There's an acorn shortage across the eastern US:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112902045.html

I'd been wondering why I kept seeing young squirrels everywhere when it wasn't spring. Turns out they're just scrawny.

I got to talking about this when I was buying peanuts for the squirrels. The cashier at my grocery store says it's "the natural order of things." As usual, I couldn't think of anything to say until it was too late.

The thing is, it may not be the natural order of things at all. Acorn production goes in cycles, yes, but this year's massive shortage is unusual and may be the result of climate change.

And even if it IS the natural order of things, so what? Screw the natural order. The natural order sucks. Nobody ever cares about the natural order of things until someone suggests we do something helpful. Until then it's "Screw the environment! Mess with it all you want!"

[edited for verbosity]

Rambling, sorry. The point is, it's not going to kill anybody to put out a few peanuts.


[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited December 01, 2008).]

There’s been an oak tree strike,
production’s on the putz.
Starving squirrels are everywhere
shivering on their butts.
But a hero’s raised her banner,
a soul with heart and guts.
there’s one thing squirrels can count on:
Rose’s nuts.

LOL – Sorry, dear heart. You’re a good person. Never change.

I guess we have enough alternate food sources, because our backyard squirrels are still as fat as ever. One sits it the crook of our tree, just behind our back doors. Give him a little fiddle and he’d look just like Nero, watching over his domain.

Of course, I'm a practical joker. Put out a little crunchy peanut butter. I have this image of their little tongues sticking to the roofs of their mouths.

And I didn't give them any milk to wash it down.

Sorry for all the typos - it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on a computer screen.



[This message has been edited by Jerry Glenn Hartwig (edited December 01, 2008).]

No, it won't hurt to put out peanuts, peanut butter, ear corn, sunflower seed, oats, dry dog food, or any kind of nut; problem is it probably won't help much, either.

The upside of putting out food is that birds will benefit too.(unless you draw those pesky house sparrows, ughh)

The downside is so will the racoons, possums, mice and rats. It impossible to monitor who gets the stuff, but you obviously love squirrels, so go for it Rose. I'm sure you'll save a few this winter by putting out food for them.

Good luck!
Donna

I'm sure the "natural order of things" person wouldn't hesitate to a fly swatter if the "natural order of things" led to a bumper crop of flies like we've had in California this past summer.

OTOH, we also had possibly the best tasting local fruit I've ever had.

We've also got lots of squirrels and no shortage of acorns. Though unfortunately the apricot tree finally died after a long and extremely productive life.

Rose

On a serious note: once you start putting out a food supply, you need to keep it up on a regular basis. The animals will forsake other less productive food sources to come to the spot you put out food.

We used to be avid bird feeders. Which, of course, made us kestrel, squirrel and cat feeders also *grin*. It was interesting, but finally became too much. The birds came back for a long time after we started cutting down on how much we put out. We finally stopped completely.

Our neighbors thanked us profusely.

Personally, I pretty much loathe the natural order of things.

Our squirrels will never go hungry. Not only do they eat a variety of nuts and such they dig up (yesterday, I saw one hauling off a pine cone half its size), but they eat the bird food, and--they are the only squirrels anyone has heard of who eat young canna shoots. When the cannas begin to sprout in the spring, we have to cover them with wire cages until they are strong enough to be squirrel-proof.

Effing American grey squirrels.
We call them tree rats, and shoot them when we can.
They've pretty well driven out our beautiful native red squirrels.
However, our scientists have recently come up with a way of diminishing their numbers by reducing their sex drive.
Over-sexed and over here.

Whenever I fly into London, David, I always carry at least one pair of lively grey squirrels in my jacket pockets, and let them loose as soon as I hit Hyde Park. They love the well tended trees, and are particularly fond of your sausages, since they consist entirely of cereal and suet.

[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited December 01, 2008).]

Wow, what a lively thread. I think squirrels are adorable. But I don't feed them. I already spend too much on cat food as it is.

Jerry is right--it's a commitment. I have seen over two dozen species of birds in our yard since we've lived here. In addition to having many bird feeders of different types, there is a lot of natural bird food in our yard and many places to hide and nest. We also have bird houses and nesting bottles. Raccoons nest here, also, and rabbits, from time to time, and a variety of reptiles hang out here.

Our community is being destroyed by development, so more and more non-humans are probably going to find our wooded yard, which isn't nearly so wooded since Katrina. I hate to think of all the homes that have been destroyed so that we can have one more cell phone store and one more bank.