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No Nuts
I’m sick of the markets. If you want some erudite comments on the latest eco crap or some deep thoughts on when the EU will tank, go elsewhere today. I've got nothing erudite to say. So something different this A.M.
I live about an hour north of NYC. Not far from one of the big reservoirs. There is a lot of protected watershed property. Much more woods than people. I have all sorts of critters around. It’s not unusual for me to see a half-dozen deer on the lawn in the morning. There are flocks of wild turkeys. There are dozens of both black and white squirrels. Chipmunks everywhere. All these animals are dying.
I’ve been aware of something going on for about a month. This is not the first time that a mass death of animals has happened. Some years ago we had a rabies epidemic. It quickly moved from one animal group to another. It damn near wiped out the raccoons, skunks and possums. As the kill of these animals progressed varmints came in to clean up the dead. In just a few years the coyote population exploded. But nature had its way (as it always does). As they coyotes ate the diseased carrion they too became sick and died. The cycle ended when the animals all died.
For a year or so it was safe to put garbage out at night because the coons and skunks were gone. When the small animals died the big ones who ate them moved on. The coyotes left and folks started letting the cat out at night again.
The coyotes are back this year. I’ve heard them at night as they form packs to kill weak animals. They howl a horrible noise to scare their prey into confusion and fear. This time it’s different. Different animal groups are affected. It’s not rabies that’s the problem. The animals at risk don’t eat meat.
I didn’t think much of this until I happened to have a conversation with the fellow from Ecuador who was cleaning up my leaves. He says to me:
"No frutos secos esta anos."
I walked away thinking to myself, “No nuts?”
It took me a bit, but I finally got it. There are almost no acorns this year. No big healthy ones at all. The ones that you might find are the size of a pea. They contain no food, they’re just husks. And that's why the animals are stressed and the coyotes are back.
If you Google, “Missing acorns” you will see that there are chat rooms from garden types who have made note of the acorn issue. It seems to be contained in the North East this year (there is no actual data.) While looking around on the topic I found this interesting (and a bit eerie) article from 2008 in the Washington Post.
The same thing happened around the D.C. area 3 years ago. From the article:
The idea seemed too crazy to Rod Simmons, a measured, careful field botanist. Naturalists in Arlington County couldn't find any acorns. None. No hickory nuts, either. "We're talking zero. Not a single acorn. It's really bizarre."
A naturalist in Maryland found no acorns on an Audubon nature walk there. Ditto for Fairfax, Falls Church, Charles County, even as far away as Pennsylvania. There are no acorns falling from the majestic oaks in Arlington National Cemetery.
Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. This year, experts said, many animals will starve.
Some of the scientists made light of the 2008 development:
"What's there to worry about?" said Alan Whittemire, a botanist at the U.S. Arboretum. "If you're a squirrel, it's a big worry. But it's no problem for the oak tree.”
Sure enough the next year acorns came back to Virginia. But obviously three years later the same thing is happening in a different region. Back in 08 the thinking was “Why worry”. But the thinking was also, “If this happens again we have something to worry about.”
"But if this were to continue another two, three, four years, you might have to ask yourself what's going on, whether it is an indication of something bigger."
Well, it’s happened again. We shall if there is anything to this. I suspect this might get broader attention in the media. It’s too weird not to get noticed. Anyone else missing their acorns this year?
Now you can go back to the stupid markets.
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We had huge acorns in the upper midwest this year, too. I do remember at least one year we had a drought and the trees didn't produce any nuts. It's not a big deal. I raked up thousands of damn acorns the past two seasons. The squirrels were probably pissed that I took their food supply, but there are plenty of trees in wooded parks around here.
Lots of house pets getting lost to coyotes in these parts, too.
Financial stress and uncertainty Bruce.
Trees just aren't having kids like they used to.
how about Irene, the Oct blizzard, and summer storms knocking the fruit-bearing parts of the trees off. That should be enough stess.
Big ass acorns in the central midwest. Burr oaks seem to bigger than normal this year.
When I visited one area this fall, an acquitance was giving out burr oak acorns from on of the biggest, oldest trees in the state...likely a century tree.
I dunno what to tell you, Bruce.
But now, I will keep in touch with with eveyone I know to inquire.
Last year, a bumper crop of acorns. This year, almost none. Coyotes here roam quite a bit (Cincy area). We can hear when they are about as they bay along to the sounds of sirens from passing police/fire vehicles. Lost two cats to them last year...
