butter on one of the nature center's trees. She grabbed handfuls of store-bought hazelnuts and placed them atop boxes to attract the tiny, nocturnal flying squirrels that tend to mass in the oaks every winter. Within seconds, the squirrels dive-bombed in from nearby trees, legs outstretched like fist-size silvery-gray sky divers. "They're so much more willing to be seen this year," Tolman said. "It's because they're so hungry."

Tolman was the first naturalist to notice that there were no acorns or hickory nuts this year. Each fall, starting in September, she takes daily walks through the forest to collect nuts and acorns to feed the flying squirrels and other animals at the center through the winter. This year, she found nothing. "I'm hoping this is just some weird anomaly," she said.

No wonder this little guy was so hungry! Naturalists often discourage directly feeding the critters in your backyard since it makes them dependent on people instead of foraging for themselves. This winter might be an exception.

The article doesn't draw conclusions about why acorns are so scarce this year. Seems that one year without acorns is unusual but not unheard of; however, if it happens again next year, it might be something to worry about.