Mating Dance of the Desert Leaf Cutter Ant

September 20, 2025. Four and three nights ago we finally got some measurable rain. Two days ago, our Leaf-cutter Ants swarmed and danced in the early morning hours. As every time I spot this event, so probably once a year, the column of dancers rises and falls over a Thuja tree (Conifer like a cedar) in our drive way. One big old colony lives not far from it under an Ironwood. The dancers probably come together from several nests in the area. I know that I would find other dancing swarms simultaneously further down the road (this is a community with dirt roads, losely spaced houses, and mainly desert or not-at-all-landscaped yards.

These non-sting ants (Desert Leaf-cutting Ant (Acromyrmex versicolor)) live quietly in populous communities deep under ground with extensive fungus-growing chambers. Ever now and then they will venture out, cut leaves, carry them home and compost them under ground for their fungus gardens. (denuded bushes usually are not killed but rejuvenated. The larger Atta species in Central America can cause financial set backs for owners of teak plantations because the wood production is slowed down by the loss of leaves. But in a normal desert garden, the occasional raids of our small Acromyrmex are usually not more than a nuisance) When the weather is 'bad' too dry, too hot .... the ants close their entrances and stay hidden for months.

BTW, the characteristic cone shaped structures often seen are not nest entrances but heaps of sand that is expelled when new fungus chambers are built.

Of course, the entire dance party serves bringing nubile females and males together. The mature colony produces those about once every year and releases them all at once after a certain trigger, a good monsoon rain in this case. The sexes find each other up in the air, but then the 'bonded couples' or rather groups of one female with several males usually sink to the ground together .... This time I got the inpression that there were fewer females than normal .. annecdotal but possible in the current stress situation

PhippenMuseum Western Art Show

My Ceramic display

No body is left behind - Coati mundi family

Three Graces - Sonoran Desert Toads

A Hary Situation

Secrets Shared - Racoons

Fox Glow

Nearly full ensemble

A Rattling Complication

Yesterday evening Chaco snake-barked and I had to relocate a small rattler from the patio. Before releasing my captures, I often take their portrait. This one was rather small, so I thougt one of my replica pots decorated with big double spirals would make the perfect complement to the coiled snake. At first, the reptile wasn't having any of it and was determined to leave in a straight line away from me and my pot.

It took a lot of convincing and stacking and restacking the unwilling star of the photoshoot before he agreed to sit, and coil up, next to one of the large black and white spirals on the Tularosa Black on White (or Cibola White Ware) Pot. But the pot was absorbing the early morning sun and the snake had had a chilly night. So eventually he snuggled up against the pot and I got some photos.

I like this one best that I took in my own cast shadow to avoid too much distraction from slanting light and body shadows of pot and snake. Also, the snake is coiled up right next to the spiral pattern which was the initial inspiration for the imprompto photo shoot

But Snek now developed ideas of his own and began to investigate the big warm object next to him. Are there ancient memories in the genes of his tribe of living next to pots like this in ruins of the Southwest and even further back of indigenous people who made pots like this?

Now he seemed very comfortable, very familiar with the set-up. He explored ...

He found the entrance, slid in and settled in. A retreat made for his size. I could just see him shuffling his coils, resting his head close to the exit.

There was no way to convince him to give up his cave. He felt safe and cozy. He gave a relaxed little buzz when I pked him with a stick. He never bothered to strike. He felt at home. Iwould have to leave my pretious pot out there in the State Trust Land until he decided to leave on his own, just hoping that nobody would find it. I could just imagine the outcome if someone did: A shriek, a dropped, broken pot, maybe a bitten finger? Eventually I ran home to get my lizard-stick, thin, with a noose made from fishing line. With it, I managed to pull him out of the pot, only to find out that it takes handling the caught critter, usually a small lizard, to open the noose and release the victim. To do this with the snake, I had to run home again and fetch a heamostat to hold the head and my little nail scissors to cut the thread. All good now, snake indignant but free, pot home with me, I maybe a little smarter?

