Tweeters,

On the Washington Native Plant Society listserv, there have been reports of
widespread acorn crop failures this year in Oregon white oak (Quercus
garryana), Washington's only native oak. E.g., the crop in the Olympia area
was reported to be a 100% failure, and even in the Columbia Gorge, where a
lot of acorns were produced, nearly all were attacked by insect pests
(weevils).

This could have a lot to do with why Western Scrub-Jays are popping up this
fall in far more out-of-the-way places than usual. Scrub-Jays are known to
be
strongly dependent on acorns as a food source in fall, and it seems likely
that in years with poor acorn crops, they disperse much more widely.

Perhaps someone would like to follow up on this, by looking in more detail
at the status of acorn crops this year and trying to relate it to
extralimital
sightings of Western Scrub-Jays.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net