Wow, that is a scary article. Those poor, hungry flying squirrels!

I wonder how often this has happened before. I mean, not a big deal for long-lived species like the trees, but I wonder what kind of lasting effects this might have on the little short-lived critters. If one generation doesn't happen because they are starving and dying off, what does happen?
I don't think we'll see extinctions unless this goes on for a few more years, but still, scary.

My parents had this happen last year on their land; this year all the trees went nuts (HA), to the point that they had to cut down a persimmon tree to prevent their horses from gorging themselves and being poisoned. The oaks at my husband's parents' house are not putting out acorns this year, but the black walnut and pecan trees around here were crazy as usual.

Didn't Obama have something to do with Acorns? Is it too soon to start blaming the new president? I don't know about you, but I'm going to guard my nuts.

I don't think it's anything to freak out about. If you've ever lived where there are oak trees, you've certainly noticed how much years vary. There are mast years where you can't walk 10 steps without being clocked by falling acorns, and then quiet years where there are very few. The theory in the article that the unusually rainy spring and summer washed a lot of pollen away sounds totally plausible to me.

What, is there an Oak Nazi? "NO ACORNS FOR YOU"

While yes, on the surface, this seems alarming, one year does not make a trend. As the article said, last year was a bumper crop, and lots of squirrel boinking went on as a result. Looks like it rained a lot when they were supposed to be pollinating, and in spite of the one expert poopooing that as impossible, I'm betting that that's the culprit. Without a long term acorn counting study correlating weather patterns, any opinion is just that: guesswork.

Hell, next year there'll prolly be acorns coming out of everyone's ass.

ColdChef, you need to embalm your nuts for posterity.

On the plus side, next year this will be an overriding story arc on Doctor Who.

Heh, psyche! Miko.

ColdChef, you need to embalm your nuts for posterity.

[SINGING]

There is a balm
On ColdChef's nuts,
To soothe the tender nards...

Yeah, we have a HUGE oak in our front yard, and the acorn crop varies wildly from year to year. Some years walking in our front yard is like walking on marbles (I have literally landed on my ass a few times), but then some years we get zero acorns at all.

There are tons of acorns in Vermont this year. I just moved to a place this Summer that's in a stand of oak trees and it took me a while to get used to the BANG .... BANG .... BANG noises that were all the acorns falling off the trees and on to my roof.

Note to self: I do not want acorns to come out of my ass.

AIAO.

it took me a while to get used to the BANG .... BANG .... BANG

I once had an extended housesitting gig in Michigan. The house had an awesome outdoor deck under the shade of some [oak] trees. We used to hang out there all the time, drinking and smoking and playing cards and scrabble. It was lovely until the acorns started to fall. Every now and then a breeze would come through and dislodge a couple dozen, which would come raining down around us, fall in our drinks, etc. All of us eventually got pocked by acorns, and those suckers hurtwhen they hit you on the head from 25 feet up.

They made this characteristic tearing sound as they dropped through the leaves on their way down, like the whine of artillery being launched. To this day when I hear something falling through tree leaves like that I totally flinch.

Forget the squirrels; the problem will be the bears. On lean mast years they need to come way down out of the woods and eat your picnic basket, trash, birdfeeder, small dog and elderly relatives.

Isn't that spelled "pic-a-nic basket" in this context,mgl?

This is a great thread. We had plenty of acorns in Maine this fall, and I got accustomed to the BANG of an acorn on the roof or deck, as well as the occasional near miss of a homicidal acorn aiming for my BRAINSSSSSS. Lots of things make me worry about climate change, but hungry squirrels do not. I fully expect to see pictures of them with signs saying "Will work for acorns"

Acorn check-in: The valley oaks around here are having no problems producing. In fact, I just walked across campus, and I am now picking acorn bits out of the soles of my shoes.

Geezom, this story is getting an insane amount of traction in the news today. I think I've heard about twice on NPR, and there was something in the Times or some other online news site I look at. Must be a super slow news day after the holiday weekend. Most actual botanists seem extremely 'meh' about this, but they're interviewing a lot of hyped-up people, like the naturalist I just heard who's worried about feeding Mr. Flying Squirrel at her nature center. I feel a little bad for RObert Seigel, asking about whether the poor squirrels are going to go hungry.

Maybe it's a sign of our increasing detachment from the natural world. Hearing these stories, you'd never realize that nature is full of boom and bust cycles, population explosions and collapses, and that yeah, in some years, a lot of squirrels die and in some years too many squirrels get born...and so on and so on. It happens...dynamic equilibrium!