The huge Oak tree that guards my house (which Jeff Norman said was a probably a hybrid between Coast and Canyon) is telling me something that I cannot quite understand. She has never spoken to me in this manner before, but is doing so loudly now. Usually, she speaks softly and gently. This has been loud with bings and bangs on my metal roof and suggestions I wear a hat when passing beneath her. Is she telling me that we are in for a wet winter? Or is she telling me she is threatened?
Date: June 5, 2026 District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and…
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Given that I found tons of maple seeds had flown their way to my deck, I’m guessing they are predicting a wet winter…sigh…there goes Regent’s.
Beautiful note and photos!
I would agree with the wet weather communication. Possibly snow as well this winter? Great to learn the lost language of trees. They have much to share with us if we slow down enough to listen.
I've been seeing (and hearing) lots of acorns too
Acorn abundance is evidence of past wet winter(s)
The big acorn drop happened last year in my Carmel Woods garden.
Perhaps a bumper crop of acorns!
Sounds like a mast year. Oaks are known to have a wide range of fruiting/nut production. High productivity usually follows after a favorable warm and dry spring. Prepare for a boom in squirrel and rodents in response to the abundant food!
I hear this is an evolutionary method for ensuring some acorns, and therefore, future oaks, will come out of a year. How it works is there are many lean years, which discourages all the "predators" of the acorns from bothering to come around, and then many of the oaks in the same area will sort of flood the market so that no matter how many deer, squirrels, birds and other creatures eat the acorns, there will still be some left. I'm probably not explaining this terribly well.
As good an interpretation of observation as any, including evolutionary biologists. Please report to next years populations of jays and mockingbirds as well!
Profit-taking by sharing acorns with other dispersal agents like Homo sapiens ain't all bad. Acorn planting beats jacking up resource consumption and well-intentioned container-growing! Garden or wildland, one gets better oaks at far less cost to Nature and humans by seeding than fussing around with traditional gardening.
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