Yesterday the winged ants (hundreds of them) emerged at the park and various neighborhoods around town. I don't know much about the cues for ant mating, but feel that this is something that should be written down.
It was great fun watching various fly-catching birds diving in irregular patterns as they were swooping in to catch the winged ants.*
As for those fly-catchers; I saw my first (and thus far only) scissor-tailed fly-catcher on Tuesday (April 21) and The Mister saw his on Saturday the 18th. He's seen some kingbirds around as well. No Mississippi kites yet, but we expect them this week.
I picked iris and peonies (from the south side of the house) on Tuesday the 21th. Iris on the north side are also in full bloom (at least two weeks earlier than 2013), whereas the north side peonies have not started yet. The roses along the west side are going great guns, the bachelor buttons are going crazy and we somehow managed to miss the asparagus that wasn't up for Easter and then was immediately past. The thyme is blooming away, next to the lavender with swelling buds and the peach that didn't bloom at all this year. The dogwood bloomed better than I've seen it before, which may have been it's very last hurrah and the lilacs and golden currant smelled delicious in a big bouquet for Easter (April 5).
I planted milkweed, fennel, eriogonum, three different salvias, native grasses, tarragon, clematis, cardinal climber, crocosmia and some vegetables and herbs. I'm trying again with a native gaura and an evening primrose, despite the past problems and the "spot of death". The garden is completely transformed and again I haven't been taking any "before" photos- 'cause you know, one day it will be better.
I may have really managed to mostly kill the bermuda grass lawn. I don't know if I meant to do that.
The boys found 43 ladybugs in our yard yesterday.
Allergies have been bad. Schedules have been crazy. And it has rained!
Happy spring to you all.
*New idea for sci-fi novel: humans with ant-like lifecycle and every few generations some people get wings . . .
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2 comments:
You never saw the Lawrence scissor-tailed fly catchers? They hang out in the park and ride lot now, on the ground, the pavement. Maybe they are waiting for a ride.
Ps the book you mention is Hellstroms Hive. I don't remember flight but there might have been.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53729.Hellstrom_s_Hive
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