I spotted a few flying ants around over the weekend. It didn’t seem to be a full on ant day, but there were a few.
Generally, if you see one flying ant, you see dozens of flying ants. They do it on purpose. The idea seems to be that predators can’t get them all, so if they’re taking flight, hundreds of them all do it on the same day. It increases the chances of success.
They seem to like warm humid weather. Beyond that, I haven’t really figured out what makes them fly. Just that at some point one of these ants will start to feel the present nest is overcrowded, so they have to spread out a bit. So the ants take to the air to try to establish new colonies. Some of these ants are queens, some are males. But they fly around, mate and then try to form a new colony.
Since we happen to have a provincial election called at the same time, this might make sense for us. The politicians decide they need more space so they fly around for a while, then try to build a whole new place where they are in charge. If they drop their wings in the wrong place, they end up being lunch for some other creature. Do it right, and you can crawl away into a hole somewhere and try to create your own little kingdom.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work quite that way. They flap their wings and buzz around for a while, but we have to keep a watch on them. Just so we know what they’re up to.
And the political season seems a fair bit longer than flying ant day. Flying ant day is also known as nuptial flight day. At least for the ants. It may happen on different days for different colonies of ants. Although a lot of them seem to happen all at once, as if someone had picked a day and everyone has to do it at the same time.
Like the ants, the politicians have also decided the time has come. They’re not overly concerning, but we do have to keep an eye on them, just to see what they’re up to. Thankfully, it’s not a long season.
