Early mast crop this year?

[chain]

Don't know what you foresters are seeing but squirrels have begun cutting native pecan today. Earliest I ever saw here. Heavy soft mast in shrubs, cedars, and wild grapevines, birds eating-up red-ripe Autumn-olive berries. Not so good in blackberry, elderberry, obviously drought affected.

The only thing I see that is late this year are my yard Bluebirds, fledglings not quite ready to make the big plunge out of the box.

Question is, if hard mast comes off extra early, could this have a detrimental effect in late winter foods for wildlife?

[beenthere]

Here the squirrels are taking green hickory nuts from the tree and cutting branch tips to get at the oak acorns.

[WDH]

It may be that they are having to do it because of lack of other food because of the effects of the drought on their normal food supply this time of year.

[Chuck White]

I noticed a couple of days ago that there are lots of Walnuts on the tree that started producing last year.

Last year we got about 1½ bushels of nuts and it looks like there are more than that now!

[WDH]

Many of the hickory nuts on my trees have aborted due to the drought.