Has something happened to the harvester ants in Santa Clara?

DEAR JOAN >> I know ants are probably not considered wildlife and are pests to most people, but I find them interesting.

While hiking in the Santa Clara County hills, I have noticed many harvester ant hills. Some of them are very large with huge piles of grass seed husks. As I watched, the ants hauled the seeds to their nest, stripped off the husk and took the seeds into their burrow.

Lately, I see very few ants at what were once thriving colonies. What has become of them? If they died off, I don’t see any dead ants about. Are they all safe underground awaiting next summer? — Mike, Morgan Hill

DEAR MIKE >> Ants are amazing creatures and perform a lot of crucial cleanup work in our environment. They just don’t make good house guests.

The harvester ants that you’ve observed are probably slowing down and planning to take a nice rest in the winter.

Ants are considered coldblooded, even though they don’t have blood as we would recognize it. The key, however, is that they need the warmth of the sun or other source to maintain a comfortable body temperature.

When the weather gets cold, ants retreat to their underground palaces and curtail their movements, which is why you don’t see them much.

DEAR JOAN >> I am a rug hooker who makes rugs out of long wool strips called “worms.” The wool has been dyed to various colors.

For many years, I have placed the worms that are too short for hooking outdoors for the birds. I have enjoyed seeing the brightly colored worms woven into bird nests, and I imagined they liked it too.

Last week, another rug hooker informed me that the wool worms are dangerous to birds as they might absorb moisture. This came as a shock and is contrary to everything I know about wool’s moisture-resistant properties. Nevertheless, the last thing I want to do is hurt birds. Can you advise? — Fawn Alvarez Talbott, Loomis

DEAR FAWN >> There is some debate about putting out cotton or wool yarns for the birds, although there is no concern about wool getting wet. Some say you should never put out yarn, and other say it’s OK if it is cut into shorter pieces, 3 to 6 inches.

The reason yarn, twine, string and hair are problems is that they can get wound around the feet, legs and even necks of young birds, cutting off blood supply and causing limbs to die and possibly killing the bird.

Yarns also aren’t considered a good addition to nests because they often are brightly colored, which can draw unwanted attention to the nest.

You might want to consider length and color before putting your worms out, or find other uses for them and give the birds other things to use in their nests.

I applaud your desire to help the birds. They’ll use whatever they can find, safe or not, so providing the right supplies for them will help ensure they build strong, safe nests. Here’s a list of items that you can save up and put out in the spring.

• Twigs or small sticks

• Leaves and other yard waste

• Small pieces of straw

• Native plants

• Moss

• Bark strips

• Pine needles

• Spider webs — Some birds make use of them to build their nests, so don’t sweep down all the webs you come across.