Ants within a single colony can show a dramatic difference in sizes. Only one larger ant for the Hobbit ants to contend with…

Full yet? The best part of the holiday remains: leftovers! Well, maybe not for everyone. Definitely for ants. I don’t know for certain, but I’d strongly guess the ants found a dead bee and began to make their contributions to nature’s custodial needs. The world would be a dump without bugs! (And no “Ewwwing”! Patrick or otherwise. That’s a veritable ant turkey feast fit for a king — I mean, queen!)

Just a couple notes on the shots: These are all uncropped shots. Considering the hectic nature of this ant mob, I was happy to get the ants in these arrangements. (Of course, there were many less successful shots, too; thankfully, dead bees stay put and ants can only work so fast.) I almost cropped the final one because the shells came out blinding white. Instead of being lazy I did some manual touch up on the bright white and a couple smaller spots of diffracted light. Didn’t turn out too bad.

…but there’s another one, they better pick it up, because…

…the big mouths have arrived! Ant free-for-all!