If the weather continues to stays warm, we may see a bumper crop for flying ants this year and it may happen sooner than normal here in Delta. If temperatures continue to stay high we could see a mass of flying ants which could cause a flying ant day like we have never seen. Flying ants are the nuptial flight stage of ant reproduction where swarms of ants flap their wings and darken the skies. Although the day can last over a week’s period, there is usually only one or two days where people will actually see thousands of ants choking up the skies. This is all do to the new queen ants leaving their nests and taking to the skies to mate and then look for a favourable location to start a new colony, although less than 1% are actually successful. Flying ant day(s) usually occurs in late July, but this warm weather might just get them going sooner, perhaps this month which could see millions of ants hit the skies. Here at go green pest control.ca there has been a substantial upsurge in ant activity related calls, a 200% increase from April through May. This rise is most likely due to the unseasonably warm spring we have had, in fact, last month’s clear skies caused the driest May in history and the third hottest ever. Ants are characteristically more active in warmer weather and ant colonies use the sun to navigate their movements. Ant life-cycles hinge on temperature and the amount of food available, because this spring has been so warm, we have healthier queens, increased breeding, higher potential of ant egg survival and larger colonies.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/flying-ants-skies-may-go-black-year-randy-bilesky/?published=t
gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C. Randy Bilesky BsF CPA
http://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/flying-ants-the-…-black-this-year/
http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-flying-ants-the-skies-may-go-black-this-year-1.23326906