Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 10:55:47 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Scott Crabtree Subject: Re: Fire Ant alert MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There really isn't much of a less heroic method. Fire ants are small, red, very active, and forage in force. They are evil incarnate. Nesting underground, it seems they have to rebuild their nests after rains, so you always see new, fresh mounds after storms. On average, a mound might be a foot across and 6 inches high - loose soil in which the villains are seething, ready to come streaming out at the least provacation. Of course, mounds can be a bit smaller and much larger. I would suspect they stick to sandy soils more than clays - that's where I've always seen them, and the soil should be easier to work. There is always the "jizz" method of ID - if you feel a myriad little points of white-hot bites up and down your legs, you WERE standing on one of their mounds. At present, you would be capering about, swatting mindlessly at your legs, and trying to rip your pants off. I've been know to exaggerate a bit. Scott Crabtree Baltimore, MD Elliot Kirschbaum wrote: > For those of us who do not know what they look like, can you provide a > less heroic method of identification? > > Elliot Kirschbaum > Baltimore, MD USA > mailto:ekirschb@bcpl.net > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================