Pulled out of Ward's Pond, Boston

Hello?

New to me!

This came fluttering into my face at work yesterday.

( four more pictures )

365 Urban Species. #201: Carpenter Ant

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: ornamental cherry tree in front of Brookline Water and Sewer Division. The ant's formidable mandibles are visible in this photo.

Urban species #201: Carpenter ant Camponotus pennsylvanicus

You know it's summer in Boston when the big black ants come into your house. These are carpenter ant workers, foraging for food. In the absence of human-provided sustenance they prefer honeydew, the sugary waste product of aphids. They will also eat the nectar of flowers and prey upon other insects, but whatever you've left on the kitchen counter will do nicely. Carpenter ants nest in tunnels in wood, usually wood that has been softened by wood-digesting fungi. Most often their nests are in dead trees or stumps, but they sometimes make tunnels in telephone poles or even the wooden parts of houses. Unlike termites, carpenter ants leave telltale heaps of sawdust and insect parts near their nests. Carpenter ants are the primary prey of some woodpeckers, notably flickers. Trees weakened by fungi and carpenter ants, and hollowed by flickers and other woodpeckers, provide nesting sites for a variety of different bird species, including wood ducks and screech owls. There are about 50 species of carpenter ant in North America, and about 900 described worldwide.