In honor of Army Ant Week, I’m going to take a short break from my recent Costa Rica photos to post a few army ant photos.
June 7, 2004 | Barro Colorado Island, Panama
The only time I’ve ever seen an army ant bivouac was on a trip to Panama. I don’t recall if the photo above was of part of the bivouac or just an ant bridge somewhere along a foraging trail. My field notes were unfortunately lost in a house fire several years ago.
This could be Eciton hamatum, based on Alex Wild’s post today on that species. They are definitely orange, and I don’t recall being bitten or stung. If they are some other species, I’m sure I’ll be set straight in short order.
I encountered some army ants on my recent trip to Costa Rica, but I gave up on any photos. The few times I approached a column, they quickly started swarming up my boots. Â It almost seemed like they had a sixth sense or something. Even though I wasn’t in their direct path, they always seemed to gravitate towards me.
I have some other army ant photos that I’ll try to post before Army Ant Week is over.
Also, don’t miss these army ant observations from about a year ago. At least I think they were army ants. I keep waiting for someone to tell me they were something else.
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Yep, looks like E. hamatum to me. Welcome to army ant week!
Cool, thanks for the confirmation!
Just found your site and loved your photos. Your site will now become a regular for me as I love nature photography myself. I am a retired university biology professor here in Arkansas and I too am originally from Georgia, Albany to be specific. Again, I love your website and photos!
Thanks for visiting and for the kind words.
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