Critter Geek

Observers are wondering where the acorns are in parts of Northern Virginia, according to this Washington Post article, Acorn Watchers Wonder What Happened to Crop:

Whatever the reason for no acorns, foresters and botanists are paying attention.

But they say they’re not worried yet. “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. They live a long time. They’ll produce acorns again when they’re ready to.”

White oaks can live as long as 300 years. Faster-growing red oaks can reach 200. And it takes only one acorn to make a tree, he said, which in an urban area with little open space is often more than enough.

“This is probably just a low year, a biological event, and it’ll go away,” Zimmer said. “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.”

Rumors abound about hungry squirrels. For lots of discussion about the topic, see the comments thread on this Boing Boing post, Bizarre absence of acorns in parts of the United States, where I first heard about this.