Tag Archives: flying ants

Breakfast on the Deck

Egg, bacon, toast, tomato, black coffee and binoculars. Thanks, Cecelia!

The flying ants were trying to pair up and scurry off and mate after shrugging off their wings. It’s a short life, they’ve been underground, this is their one shot at a shag! But everyone else also loves a flying ant, so their life is vrot with danger.

So the ants were nabbing them. The ants, in turn were being robbed by the birds and a skink. They’d grab the juicy termite, flick hard, separating the ant, then peck up and gobble down the termite. Termites taste like butter, ants taste like acid. That’s where antacid comes from.

westville wildlife love termite alate snacks

Indoors there was also some wildlife to be seen:

westville wildlife indoors

Made me late for work!

More this week:

The raucous Westville Kookaburra
Dragonfly with my point-n-shoot camera
The dreaded Westville Pterodactyl

~~oo0oo~~

vrot – fraught; or rotten

Westville Kookaburra – Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Westville Pterodactyl – Hadeda Ibis; or Mike Lello’s ‘tenor clarinet – he who never pays attention to the conductor and plays with great volume and gusto’

Meals On Wings

Flying ants! An alate emergence as we toffs call it. Whattapleasure.

The birds and frogs went crazy. A golden mole must have got carried away too as we found him swimming in the pool this morning, poor fella. Jessie scooped him out and he was soon burrowing his way under the grass.

Golden_mole[1]

Hottentot golden moles eat worms, insect larvae, crickets, snails, slugs, and spiders. The moist environment and dew provide them with the amount of water that is needed. They’re cute, without the huge teeth of mole rats:
Golden mole
Top pic shows how a few of the new infrequent fliers found their way in to Jessie’s bath water!

 

Rain and Meals on Wings

At last some good rain. And the flying ants are out in force! Wings and scurrying bodies everywhere, clustered around our lights.

“We’ll have fat geckos and I hope the owls and nightjars have a feast, Tom! Even the monkeys will love it if they’re still around tomorrow”

Grumble grumble I don’t like them he mutters. Then Why don’t the monkeys come out at night? Are they too scared of leopards? he asks.

“I think so”, I say. “I think its bred into them that night-time is dangerous and it’s not their time to eat.”

20151114_072256 10 Elston hornbill (2)

wings and bougainvilla ‘petals’ – this guy is lovin’ it