Numerous acorns in south Texas! Even with our extended drought...lots of dead trees, but the remaining are dropping a bunch of nuts...squirrels are fat & happy!
Plenty in the 'burbs near DFW. Earlier this year, none of the strawberries we planted produced any normal fruit. While I sort of wondered if it was connected to possible rainout, there are plenty of mundane causes that can't be ruled out.
Somewhere in the confines of a very large tree in the Northeast U.S., there's a bit fat squirrel laughing his ass off.
Goldman Squirrel?
I will say that last year had a CRAZY amount of acorns. I have literally never seen so many acorns as there were last year in the Northeast. Obviously, I have no idea what that means.
Hmmm...last year in MA there was a bumper crop of acorns and I had never seen so many pinecones...then we proceeded to have the coldest snowiest winter in a generation...I am taking the optimistic route this year as we haven't seen that bumper crop and hope that we go back to a less snow year...as for reasons, the Mayans know
I am south of NEOSERF and the acorns are down in volumn, big time. In fact, I mentioned that to a friend last week. Last year, you would trip over the acorns, which were UBER STEROIDAL, in nature! And the snow was UBER STEROIDAL, too. Nothing but mild weather all November thanks to Al Gore and I am sure that Goldman Nut Sacks is behind the acorn draught... Wait, NO ACORN... must be Bush's fault!
I sorely missed the bees. In both countries I live in, Sweden and Italy, we used to have huge amounts of bees in the countryside. This summer there were none in either country.
Now that's something to be worried about. Bees die off, we're fucked.
Bees have been dying off in vast numbers for at least the last 5 years. Google 'Colony Collapse Disorder'.
b
raccoons, skunks, possums, and coyotes dying...
What about the RATS on Wall Street? When do they die?
When they are eaten out of necessity.
taste like chicken?
That would make a good episode of 'The Walking Dead'...
The circle of forest life is multi-annual, as the acorn harvest does change year after year. Last year was bountiful and the acorns would explode under the tires as we would drive thru the forest trails: CRACK!. Not this year. C'est la vie!
"the acorns would explode under the tires as we would drive thru the forest trails"
so it was YOU!
there are plenty of nuts in california, fruits too.
Some of them are actually vegetables, too. The others work for the government there...
California's like that cuz the US is like a gameboard, and way back yonder in the days of old, someone lifted up the northeast end, and everything that was loose rolled to LA .. and some of it crawled to SF and parts north of there.
It is interesting that you should mention this, Bruce. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, a relative of ours who lives just south of Boston happened to ask, "Do you have any acorns this year ? We have none." I thought it was a rather odd query, as in our coastal area in Southern New England -- less than two hours' drive away from our guests -- there is the usual surfeit of acorns. Curious indeed...
Natural pollenators dissappearing, but no need to worry, like China we can simply put all the unemployed to work as pollenators in the future - winning!
We had the March floods last year - all that water brought an abundance of acorns. We had to rake them up to mow the lawn.
This past summer everyone was joking about all the chipmonks and all the road kill. Plenty of deer this year for the freezer.
We have babv oaks all over our rural SE NE yard. The hurricane dropped this years crop early- too green. Its all the cycle of life. Yes this yr some deer will starve and there will be fewer chipmonks next summer. Its not a sign of the apocolypse.
There is an abundance of acorns for me. In fact, I have been here 15 years and the wife & I were recently commenting that this most we have seen and they are the largest....Piedmont area of SC.
same here around Augusta, Ga...very heavy acorn production...good pecan crop this year, too
<< Natural pollenators disappearing... >>
Possibly, yes. As our guests reside in the metropolis of Greater Boston, there is less undeveloped land, in contrast to our South County, Rhode Island. Perhaps there is something to be said for clean beaches and clear water, eh ? Indeed, when was the last edible steamer ( i.e., one which did not contain so many heavy metals that, instead of harvesting with a bull rake, one could emply a neodymium magnet ) taken from Boston harbor ?! I believe Mr. McKinley may have been President.
Clean water and beaches in RI? NUTS! (North County, RI) I don't eat out of Narragansett Bay, either. If it doesn't swim, it isn't eaten.
South County waterfront my good man, not Conimicut Beach ! Block Island Sound is as far as I'll disclose location !
