Wednesday, August 4, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Invasion of
the ants
Well, our move to Eugene
has opened up a new chal-
lenge for us 4 an invasion
of tiny ants. And, oh boy,
have they moved in!
There are nearly a thou-
sand species of ants in North
America. They range in
size from tiny specks to as
big as a AAA battery. And
they9re ubiquitous 4 they9re
everywhere!
My wife, Sue, is having
more fun trying to outsmart
them. Just as challenging as
keeping squirrels out of the
bird feeder.
First she used peppermint
oil along their route to block
their scent trail.
<That should do it,= she
said, having confidence that
the strong peppermint oil
would send them back home.
Nope, that didn9t work.
They just went around it. We
had completely underesti-
mated the reasoning ability
of the ant9s tiny brain. I can
hear them talking it over:
<Hey guys, just hold your
noses and we can go around
it. Our scouts have discov-
ered a lot of rich goodies in
this place, and it9ll be well
worth the extra work to har-
vest it.=
And they kept coming.
Pretty soon we could make
out a marching ant trail of
them coming and going on
the kitchen counter. They
found a tiny hole in the
framing around the kitchen
window and lo-and-behold
they started arriving by the
hundreds.
A continuous black line
of them was coming from
the edge of the window,
across the kitchen counter,
up on the white wall under
the microwave, to the other
side of the kitchen, down
that wall and up the side of
the tall, plastic garbage can.
I have a hunch the ants
thought they9d died and gone
to heaven. And of course
Sue started using more oil
to mask the ant9s foraging
trail. Yeah, you guessed it,
we are not into using pesti-
cides, poisons, or harmful
chemicals!
It stalled them, and we
thought we had won the
battle. But, ants being ants,
they soon found a new way
to get to the food source by
coming and going through a
tiny hole in the ceiling where
it meets the kitchen wall. We
wondered how many thou-
sands more were inside the
walls waiting to hear from
their friends.
We moved the garbage
can to the garage and, again,
we thought we had solved
the ant problem. Hah!
Two days passed since
we discovered that our home
had become an ant restau-
rant. Moving the big food
source seemed an obvious
solution to the invasion.
But when Sue opened the
cupboard the next morning
she discovered a number of
the sneaky little black guys
congregating around the lid
of the honey jar. And then,
Sisters Country birds
By Douglas Beall
Correspondent
Rufous Hummingbird
(Selasphorus Rufus) is a
fiery and often quarrelsome
hummingbird that is the most
common visitor to our nectar
feeders. The brilliant orange
gorget and rufous back flash
in the sunlight as they move
from blossom to blossom
gleaning nectar. The Rufous
is an important pollinator
within the plant communi-
ties, pollinating a number of
plants that bees are unable to
reach.
Weighing in at a little
over a penny, the Rufous
Hummingbird feeds fre-
quently, for it can lose up to
10 percent of its body weight
overnight! They have mas-
sive energy needs, as they
maintain wingbeat speeds of
50-200 beats per second and
a heart rate that can reach
1,280 beats per minute. The
males perform mating dives
reaching 100 feet as they try
to impress the females.
Males typically migrate
earlier than females. In
spring early arrival is impor-
tant as they stake claim to
the best breeding territories
and then leave in late July or
August. The female Rufous
acts as a <single= parent as
it handles all the rearing
activities, which usually con-
sists of two tiny, white eggs
in a mossy lichen nest.
A group of humming-
birds are known as a <tune,=
a <hover,= a <glittering,= or a
<bouquet.=
To see more hum-
mer photos, visit http://
abirdsingsbecauseithasa-
song.com/recent-journeys.
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL
Rufous Hummingbird.
Have you done any
NEW HOURS:
Monday-Saturday,
7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
OPEN FOR INDOOR
& OUTDOOR DINING
Phone orders for
coffee, pastries, and
box lunches.
RENOVATIONS
or added any
STRUCTURES
to your property?
If so, don’t forget to update your insurance!
SS •
AUTO • HOME • HEALTH • LIFE • BUSINE
541-588-0311
541-549-3172
1-800-752-8540
201 E. Sun Ranch Dr.
704 W. Hood Ave., Sisters
FARM • RENTAL
21
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
Monomorium minumum, aka Little Black Ant, sugar ant, or piss ants.
when we opened up the bag
of my chief digestive aids 4
prunes 4 a bunch of ants
slid out with them. You have
to give them credit!
Now that the ants were
searching for a new way to
get to a food source, Sue,
while watching them go
hither and thither, mused,
<Just think what it must be
like to live in the tropics&=
She finally took some
mint-scented toothpaste and,
since we have white walls,
spread it all around the win-
dow frame and into any and
all cracks where those little
busybodies could find an
entrance.
In addition she has
cleaned every surface with
vinegar water and so far, fin-
ger9s crossed, we have kept
these intrepid insects at bay.
Ain9t Nature grand!