Size matters!

Size matters! If the pony was the size of a beetle - that would be an easy keeper! If the beetle was the size of a pony, I would saddle him and fly! (actual size of my latest mud pony and Palo Verde Root borer, no photo montage. The stuff to do when it's too cold to go 'bugging') Actually - if a homoiotherm animal like a pony was that small, it would have to live on a high caloric diet and eat constantly, more so than a hummingbird. So no easy keeper at all. And a huge, rideable beetle would suffer from oxygen deprivation even at ground level, much less high up in the air. Bummer!

Coyote Buddies

Here in nw Tucson our coyotes are very vocal and active right now (mating season). A few days ago my heeler visited our neighbor and returned from there playing with a coyote girl that he has known for a couple of years. She was following him up our long drive way, but she has a partner now who was not happy with that. His hackles were up and he chased my heeler off. But then she ran after the dog again, so he made playful moves at her again, until her mate rebuffed him again. All the time the trio was moving towards me and my leashed Aussie who was barking angrily. Finally the male coyote had enough and drove his girl off, and my heeler joined me to go inside. Very clearly, hackles were raised but no further aggression. Pretty soon all of them, coyotes and my 3 dogs were howling, just separated by our dog run fence that the coyotes could easily scale, but they never have in 23 years and several generations of dogs. Our little adventure inspired me to make a coyote of my local wild clay

The Poison of the Sonoran Desert Toad

Incilius alvarius, Sonoran Desert Toad secrets defensive 'poison' from its parotid gland after my dog grabbed it and dropped it immediately. The dog was not harmed, he just salivated a little and seemed to have learned his lesson: better listen when M. yells 'LEAVE IT!!' You can see the greyish fluid on the gland here. BTW, my skin is in no danger, you would have to consume the stuff to feel its effect. But if you did, it might get interesting (don't!) Although known for a long time to shamans and hippies as a hallucinogen, the psychoactive effect is still the object of ongoing research. A leading Spanish researcher, Óscar Soto says "it induces a process of brain plasticity and an altered state of consciousness that is “complex and different from other psychedelics.” There may be therapeutic applications: In experiments, the main active compound 5-MeO-DMT maps in the brain and interacts with the same serotonin receptor that is used in several antidepressants. D. Wacker: ' "While there have been some studies indicating that other receptors may play a role in the actions of 5-MeO-DMT, the psychoactive effects of psychedelics in general have been primarily attributed to actions at the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor." D.Wacker

