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Project Noah Nature School
Camponotus spp.
These ants are among the largest in Colorado, but size alone isn't enough to determine if they are carpenter ants as the smallest workers are only 3/16" long. Most carpenter ants we see are larger; up to 1/2" in size. These queens were about an inch long. They are generally black, although some are reddish brown.
I photographed a swarm of carpenter ant queens on an old, semi-rotten picnic table alongside a rushing mountain stream. They were searching for suitable nesting places and the table probably looked pretty good to them.
Once they had found the table, they were going into the cracks in the weathered boards and pulling off their wings. In the second photo, you can see the middle leg on the far side trying to get a hold of the wing on that side. One of the wings on this side has already been displaced by her efforts, but not completely removed. The wings pulled off at the base and the resulting wound looked sore, but the ants didn't seem to mind.
Spotted on Jun 6, 2010
Submitted on Jun 13, 2011
2 Comments
Noah, It was an interesting experience. I've seen ants swarm before, but not like this. There were hundreds in the air at one time and covering a very large area. Must have been a swarm event in which most carpenter ant colonies were participating in at the same time. Many were flying over and landing in the trout stream near the table I was photographing from and the trout were consuming them with abandon. Fascinating.....
This is a queen for sure.