What is that thing...?

[Twanger]

Found this in the woods in late December. I recognized it right away because my stepdaughter brought one home when she was in school. Anybody know what it is? Bonus points for identifying the acorn type.

[freedomrules3]

i'm guessing a water oak... if its the size that i think it is. i have no idea exactly what the other item is.i'll keep looking before i guess it.

[ncboman]

I know both but I'm not tellin yet. ;D

[Twanger]

It's about the size of a quarter... I should have put one in for scale.
I'll wait on revealing the answer for a while... but I think you're right on the acorn. Water, or I think Bowman calls 'em chestnut oak acorns. Some of them were almost closed at the end. This one was more open than the others. Bowman also said that deer love 'em...good to know.

[Twanger]

Oops... we double posted... maybe I should have waited on the acorn answer. If I got it right. There's still that other thing... a pretty rare find I'd guess. Maybe could find more of 'em if I was specifically looking... just kinda lucked onto it.

[ncboman]

well, the acorn isn't from a chestnut oak.

These are chestnut oak acorns.






I took these pics in Ohio this past fall where I found a hillside grove of em.

[freedomrules3]

chestnut and water oaks arent the same either . water oaks are small like 1/2 inch or so . its not a water oak either. chinkapins are darker and smaller than a quarter, whites are ussually bigger and lighter, burr oaks are ussually very large , valley oaks have oblong acorns like the chestnuts. so basically that leaves pin oaks and red oaks. pin oaks i believ have a husk all around the seed, my new guess is that is a simple red oak acorn.

[ncboman]

wrong again. ;D

Red oak acorns are small acorns.

keep tryin.

[freedomrules3]

i've seen bigger reds, but you definitely are the expert here. maybe the reds i thought were reds are these. i'm about outta oaks . without googling it i give

[ncboman]

;D

google away.

It'll stick in your memory better if you find it for yourself.

Oaks are divided into two major types, black oaks and white oaks. Red oaks are in the black oak category and generally are small and tart tasting, bearing every other year (bi-anual). White oaks are generally larger and sweet, bearing every year usually. (anual)

Keep tryin, I'm not givin it away yet. ;D

[davep]

Owl pellet.They yack up the bones,hair,etc.Find them every now and then.
Other is a nut. ;D

[Twanger]

davep - Ding-ding. We have a winner. Yep, it's an owl pellet. The owl eats the critter it catches and digests it. The undigestable bits clump up into a ball, and the owl then barfs it back up as a pellet. Usually you can take one of these things, tear it apart, and assemble the complete skeleton of the unfortunate critter that the owl ate. My stepdaughter did just this as a middle-school science project.

OK... so the easy one has me stumped. I thought it was a chestnut oak acorn.

[Twanger]

Bowman - is it a Sawtooth oak acorn?
It doesn't seem like a direct hit, but could be. The cap on the sawtooth seemed a little more 'furry'.
Like this...

[tailnbone]

Looks like a laurel oak acorn.

[freedomrules3]

i dont think its a sawtooth, i didnt mention them because i was pretty darn sure it wasnt, i may be wrong though. the acorn itself just isnt pretty enough to be a sawtooth from the ones i have seen. the sawtooth does cover a good portion of the acorn ,but that cap looked too tight to be one, they remain sort of hairy looking. i know a little about most of the oaks but the sawtooth and some of the other 600 varieties , but it sure got me stumped. i havent put the googleman to it yet . laurel may be right , but i think they are darker, nearly black... hell if i know