Last spring, my heavy-metal vocalist friend and lyrics collaborator, Mr. Dobata Records, invited me to take a hike down from Vitosha Mountain to the Boyana Waterfall. We had to walk a long ways down a winding mountainous path (and then a long ways back up). When we finally approached the bottom of the waterfall, I happened to notice a very strange sight. (I apologize for the out-of-focus shots!)
At first, I thought the mushroom in the hollow trunk of the tree had something to do with these flying ants' strange behavior, as they were basically just waiting around in more-or-less concentric circles. Having spent a ton of time out in nature as a kid (I even wanted to be an entomologist when I was like 5 years old), I was fascinated, as I had never seen anything of the sort before. They all just stood there, unmoving, except a few coming in and out of a small hole I noticed next in the tree.
I spent the next couple of minutes trying to get better shots, and this is what I came up with:
They would pour out of this one hole and then spread out a bit and wait ... Notice how they are holding their heads and thoraxes up, with their abdomens down. Also notice the guards prowling around, in case any predators should try to take advantage of their winged sisters' vulnerable state. What were they waiting for, I wondered?
Within a minute, I found out. Unfortunately I have no photographic documentation for what happened next. I blew on them. That's right -- I blew on them, as if halfheartedly trying to blow out a candle, and they ... flew away! They had been waiting for the slightest breeze, it seems, to carry them off to new horizons, where they could set up new colonies.
