A Colorado "Ant Hatch"

Most of us think of terrestrials only when most of the early- to mid-summer hatches wane, making it easy to forget that unique opportunities can arrive in almost any warm weather. Case in point: a carpenter ant “hatch” that provided lots of action in Estes Park waters last week. As Mike Oatley notes: “Excess queens leave colonies, fly off and drop their wings, with the intent of starting a new colony. For a few days, maybe a week or so, these big, black ants are everywhere, and the trout gorge on them.” In the Estes Park Trail-Gazette.