This afternoon at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, north of the
building, my attention was caught by a swirl of insects ascending into the
sky. Looking, I discovered it was a mass emergence of winged termites that
I could trace to one spot in fallen tree debris where emerging termites
were gathering, then taking wing. While I looked at this and took a few
pictures, I heard a YB Cuckoo call very close by. I found the bird and
followed it around at a distance, trying to get a photo, and then saw it
fly to the termite emergence point. Unfortunately someone else came down
the path and it flew off. The Carolina Chickadees and WB Nuthatches also
seemed attracted by the termites. I thought this was interesting behavior,
and very logical to exploit the short-lived food resource. Not far away, I
found another termite emergence, but not the same bird activity.
Cheers,
Steve Young
Arlington
