While pulling into my parking spot at work I noticed hoards of Tetramorium covering a cement parking block. I realized before even getting out of the car that it was a huge nuptial flight. I didn't even park the car fully in the spot before I hopped out and started to film them. Here's some of the footage I gathered:
https://www.youtube....h?v=YH51RrQ2J8I
I haven't seen Tetramorium fly in years, probably over a decade. Despite them being so common, I usually fail to see them fly year after year. Probably because they fly really early in the morning...for instance this flight was in full swing when I pulled up at 5:50 am local time. They continued until about 6:30 am then began winding down a bit. Weather conditions at the time were 65 degrees with 40 % ish humidity ... no clouds and light wind ... and no rainfall for a week prior. But, the spot where the nest was regularly gets doused with water from the sprinkler system.
[I don't have any here to relate to ]
