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December 2nd, 2011 by Virginia Barlow Notes from the Editor

The Acorn Fairy

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Last night a friend from the next town over asked me whether I’d noticed an abundance of oak seedlings this fall. “Noticed?” Hell, I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out how oak seedlings could suddenly be popping up in droves where they never had been before. And so I was relieved to learn that I’m not the only puzzled bushwhacker around.

I saw the first oak seedling on our land four years ago, having seen zero in the previous 18 years of our ownership. Last year I noticed another one, and this year I’ve seen about 50 here and many more in the neighborhood. Their red leaves, two or four deep, are still hanging on and they’ve stood out, maybe more than usual in the warm, more or less snowless November we had. Being southern trees “they haven’t yet perfected the deciduous habit,” a phrase I read way back that sticks in my mind – unlike the name of its author.

Our neighborhood is not entirely oakless, but it’s close. Two high, rocky sidehills a couple of miles to the west of us each have a small patch of mature red oaks; their broad, brown-leaved crowns are visible from a long distance.

In the fall, blue jays eat and cache acorns and they are known to carry them in an expandable esophagus for 2.5 miles. The energy obtained from an acorn snack is used to transport the next nut – so both tree and bird win. Interestingly, jays can’t live on acorns alone as the high tannin content interferes with protein digestion. An acorn diet supplemented with acorn weevils, on the other hand, will sustain a jay and it’s been suggested that the weevils, usually considered to be bad for oaks, may instead benefit these trees because they make the acorns more palatable to jays, and not all acorns are infested. Jays are kind enough to bury the seeds, as well as to disperse them widely.

Red squirrels and many other animals are fond of acorns but none of them carry them any distance from the parent tree. Still, if it’s blue jays who are responsible for peppering the woods around here with little oaks, why did they wait until 2010? Someone’s going to say “global warming,” and, yes, I’m a believer, but, in the case of oaks, I’m a skeptic. Until someone has a better explanation,  I’m sticking with the acorn fairy.

by Virginia Barlow

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Discussion *

“
Dec 06, 2011

My daughter, who is four, taught me this.  She learned it from the Kratt Brothers, a great resource to teach kids about nature and animals.  The episode was called “Blue and Gray”

http://pbskids.org/go/video/?category=Wild Kratts&pid=xAymMSJMg9LA4S_9EuLa2N0nBOS51fJd

Chris
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Dec 05, 2011

Hi Ginny,
Last year was a record for acorn production here in the NE - about 250 lbs/tree compared to an average 25-30 lbs. This year we have just about 0 here in our yard - a record low. We’re seeing a lot of oak seedlings though!

Here’s a nice article in the Times about the oaks. The bad news is that scientists are predicting a record year for Lyme’s disease because of this year’s acorn dearth!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/nyregion/boom-and-bust-in-acorns-will-affect-many-creatures-including-humans.html?_r=4&src=tp&smid=fb-share&mid=54421

Michelle Wiggins
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Dec 04, 2011

As a forester and practicing wildlife biologist and avid woodsman, I have known that jays, as well as squirrels, chipmunks, and others, cache acorns. However, it was not until attending some oak-specific silvicultural training (SILVAH-Oak) that I learned jays have a propensity for caching acorns in canopy gaps, so they’re more likely to remain viable if and when they germinate. Unlike chipmunks, for example, who cache in groups (horde-caching), in which a lower proportion of acorns germinate and even fewer survive if the cache is in insufficient sunlight.

justin vreeland
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Dec 02, 2011

Could be worse! I feel very fortunate that my central NH Tree Farm is dominated by red oak - it is the win-win tree for timber and wildlife with excellent sawlog value, excellent firewood qualities useful in thinning stands for home utilization and also periodic mast crops which seem to feed all manner of rodents, mammals and birds. 

I say “Hooray” for the Oak Fairy. With a little more aggressive thinning I’d hope for more oak seed regeneration in the sun-dappled openings of my small woodlot. I fear the Beech Fairy or Hemlock Fairy or Red Maple Fairy is at work in my woods and I congratulate you for attracting a more benevolent wee folk. We don’t have any sugar maple fairies anymore where I own property - too acidic and dry.

dave anderson
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Dec 02, 2011

On my many walks/hikes over the years, throug the forest of middle Tennessee, some years there are an abundunce of squirres, rabbits, and the plants they feed on.  Some years, very scarce.  A forest ranger told us recently, that is the way mother nature controls the population of her animals.  Fat years and lean years. Some oak trees do not bare acorns every year.  Last year 2010 was the first time in 38 years that the oaks on my two acres did have acorns on them.  I was also told that oaks do not bare fruit until they are 50 years old. I do not think that is entirely true of all oak trees, because I do have some oak trees that did bare in 2010, that are not more than 20 years old.  Oaks are slow growing trees, and I suppose there is a maturity process there. Just mostly my opinion.

Bill Davis

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