Pulaski

We have a heavy crop of persimmons. There are loads fallen on the ground and the area is best avoided because of the number of wasps that fruit has attracted.

Lion in Winter

Black walnuts. Loads of them off trees in the alley behind our building. The squirrels are gobbling them up, no idea if they are also good for humans.

SultanOfSwing

Our yard is full of those. The squirrels are leaving them all over the deck as well. Not sure if they are edible or not, most of the time I just run over them with the lawnmower.

We don't even have any Black Walnut trees in our yard, they're all in the empty lot behind our house that will never be developed.

Lion in Winter

Apparently you can eat them.

https://nuts.com/nuts/walnuts/black....lack_MB_Phrase

But getting them before the squirrels do would be a bit of a challenge.

Pulaski

The nuts are edible, and very good, BUT if the squirrels have started one and then dropped it, it is likely that the nut is bad or has a maggot in it.

If you walk under any of our nut trees or oaks you will find a mix of chewed up bits and acorns and nuts that have been partially chewed and rejected.

You can usually tell when nuts are ripe because the outer husk either drops away on its own, or peels away very easily - a nut firm inside its husk is either bad or not yet ripe.

SultanOfSwing

Maybe I should run the squirrels over with the lawnmower instead

All the ones I see lying in the yard look like they've been there for a while, so I'm not even going to try

Lion in Winter

I'm not sure that having minced squirrel on the lawn is huge improvement.

SultanOfSwing

I should try to recruit the local coyotes then, is what you're saying?

Lion in Winter

Perhaps whatever it was that ate a pigeon on my neighbour's front lawn a couple of weeks ago - it left nothing but the head and a few feathers.

We get coyotes, even down here. It's odd to see them wandering around on suburban streets in the early morning.

SultanOfSwing

The only time I ever see coyotes is wandering around streets in a town. I never see them out in fields or anything. Probably easier pickings in town because of all the squirrels, little shits that they are.

Whatever got that pigeon could easily have just been a cat though.

Nutek

SultanOfSwing

The difference, of course, being that cats will actually catch the pigeon

Nutek

Ok.. No dissing the Vulture Squadron.

SultanOfSwing

What are they going to do, come after me? All I would have to do would be dress as a pigeon and I'm home free.

Lion in Winter

Not my cat, the so and so.