Thanks to that new father, Charlie Moores, I’ve added a new blog to my sidebar. Birdman, the blog of James Wolstencroft, a birder/tour leader from Tanzania. Check out this description of an emergence of flying ants from his latest post Mes Amis – Amurs.
"The plain is blanketed by a low-flying mist of ants emerging from bunker hollows in many a twisted Acacia mellifera
that skirt the plain. Close-up their abdomens shine juicy and black
like tiny succulent grapes. Queens and their male consorts – or perhaps
two different species are involved, one small, one large – thousands of them are being consumed by scores of territory-holding Red-capped Larks andGrassland Pipits who
can be seen rising vertically from the ground, to a height of a couple
of metres, before abruptly dropping back. This is happening away into
the distance as far as sight with bins can reach. A couple of the
Maasai Larks make clumsy, yet effective, near-vertical sallies in
pursuit of the feast from above."