Firing Primitive Pottery

Pre-heating around a premier fire

Cow-dung fire

Fired wild-clay objects with carbon staining

Wood fire -- attempt to burn off the carbon

Sadly, even more Carbon staining Some science behind all of this. Ignore the kiln comments, they do not apply to my firing method · Jeff Zamek · · “The pot fills the gap between art and life.” Philip Rawson, Chubut, Argentina What’s happening when heating and cooling my kiln? If you make ceramic sculpture or pottery and look at a firing kiln this question must come to mind. As the temperature increase reactions are occurring and clay and glazes are changing in irreversible ways. The pottery that comes out of your kiln will be the last objects left when our sun ends its life and consumes the earth. 212 0 F. – 392 0 F. 100 0 – 200 0 C. Mechanical water is removed from the clay particle surfaces. 842 0 F. – 1112 0 F. 450 0– 600 0C. Chemical water is driven off as in the clay formula Al203 2Si02 2H20. During the mechanical and chemical water removal range if the kiln is fired too fast pots can crack or blow up often damaging adjoining pottery. 1067 0 F. – 575 0 C. Quartz in the clay goes through a sudden expansion at the same time that shrinkage occurs in the 842 0 F. to 1112 0F. - 450 0C. to 600 0C. If the kiln is fired up too fast or cooled too fast during this range pots can crack. 572 0 F. 1292 0 F. – 300 0 C. 700 0 C. Sintering, Earthenware Firing the kiln in complete oxidation will remove organic matter in the clay. Excess oxygen and time will promote a clean bisque firing. Incomplete oxidation can leave carbon in the clay resulting in bloating at higher temperatures. 1922 0 F. 2012 0 F. - 1050 0 C. -1100 0 C. Spinel (a group of minerals of the same structure and formula) develops from the metakolin changing to mullite needles. Feldspar starts to melt into a glassy phase dissolving silica from kaolin forming mullite. The clay body becomes dense and vitreous. 2192 0 F. – 1200 0 C. Vitrification? Feldspar continues melting into a glass phase decreasing porosity in the clay body. 2012 0 F. 2282 0 F. - 1100 0 C. 1250 0 C. Stone ware?. Any quartz in the clay body changes to cristobalite while other fluxes in the clay body and feldspar aids in the quartz to cristobalite conversion. On the cooling cycle cristobalite inversion occurs around 392 0 F. -200 0 C. If the kiln is opened prematurely at this range some glaze pinging can be heard. Additionally, wood fired kilns and kilns with low B.T.U. capacity frequently slow down or stall out after cone 8 (2280 0 F. – 1249 0 C.) and can develop excessive amounts of cristobalite which can cause pots cracking in typical oven ware temperatures. Kiln Insulation – Commercially made kilns are designed with the appropriate thermal gradient in terms of insulation properties. When planning any kiln building project investigate the insulation options for the type of kiln being built. Under Insulated Kilns that are under insulated can be expensive to fire due to extensive heat loss during the firing. Under insulated kilns might not reach temperature or take excessively long to achieve clay body and glaze maturing temperatures. In enclosed kiln rooms there is the potential problem of the potter’s safety due to high kiln room temperatures. There are clay body and glaze defects caused by firing kilns too fast or too slow (see other blogs). Over Insulated Conversely, kilns constructed with high levels of insulation can coast. If you have noticed at the end of a firing that pyrometric cone 9 is at the 3 o’clock position bending and the next day when opening the kiln the cone is at the 4 o’clock position the cone has been subject to “heat work” which is the result of temperature over time. When the heat source has been turned off the cones are in the maturing range longer due to the greater degree of kiln insulation. In some instances this situation can cause glazes to run or appear over fired in color and/or texture. Matte glazes can appear glossy or satin matte while glazes containing high percentages of metallic coloring oxides can run on vertical surfaces or pool in horizontal surfaces. Slower cooling rates can promote crystal growth in glazes. Porcelain clay bodies can stick to the kiln shelve or deform when subjected to prolonged times in their maturing temperature zones. This is due to their highly vitreous composition as opposed to stoneware and earthenware clays containing lower glass formation. Dense “accordion pleated” packed fiber kilns and kilns constructed of only hard bricks can be over insulated subjecting pots to excessive heat work in the cooling cycle. Hard brick kilns take a long time to heat and cool due to the density of the brick which has to be first heated to then radiate heat to the pots. Hard brick kilns take longer times to cool due to their increased thermal bank radiating heat. When to unload the kiln Under ideal conditions it is a good policy to let the kiln cool to room temperature before opening and unloading the pots. Not many of us do that! As a safe alternative a bisque kiln can be unloaded below 300 0 F. – 148 0 C. as the pots are not dense enough to be thermally shocked. However, be aware the kiln shelves, posts and pots can still be hot enough to burn you. Potters and bakers frequently have burn scars on their forearms from reaching into the kiln and ovens burning themselves on the still hot shelves. When opening a glaze kiln try to unload below 200 0 F. – 93 0 C. but if you still hear glaze pinging close the kiln and wait till the temperature drops below 100 0F. – 37 0 C. These unloading guidelines can be adjusted depending on your level of risk however, it is always best to wait when in doubt. Information sourced from, Ceramic Science for the Potter by W.G. Lawrence, Professor Lawrence taught at Alfred University