fanned flat for ant bath
squadrons pour out and crawl clean
drones and new born queens
I saw a blackbird lying flat against the floor, nervously darting glances this way and that. I thought it had been hit by a car, its wings looked broken. I asked D for her opinion, she suggested it might be “anting”, that is, lying near an ants nest, letting them crawl over him to spray formic acid over his wings. It’s like a disinfectant for them, cleansing them of mites, bacteria and such.
Indeed it flew off shortly after, so indeed he was uninjured. She’s very clever knowing all this nature stuff!
It was hot and the ants were flying. This sudden exodus used to fascinate me as a small boy in my parents garden. The big queens and the more slender drones, flying off, mating. The drones would die and the queens would scrape off their wings and perhaps be lucky enough to found their own colony.
It was alien and fascinating to me. I wonder where I’d be in life if I did follow my dream to study entomology? Probably very poor!
No comments:
Post a Comment