Sunrise Guy
Addicted to ArboristSite
Austin has had very odd weather over the last few years, just like most of the world. In our case, we have had a long stretch of 100+ degree days, starting very early this year, and hardly any winter weather to speak of last year. The resulting climate has confused the heck out of both flora and fauna: Trees bud out 2-3 times where they used to only once a year, leaf drop is going on at all different times, insects are appearing at odd times of the year, and the squirrels---- Well, that's the focus of this "lesson."
Squirrels seem to thrive in this new climate, down here. They are observed doing their mating chases almost every single month and little squirrels are showing up year-round. "What are the ecological ramifications?" you may ask. Simply stated: Soon there is not going to be enough food to go around for all of the squirrels. Where my oaks used to drop a ton of acorns that hung around and needed to be cleaned up each year, lately that is not happening. The squirrels are eating them as fast as they-----
Today, the gf and I were swimming in the pool. It's right under my big Red and my medium-sized Live Oak. I saw strange little structures at the bottom of the pool. When I brought them up and checked them out under my stereoscope, they were seen to be immature acorn bits with tooth marks on them. So, now the squirrels are gnawing on these acorns as soon as they appear. What will now happen is that when the weather gets a bit cooler, and the food of the squirrels normally becomes, to a large extent, the mature acorns, those acorns will not be around, because the squirrels, in a desperate attempt to feed themselves right now, are removing those acorns as one of their future food sources.
There is more to the story. Here is the tree angle: Hungry squirrels are also stripping bark from my oaks and hacks. I've caught them in the act a few times. They are girdling 2-3," 6-8' sub-leaders, making it necessary for me to climb up and remove those branches from their parent branches and paint the cuts to keep oak wilt at bay. This is getting to be a big problem. I've been at my present home for about twenty years and have never seen this before. Sooner or later I am afraid that I'll miss a freshly-stripped branch and some nitidulid beetles will come to feast with oak wilt spores on their legs and bodies and my oaks will be in big trouble.
I have real misgivings about nailing some of the squirrels around here. I have to admit, though, that if it's between my oaks, where some are 300+ years old, and some squirrels that may live and reproduce for a few years, the squirrels are going down. Legally, I don't think I can pop squirrels with an air rifle because I'm in the city limits. I am really getting po'd about this problem, though.
I know that Nature will step in, in good time, and a squirrel die-off will come about as a result of the squirrel overpopulation. Before that, though, the starving squirrels will do major damage to my trees and the trees of others unless----
I used to be against deer culls when the whitetail population around here skyrocketed and deer were seen eating right up to the back porches of angry home owners. Now I totally understand the reason for culling. If it isn't done, animals ultimately starve.
How I am actually going to bring my squirrel population down remains to be seen.
Squirrels seem to thrive in this new climate, down here. They are observed doing their mating chases almost every single month and little squirrels are showing up year-round. "What are the ecological ramifications?" you may ask. Simply stated: Soon there is not going to be enough food to go around for all of the squirrels. Where my oaks used to drop a ton of acorns that hung around and needed to be cleaned up each year, lately that is not happening. The squirrels are eating them as fast as they-----
Today, the gf and I were swimming in the pool. It's right under my big Red and my medium-sized Live Oak. I saw strange little structures at the bottom of the pool. When I brought them up and checked them out under my stereoscope, they were seen to be immature acorn bits with tooth marks on them. So, now the squirrels are gnawing on these acorns as soon as they appear. What will now happen is that when the weather gets a bit cooler, and the food of the squirrels normally becomes, to a large extent, the mature acorns, those acorns will not be around, because the squirrels, in a desperate attempt to feed themselves right now, are removing those acorns as one of their future food sources.
There is more to the story. Here is the tree angle: Hungry squirrels are also stripping bark from my oaks and hacks. I've caught them in the act a few times. They are girdling 2-3," 6-8' sub-leaders, making it necessary for me to climb up and remove those branches from their parent branches and paint the cuts to keep oak wilt at bay. This is getting to be a big problem. I've been at my present home for about twenty years and have never seen this before. Sooner or later I am afraid that I'll miss a freshly-stripped branch and some nitidulid beetles will come to feast with oak wilt spores on their legs and bodies and my oaks will be in big trouble.
I have real misgivings about nailing some of the squirrels around here. I have to admit, though, that if it's between my oaks, where some are 300+ years old, and some squirrels that may live and reproduce for a few years, the squirrels are going down. Legally, I don't think I can pop squirrels with an air rifle because I'm in the city limits. I am really getting po'd about this problem, though.
I know that Nature will step in, in good time, and a squirrel die-off will come about as a result of the squirrel overpopulation. Before that, though, the starving squirrels will do major damage to my trees and the trees of others unless----
I used to be against deer culls when the whitetail population around here skyrocketed and deer were seen eating right up to the back porches of angry home owners. Now I totally understand the reason for culling. If it isn't done, animals ultimately starve.
How I am actually going to bring my squirrel population down remains to be seen.
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