Action in the Woods When It Seems to Be Standing Still

I went out to the woods at near-dark today (when the ubiquitous dog walkers were finally off the trails-- I got bitten by a dog who was on a leash the other day, so I'm trying to find a time and trail that isn't clogged with dogs and dog owners)  Everything is so still and frozen-feeling.  Down on the ground the piles of black walnuts are reduced to a few broken hulls, but there are cracked acorns everywhere.  I picked up some and noticed that those cracks were made by new rootlets.  So there IS some action, only it's not easily visible.  The seeds are being released from their hulls, and some are releasing themselves.  Outer hulls are shed and now inner shells are cracking.  The cycle keeps going.  Interesting to see a pale oak rootlet angling downward toward the ground from the crack it has somehow made in the acorn!