Yikes! The Woodside hills are alive with swarms of termites
DEAR JOAN >> We were up in the hills near Woodside and saw multiple swarms of small, flying insects that appeared to be emerging from the earth.
One obser ver thought they might be Western subterranean termites. In any event, the chickadees and Townsends warblers certainly took notice.
Your thoughts on what we saw?
— Matt Rode, Woodside
DEAR MATT >> Those were indeed subterranean termites, and the birds were very happy to see them.
T he subterranean termites (Reticulitermes) are the most common in California and are the ones that are the most destructive.
They are much smaller than two other t y pes of termites in California — dampwood and drywood termites — but they exist in much larger numbers. Colonies can contain hundreds of thousands of them.
Because they nest underground, we often don’t see them, but on warm, sunny days after fall or spring rains, swarms of “reproductives,” also known as alates, emerge en masse.
You also might see soldiers and workers among the reproductives, but they have no wings. The lone purpose of the reproductives is, as the name suggest, to mate and form new colonies. Good news for us — but bad news for the termites — is that most are gobbled up by birds, lizards and ants.
A colony is formed when the sexually mature male and female alates emerge and make a love connection. They build a small underground chamber, which they then seal off. The new king and queen mate, and the queen starts producing eggs.
Termites are longer lived than we might think. They certainly couldn’t compete with Queen Elizabeth II in terms of longevity, but the kings and queens can live 10 years or more, and individual workers might live for several years.
DEAR JOAN >> I have never seen as many hummingbirds in my yard as I have this late in the year. I don’t have any feeders, but I do have flowers blooming all year. They must be so cold, though.
They sit in my trees and fly a couple of feet and then come back to land. Are they doing that to try to keep warm? Is there any kind of shelter I could provide them so they don’t get so cold? — Ellen Seskin, Richmond
DEAR ELLEN >> Hummingbirds might look frail and delicate, but they are tough little buzzards. They are capable of surviving much colder winters than the Bay Area produces, including snow, ice and freezing temperatures.
They do this in a few ways. They are hardy, and they can survive harsh winters as long as they have food. Hummingbirds don’t fly south to avoid the cold winters; they migrate partly because the food supply is better in warmer zones.
When it becomes too cold for them, hummingbirds can go into brief periods of a sort of hibernation, known as torpor. They slow their heart rate, lower their body temperature and go into a deep sleep that helps them conserve their energy.
There’s really nothing that you need to do, other than keep growing those plants that they enjoy. For those who do have feeders, when a freeze is forecast, bring feeders in and put them out again first thing in the morning to prevent the nectar from freezing.