Problem solved, free and effectively!

We had planted a little garden and set out three tomato plants. To my delight, I found a few “tomato cages” and reached across the fence to salvage them.

What was tickling my leg? I looked down to see the entire back of my leg covered with lively little ants. Yuck! As I did my stomping happy dance to get rid of the ants, I stepped on one of the cages. Oh well, it had been bent already, it would straighten enough to use.

After mowing the lawn, my husband commented about how many ant hills there were. He had run over so many and thought something should be done about them. That led to a discussion and some internet research on various methods of ridding a lawn of ant hills. Some ideas were only meant to cause the ants to move. That wouldn’t work, they would only move into our friend’s crop. Neither did we want to use anything that would harm other birds or animals.

The next day we were relaxing in our RV when we heard a pecking sound. There on the edge of the window, only inches from us, was a bird. The bird could not see us because of the reflective coating on the window, so we had a very good look at her and took some pictures.

 

From the shape and length of the beak we thought it may be some kind of woodpecker. That was confirmed by a friend’s comment to my posting of a picture on Facebook. So I went to Wikipedia and looked up woodpeckers in Alberta. Almost to the bottom of the list, there it was – the Northern Flicker. The identity was confirmed by my cousin in British Columbia and by a friend in Manitoba.

As I read about the characteristics of this bird, we discovered that Flickers like open areas surrounded by large trees, just like this yard. They are the only kind of woodpecker to feed on the ground. Their diet is primarily insects, and 45% of their diet is ants.

By this time we realized there were two more Flickers around the yard. That would be at least three birds consuming ants for half of their diet. All we needed to do was make them feel welcome and watch them eat!

Many times in the days since this discovery, we have seen our Flicker friends perched on the lawn, pounding at an ant hill. They could find the hills easily and seemed to be happy.

Today the lawn was mowed once again, but there was much less activity on the ant hills. We are thankful we did not have time to treat the ants with anything deadly. The solution was right in the yard. It is free and effective!