Bruce,
About two years ago we got into pecan production having foreseen the already expensive price of various nuts that the Asians are willing to pay. One of the best decisions we made. Got physical assets of real value, good employees and like-minded neighbors? You fucking better.
I grew up in an old house surrounded by 100 year old pecan trees. I have fond memories of gathering nuts when I got home from school and smashing them with bricks to eat them. :-)
Pecans are wonderful!
Regards,
Cooter
Hey, if your name was Dee and you had a nut farm, you could call it Dee's Nutz.
From a plant scientist's perspective the most common cause is frost or adverse weather at a critical stage of developement. Sad for the squirrels but it won't be a long term problem. A new disease is less likely but miuch more devastating. Look around and see how many chestnuts there are. They are all gone everywhere. Global travel makes this a threat to everything including plants. Ecologies can take many years to readjust to new pathogens.
Variations can be even more localized. My apple trees produced a bumper crop this year. One of my neighbors (1/2 mile away and 200' elevation higher) had planned to take a branch with blossoms to use for pollinating his trees, but it got extremely windy and stormy before he had a chance. He ended up with no apples this year. Around the time of blossoming and pollinating, the right weather is crucial.
That said, I fully believe that we are messing with the ecosystem in numerous ways and will suffer the consequences, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
It is my understanding that acorns, what biologists call "mast", is a major food group for deer. In Texas it is legal to put out a bucket that scatters "deer corn" and gets deer in the habit of visiting the bucket. Deer tend to visit these feeders when the acorn crop is down and stay away from the feeders if the acorn crop is up. A rule of thumb is that a great crop of acorns will yield a great crop of deer when the main deer season begins in November. Does anyone know of a relationship between the supply of acorns and the size of racks? Presumably big nuts go with big racks and little/no nuts yield little/no racks.
All this talk of "up" and "down" indicates that this thread has been hijacked by "the markets".
It's simple, the more food sources with high protein content bucks have during antler development, the larger their racks will be... However, acorns generally start falling after bucks have rubbed off the velvet and are often rotten by the time they're growing antlers again. Acorns are spectacular sources for bucks in pre-rut food chow time where they're packing on the lbs. before being run ragged chasing hot does around and mounting as many as they can catch.
I'll posit that a good mast crop leads to a healthier deer population (and probably larger population, and thus possibility to see larger racked bucks), however I have reservations about there necessarily being any large correlation with inches of antler grown.
I think water availability during the period of antler growth would be a much bigger indicator (given that with rain, mother nature generally provides the items necessary for nourishment).
There is an outdoors radio show in Texas that I still listen to (Lonestar Outdoors Show w/Cable Smith). A couple of weeks ago they had a guy down in Texas kill a buck with a huge rack. It sounded like the guy was a property owner (rancher?) of some kind. Anyway, he was feeding the thing high protein stuff. The buck balooned in size and was a record in the area IIRC. I believe this is the interview ...
http://texasoutdoorsmedia.com/east-texas-buck-for-the-ages-whitetail-man...
... but I can't listen at work to confirm. It has been a while, so I hope I don't confuse the details.
So, I think this shows that high protein feeding can yeild bigger racks. They call it "management" in the interview.
Regards,
Cooter
Yes. This along with many, many other matters are all part of a comprehensive game management plan... There is an organization called quality deer management that has many good sources of information regarding deer management.
Generally speaking, these types of feeding programs are merely meant to supplement other, more abundant and naturally occuring food sources for the deer. However, this may change depending on the circumstances, such as growing breeder deer (of which semen is taken and sold to other landowners who then inseminate their does with it... or just purchase the offspring of the breeder and stock their own preserves).
This stuff has been around for decades and does yield results (YMMV obviously)... but is often lost on bubba... "if it's brown, it's down!"
3 contributors to inches of antler: age; genetics; and nutrition... generally peak years are 5.5-7.5... however, for most parts of the country, a buck has not a chance in hell of reaching that age.
PS, the proper nomenclature for shooting bambi is "harvesting".
I for one can appreciate a nice rack when I see one.
...Calling Dr. Pladizow..."
This... thread over.
What, no comment on the fact that China actually employs people as pollenators because they wiped out the natural pollenators long ago. Winning!
The owners want everyone to work for chinese wages, this is the end game, period.
how do you get up in the morning? ;-)
I guess that would depend on precisely what revenue-bearing assets I own on a given day. Think stiler, you'll figure it out.