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Abundance Of Acorns On Long Island

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Squirrels are going nuts over an abundance of acorns on Long Island.

CBS2's Emily Smith reports experts said there is a bumper crop this year.

At Adelphi University, thousands of acorns are strewn all over campus.

School officials even tweeted about it.

"We've had complaints of falling acorns...and we think we found the culprit! Be on the lookout!" the university posted on Twitter.

"These things are hard. I can't break one. I can't break one on a wooden table," said Adelphi junior Jordan Garofalo. "As you can see, they don't break easily. I've never heard of any injuries happening."

Biology professor Alexander Heyl said we should expect to see plenty more falling from oak trees this season. It's too early to tell scientifically, but it's likely a particularly abundant year for them due to a moderate spring.

"So rather than being an indicator for winter is going to be like a lot of people think, it's a messenger for the past like in spring when trees make flowers, they form acorns," said Heyl.

Carol Maake of Huntington isn't praising the clusters of acorns on her pool cover as she pointed out there are almost no practical uses for them.

"Except when I was younger we made whistle noises out of them," said Maake.

There might be one positive as Rick Maake said he doesn't need to go to the gym anymore after scooping them out of his pool.

"They come down in bushels – 10, 20 at a time," he said.

Acorns may be heavy in bunches, but Heyl said a few hitting you over the head won't hurt you.

Heyl added that one huge oak tree can drop 10,000 acorns in a year.

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