This acorn cap makes me think of Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from the Ice Age films, and I can picture him tugging on the cap in an attempt to get to the acorn out of the snow and ice.
Acorn Cap
Picture of the Day for August 20, 2020
The new crop of acorns have been falling and some of them have been hitting the metal roof making a loud racket. So now the squirrels eat some and can bury the rest of them all over my lawn.
Acorns Falling
Picture of the Day for August 31, 2018
It appears that the oak trees may be masting this year, meaning they are dropping a lot of acorns. At least it felt like I was walking on a bunch of marbles on my path through the woods today. Weather conditions, such as spring frost, summer droughts and fall rains, play a big part on when oak trees produce a lot of acorn. The extra acorns means there might be some acorns not eaten and can germinate into trees as only about 1 in 10,000 becomes a tree. But the downfall of the extra acorns can also mean a surge in populations of rodents, small mammals and deer, which in turn can lead to an increase in ticks causing a spike in Lyme disease the two years following a good acorn crop.
Extra Acorns
Picture of the Day for January 27, 2014
Hopefully the chipmunk didn’t eat all the acorns he found this fall and stored a lot for this long, cold winter. Chipmunks construct expansive burrows with chambers for the food storage, sleeping quarters and refuse tunnels. During the winter, the chipmunk may enter long periods of decreased physiological activity, but does not truly hibernate and instead of storing fat, they periodically dip into their cache of nuts and seeds throughout the winter.
Chipmunk Eating an Acorn
Picture of the Day for February 13, 2013
On February 13, 2000, the last original “Peanuts” comic strip appeared in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz died. The comic strip, written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, but re-runs continue on.
And while this acorn isn’t a ‘peanut’, it is a nut that squirrels like but this acorn might need some digging out from the ice and then the squirrel might only find the acorn cap (or cupule) and no nut!
Frozen Acorn
