On Sunday I posted about the flying ants that were in the house.
I now believe that those were not ants at all but termites.
Why, do I now think that you may be asking yourself?
Well, let me tell you a story -
I woke this morning a little later than usual because it is still raining here and it is quite heavy and overcast. I typically wake with the birds. So this morning it was about 6:30 when I disentangled myself from the sheet I was rolled into and hoisted myself from my hammock.
As is typical of most mornings I took a garden tour with the dog and the cat.
This drizzly dark morning as I got to the pergola I noticed 'stuff' all over and was trying to figure out what it was when my senses started to kick in, this 'stuff' was moving, things were dropping on me, and no, not just the droplets of water, then I started to focus and notice things around me....
There were hundreds of thousands of flying ants,
fornicating flying ants, they were falling from the sky,
I looked further and there was this dark undulating cloud of swarming vermin, they'd 'hook up' and drop,
they were dropping everywhere!
I came back to the house for my glasses and the camera, I contemplated waking Tom and decided against it. So I returned to the pergola and started taking photos - by the way I definitely need a better camera, I could not focus on closeups of these copulating monsters.
I did finally go back and get Tom up so he could see this. By then the cloud was dissipating, and the fornicators were tiring, wings were dropping, and I was then able to get a few shots
This guy actually came at me as I was trying to take pictures,
it was trying to attack me!
including the Queen who was in the pool!
So now I am involved in minor ant research, trying to figure out just what type of ant are these - do I have cause for concern? Do I now have new colonies of ants taking up residence in my garden? And why weren't birds feasting? I fully expected flocks of birds to converge and gorge? But no - they flew by without even a moments hesitation. I did photo one very plump gecko, but alas it was blurry. Gotta get a better camera....
Oh, by the way, I'm thinking Carpenter Ants!