I take back what I said about this being a “light” acorn year. When we didn’t see a single shell or underdeveloped acorn on our sidewalk during the entire month of July, I assumed we were in the clear. Now they are falling like rain thanks to the squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons and birds that are in the trees 24/7. They eat them, collect them and intermittently bounce them off the roof of our house which is especially charming at 3 o’clock in the morning. We’ve been sleeping with our heads tightly sandwiched between pillows to try to block what sounds like someone throwing rocks at our roof from the sky.
It all looks rather fall-like, doesn’t it?
Right now one does not dare walk outside barefoot to get the mail, and mowing becomes a very noisy affair as the nut casings get sucked toward the mower blade and clank around before being spat out again.
When the acorns weren’t quite “ripe” yet, the early-arriving grackles were eating everything in sight and emptying the bird baths within hours of refilling. I hoped they’d become less of a problem now that the acorns are ready, but instead we just ended up with an even bigger flock of the pests.
I stopped refilling the feeders (definitely no more peanuts!) except for tossing some millet on the platform feeders for the finches and Mourning Doves. The grackles are unamused by millet.
The woodpeckers and nuthatches that regularly visit my feeders seem a little confused when they land and there’s no suet, peanuts or sunflowers for them to eat.
Like me they’ll just have to wait it out!