I'd read about the shortage, actually, the dearth, of acorns, thought it strange and really didn't think about the consequences. Every winter I feed the birds and the squirrels just hang out under the feeder with the birds and eat the castoffs. Often mingling with the ground feeding birds like Morning Doves and Juncos. I put out apples and peanuts for the squirrels several times a week figuring they might not have enough stored to survive. Now I'm worried that I'm creating a kill zone!
My friend's daughter, (Rachel,) saw a squirrel on the window ledge eating a bird! There's video, but I cannot figure out a way to get it out of facebook and into here so it's just the screen shot above. (Watching all the action was a cat who really wanted to eat both of them!)
Now I Googled squirrels eating birds and it does happen. As per Wikipedia "Squirrels' diet consists primarily of a wide variety of plant food, including nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, fungi and green vegetation. However some squirrels also consume meat, especially when faced with hunger. [2] Squirrels have been known to eat insect, eggs, small birds, snakes and rodents." The squirrel most often carnivorous is the thirteen-lined ground squirrel.
In some urban areas of the states, deer are invading towns and the experts are blaming the acorn shortage. More and more deer are coming into towns, looking for food. The normally shy creatures are hungry.
Scientists say that these things are cyclical and hopefully next year will be normal or a bumper crop. One can only hope that acorns and therefore oak trees, aren't going the way of the honey bee!
