Night Anting, 31/3/2018
Yesterday night (3/30/18), I went on a night hike near Mt. Diablo, CA. This post will cover everything ant-related during the hike. My father and I got there at around 9:15 PM, and began our little adventure. My goal during this hike was to catch the largest species of ant native to Northern California, a carpenter ant that nests in oak trees, that goes by the scientific name of Camponotus Quercicola. These are one of my favorite species, due to their gigantic size. They are interesting because, unlike most other species of ant in the United States, they are only found in CA! The reason we decided to hike at night, is because most species of carpenter ants are primarily nocturnal, and although the queens typically fly earlier on during the day, they are out and about most at night (if you have no idea what a flight of ants is, check out a previous post that covers it here ) And now, onto the hike... My friend, who lives nearby, met us at the opening of the trail,