It's a conspiracy...

Bullwinkle may be in on it.

They're mad because I put metal sheathing around the area where they were chewing on my deck!! little ba**t***s!

They do that to our backyard sugar maple but in the early spring. My guess is that they are nipping off the ends to get to the acorns - collateral damage, ya know. Makes a mess, huh?

/tricia

Why don't they do that on the trees across the street....or eat the acorns on the ground?
I still think it's a personal vendetta!!!

It probably is, Linda. If you would put out peanuts & sunflower seeds for them, they might leave your tree alone.

P.S. The acorns that have dropped are already too dry for the squirrels - not enough flavor.

As always helpful...

I forget the name of your dog, Linda, but can't he chase your squirrels away for you? Our new neighbors have a Great Dane, and squirrels don't come anywhere close any more. At first I was annoyed by the occasional loud barking, but if he is keeping squirrels away, I'm okay with it.

The only pest I have now is yellow jackets, which have been building a lot of nests on the SE eaves of the house. They seemed to do this while we were in Texas, but I have now sprayed most of them so that I would not walk outside from the kitchen into a swarm of them. They also built nests inside the housing for the water heater. I made sure not to spray anywhere near any of the herbs that I am growing, and so I had to move the parsley, dill, and cilantro, but now I am afraid that our lizards may eat some of the poisoned wasps. I think the lizards should have plenty of live food to eat, however, and Kevin said they would not eat dead bugs. I've been seeing lizards quite frequently lately, and they even climb into my herb pots to catch bugs for me.

Lars

Squirrels are not at all afraid of Latte....they dance 2 feet in front of her waving their tails.
Then climb to the top of the oak to bite of more branches.

This tree is not "new"....it's 40 years old, we planted it as a 6 foot sapling in 72. Never before did the squirrels do this....why now??

They do that all the time to my mother's pin oak trees, but not the other oak trees. They do seem to nip off the new growth to get at the acorns. I have no idea why they have suddenly started to do this to your tree. Maybe some new evil squirrels moved into the neighborhood. Maybe Boris and Natasha Squirrel.

I think you need a few of these bad boys.

Here is a link that might be useful: Decoys.

Click the link

Here is a link that might be useful: A modest proposal

Maybe if I could get it high enough into the tree the owl would work....
I can eat squid, raw oysters and clams, mussels, liver...even lobster liver...salmon roe and shad roe, dear, lamb, rabbit etc....but I don't do rodents....

I think I have seen this in my neighborhood too. I definitely remember all the bits of leaves and small branches laying around one day - looked like a mini tornado confined to one yard had hit. We have lots of squirrels. And the little buggers bury the pecans everywhere = lots of pecan seedlings springing up.....bah!

Teresa

Amazingly....they appear to have stopped nipping off the ends of the branches.....nothing new on the ground for about 4 days...
So what ever zany frenzy made them do it....has stopped....who knows??

Amazingly....they appear to have stopped nipping off the ends of the branches.....nothing new on the ground for about 4 days...
So what ever zany frenzy made them do it....has stopped....who knows??

I have the same problem....the squirrels descended on my oak tree and left

it almost bear.....no leaves this year to rake! The oak tree across the street

was not affected.....my dog barks at the window,,,,,,doesn't faze them at all!

I haven't seen them in a few days.....must have found a new tree. One day

there were about a dozen in the tree.....it was a real feeding frenzy and

remains a mystery to me. Will talk with an arborist.

christine

Interesting!! In 4 years I have found why they do that! They are building a nest! They snip a branch to take to build the nest, drop it on the way to the nest or it falls while they are trying to weave it in, and instead of going to the ground to pick it up, they snip a new branch. I watched one doing it last spring.
This spring it's not the oak but the maple over the deck.
When the nest is built to their liking, they stop snipping twigs.

The squirrel is after the acorns. They nip off the small tigs with leaves to get the acorns. Not a bad way to have your tree trimmed. I've noticed this activity for a few years now and it doesn't seem to effect the tree. Plus there are less leaves to rake up. Those squirrels are worth the trouble we watch them all winter as they go after the peanuts we put out. They will work all day to get to the last peanut while the crows are in a tree waiting for the squirrel to bury the peanut and then go after it. The dumb squirrels just keep going not even aware of the crows. I'm come to the conclusion that the crow is much smarter than the squirrels.

That happened to my tree 6 years ago. They actually changed the growth pattern on it. They didn't build a nest though? It is a large oak and seems to be recovering. Not so much the first two years afterwards.

6 or 7 years ago we had flocks if robins. They are big worm and ground bug eaters.i have only seen 1 this year and it disapeared. I amigin it starved to death . I love in the woods and 95% of the birds are gone. I have been feeding them for years. I o ly have chakadee's the small sparrows. When is tbe last time you saw a seagulls haning around a fast food place. Any piggons? Hpw about ducks. Are booming swand populations went from 8 pairs to 1 pair and a loner in 2 years. WAKE UP!!!!!!

HU bunch of numbers, I am having a hard time understanding why you signed up only to post this misspelled and hard to read diatribe on a thread that has had no activity for 3 years! First oaks.......and many other tree species........are wind pollinated. The presence, or lack, of acorns has nothing to do with any perceived decline in insects! And there is no lack of birds in my garden and the surrounding woods - finches, woodpeckers and sapsuckers, robins, chickadees, hummingbirds, blue jays, flocks of starlings, crows, eagles....even owls. The beach is only a block away and at low tide the flats and sandbars are covered with herons, gulls and cormorants. Local parks are plagued by Canadian geese. Pigeons perch on phone wires and businesses put up defensive measures to keep them from roosting in the eaves and soiling walks and entryways. Birds........and their food sources........are everywhere.

Let's not get too carried away!!

Lol, this happens once/twice a week. It is so easy to sign up here, probably takes a minute, that internet 'loon' surfers stumble across a posting and go bananas. (I often get similar typos if I don't check and re-read a post)

I'm confused... Are we experiencing an insect apocalypse or a bird apocalypse? Wait, it's both? Dear heavens, this is clearly the result of those violent, destructive squirrels. A squirrel conspiracy... which started with lindac's oak tree... back in 2012.