[birding] acorns and oak mast years

[Dave Mellinger]

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joel Geier" <joel.geier at peak.org>
> To: <lisaaves at peak.org>
> Cc: <list at midvalleybirding.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 8:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [birding] Acorn frenzy & more Lewis's Woodpeckers
>>
>> There seems to be a good crop of acorns again this year! Not quite as
>> big as the incredible mast crop a couple of years ago (or was it last
>> year?), but Coffin Butte has quite a few.

Last year was had zero acorns around our place (Witham Hill area), but I think two years ago there was an incredible crop.  This year's production seems to be somewhere in between.

I have heard that oak trees in an area all produce bumper crops the same year.  (I'd guess this is a predator-saturation strategy: There are too many acorns for squirrels, jays, Acorn Woodpeckers, etc. to eat them all, so some survive to become oak trees.)  How big is the area in which the trees all mast at once?  Do all oaks in Corvallis do it the same year?  all oaks in the Willamette Valley?  all oaks in the Pacific Northwest?  What factors induce a mast year -- certain combinations of rainfall, temperature, and other factors?


>> The acorns have been sitting on
>> my desk for a few days, and so far I've found 3 acorn grubs that bored
>> their way out and started crawling around my desk.

When I was a kid, I gathered a shopping bag (a paper bag, so it was large) full of acorns for use in acorn fights with other kids.  I left it in my bedroom.  A day or so later there were scores, maybe hundreds of acorn grubs crawling across the carpet, under the bookshelves, into my clothes -- everywhere.  I think the warmth must bring them out.  The high yuck factor was pretty high for me at the time.


>> Happy birding,
>> Joel

You too,
Dave