
We have seen many cutter ant trails and ant hills, but never a grand entrance like this that Syd spotted today!
An inquisitive old fart with a camera

We have seen many cutter ant trails and ant hills, but never a grand entrance like this that Syd spotted today!
We often see fascinating tracks in the sand – lizards, beetles, birds – but this track was unlike any we’d seen before. And, luckily, we didn’t have to guess what made it (note how it almost gets blown off track by the wind at 0:23).
In addition to leaf-cutter ants, the woods have carpenter ants. We’ve seen some in weakened trees, but I had never seen how much sawdust they produced. If ants are higher in the tree, sawdust will likely blow away before it reached the ground. So I found this pile impressive, and was reminded why I’m glad not to live in a wooden house.
Ants are, of course, amazing. What’s unusual about this trail is that we could actually find the end of it; usually the trails disappear in the undergrowth, often after a far greater distance than this.
Regardless, the question remains: why weren’t they harvesting the closer acacia bush?
…and a gratuitous (but funny) comment about local drivers.

The wind chimes

…no, not a good night’s sleep. Those are fresh blood spots on the wall above the bed, from nocturnal mosquito-hunting.
The technique is to hold a flashlight parallel to the wall then move it away from and back towards the wall. The mosquitoes’ shadows give them away even when you can barely see them otherwise.
Busy little ants harvesting acacia flowers, with a brief interruption from Jordan.

I went to cut some tarragon for some chicken going into the oven, and this guy popped up and just sat there, unfazed.