The Acorn Thieves and the Song of Trees

 

Magnolia Warbler Feigning Injury, 9/23/12

Two weeks ago, I was walking through the Nature Preserve, lost in thought when I noticed something moving on the path in front of me a couple feet.  Then it stopped and basically posed.  When I moved closer. it somehow managed to fly away.  Cute.

 

It reminded me to keep looking around.  And, I suppose, the bird reminded me to keep listening too.  There was a noise behind me on the path.  I was startled when I turn around because there was nothing there.  Then I heard other the noise again, but this time on the ground off the path.  Nothing there.

 

Acorns!

Great White Oak





So, that explained the little thumping noises I had been so nervous about.  The oaks were sharing their bumper crop of acorns with anyone who cared to pick them up.

And who better to pick them but squirrels!

The oaks know this.  They count on the squirrels to eat a lot of acorns, but also to bury a lot of them in the ground.  And eventually, to find most of the season's acorns, but also to forget where some few of them were hidden. 

Acorn Thief at Work

She likes her Work.

 

And this is why the oaks celebrate at the end of the summer.  They have prepared the way for a new generation of oaks and by this, they have played out the one part of their destiny that they can understand. 

One can hear them singing in the wind. 

The younger trees sway to the music of the wind in a dance of youth.  

The older trees watch approvingly.