What were those tiny winged insects in Kensington, North Berkeley after recent rains?

DEAR JOAN: We had an unusual phenomenon this morning. As the sun warmed the ground after our rain, hundreds of small flying insects started to swarm.

It appeared they were coming from the ground but I could not see where. We have decomposed granite in the courtyard where they appeared from but no sight of little holes. They are approximately ½-inch to 5/8-inch overall, two sets of glasslike wings — looks like a wingspread of about 1 inch.

We had to run an errand to Berkeley, and they appeared throughout North Berkeley. Suddenly, after about two hours, they disappeared.

— Shelley Dommer, Kensington

DEAR SHELLEY: What you experienced is common in the fall after a rain shower. The winged insects are subterranean termites. Termites are common throughout California, and we have both dry wood and those underground dwellers. One sign that you have a colony living below you are mud tunnels they create to reach wood above the ground.

The termites are sexually mature; they leave the colony following the first fall rain to form new colonies and start reproducing. Many get picked off by birds and other insect-eating animals, but not all.

DEAR JOAN: We have Anna’s hummingbirds at our feeder regularly, mostly male. They usually feed one at a time and get chased away by another.

This morning there were two males at the feeder, one was eating and the other seemed to be standing guard. The sentinel would look around, and it never ate. The one that was eating flew off, and another male came in from the opposite direction, and the sentinel immediately chased him off.

Do you think the sentinel is the one who is always chasing the others away, or does the chaser vary, and they all just chase each other? Why do you think he was standing guard allowing the one to eat?

— John Tessman, San Ramon

DEAR JOHN: I’m not sure why the one hummer let the other drink and chased away the second guy. Perhaps the first one slipped a few bucks to the sentinel, and the other  refused to pay. Hummers might be loveable and beautiful, but they also can be feathered gangsters.

The sentinel hummingbird has most likely claimed this feeder as his property. If so, he stays near it, perhaps concealed in a tree or shrub, making sure only approved guests are permitted in. Bullies can be replaced by bigger bullies, but hummers aren’t into job sharing.

Krane Pond update