2450 replies to this topic

[Dargus]

I'd be up for Chaney if anyone else is going today maybe we can meet up. I'll be off around 3pm was hoping to get out and ant hunt.

[dspdrew]

I finally caught a big Camponotus us-ca02 mating flight last night just after it got dark! I found them at the San Juan Loop Trail parking lot across the road from the candy store on Ortega Highway, in the Santa Ana Mountains. Unlike what I have found the last two years, these are not just the rejects that got flushed from the nest months after their flight time during a major heatwave, and should be perfectly fertile.

 

The main reason I was at this spot was because I suspected that Myrmecocystus wheeleri might fly, since they didn't during the last warm-up we had. Sure enough, they flew! They actually flew that day too, because I was catching them while they were still digging their nests. They obviously flew sometime earlier that day, because some had quite a bit dug already, and the ones I dug up were only about 5 inches deep. It was a 100 percent success rate digging them up this year, and I ended up with seven of them.

 

In addition to these two long sought-after species, some other shiny black medium-sized species of Camponotus, that I always thought were C. anthrax flew as well; they were all over the trail. I grabbed 17 of them.

 

I guess C. vicinus also had a small flight too because I saw a few of them, but didn't collect any.

[PTAntFan]

Congrats Drew! I know you’ve been hunting a long time for the CA02s. How many of those did you get? Assuming the 7 you mentioned was the M. Wheeleri.

[Dargus]

Congrats to both you and Nurb for your rare finds.

[nurbs]

Congrats Drew! I know you’ve been hunting a long time for the CA02s. How many of those did you get? Assuming the 7 you mentioned was the M. Wheeleri.

 

Drew lives much closer to CA02 than I do, they are literally in his backyard. All month I kept telling him to check the Santa Ana mountains. The night I found CA02, he drove all the way to my neck of the woods (Chaney lol) while I went to his hood - the Santa Ana mountains - on a gut hunch they would fly.

 

That night, he messages from Chaney "where are you?"

 

"I found CA02, fool!" He probably thought I was pulling an early April Fools,

 

He told me they wouldn't fly and it was a waste of time to drive out there. Psh. I drove 2 hours through crappy socal traffic just to look for ants, making me do all the reporting work. Some ant whisperer you are Mr. Drew.

 

Kidding aside, I am glad our little antkeeping community has finally found them.

[B_rad0806]

New TV show: THE ANT WHISPERER

[PTAntFan]

New TV show: THE ANT WHISPERER

Um, I would not only watch that, i might be willing to produce it.

[Rstheant]

Yeah, um, we need equipment, and I’ll get pencils.

[dspdrew]

He told me they wouldn't fly and it was a waste of time to drive out there. Psh. I drove 2 hours through crappy socal traffic just to look for ants, making me do all the reporting work. Some ant whisperer you are Mr. Drew.

 

 
Well, I already checked the first day of that little "heatwave" and didn't find crap. But after seeing that there was nothing in Hotspring Canyon the night I found tons of them by the candy store, it's obvious these flights are pretty isolated, and it takes a bit of luck to check the right spot at the right time.
 
 

That night, he messages from Chaney "where are you?"
 
"I found CA02, fool!" He probably thought I was pulling an early April Fools

 

OMG I never even thought about that when you told me you found them. It was April 1st.

 

(Edit: Actually no.. it was two hours away now that I think about it haha. He should have waited 'till midnight to tell me.)

 

 

Drew lives much closer to CA02 than I do, they are literally in his backyard.

 

They actually ARE literally in my brother's backyard in Menifee.

Edited by dspdrew, April 6 2019 - 11:11 AM.

[dspdrew]

Looks like I'm probably going to Mt. Baldy tonight and hopefully tomorrow night (when I think there is a much better chance they will fly). Unfortunately I'm on-call for work and unless I can get someone to trade Monday with me, I'm screwed.

 

Edit: Actually, it looks like we had pretty much the same weather conditions last weekend now that I think about it, so unless we get really lucky, they might have already flown.

Edited by dspdrew, April 7 2019 - 1:01 PM.

[Dargus]

Hit Chaney trail today saw a few Male alates nothing major though. The only queen I spotted was dead and being dragged into a liometopum occidentale nest. Better luck next time I guess.

[YsTheAnt]

You won't find anything till night. Check back then. Males and dead queens are good signs that night time will yield queens.

[Dargus]

You won't find anything till night. Check back then. Males and dead queens are good signs that night time will yield queens.

Sweet, thanks for the tip I haven't had any luck ant hunting yet this may be why. I'll try to get out later in the day/night then.

[dspdrew]

I think most of the queens at Chaney trail have already flown.

[Dargus]

So Mt baldy? Lol my first ant season so I'm flying blind.

[Somethinghmm]

D. bicolor flew a few hours ago. I think  V. pergandei flew yesterday because I found a queen digging its founding chamber earlier today.

[nurbs]

Just got home. Found C. semitestaceus tonight!

 

This is turning out to be an interesting season. We didn't find any last year, at least not the folks in socal. We found some two years ago, but they flew in August, then went into hibernation and didn't lay til Spring. So them flying this early is interesting, though not entirely unusual. I guess sometimes they fly whenever they want to.

 

I think Drew is out there now in the same spot looking for them. 

 

 

[AntsCalifornia]

So mount baldy huh? I live in the foothills around there. Think I can find some on a local trail, or do I need to go into the mountains to get the Camponotus?

[Dargus]

Did some research going to check icehouse trail if possible tonight.

[dspdrew]

Just got home. Found C. semitestaceus tonight!

 

This is turning out to be an interesting season. We didn't find any last year, at least not the folks in socal. We found some two years ago, but they flew in August, then went into hibernation and didn't lay til Spring. So them flying this early is interesting, though not entirely unusual. I guess sometimes they fly whenever they want to.

 

I think Drew is out there now in the same spot looking for them. 

 

 

 

Actually it was August that seemed strange to me. I've seen them fly before and it was around this time of the year. I think this is when they fly up north too.