The Ant Nuptial Flight Map: Find Out When Ants Fly in Your State
Catching a queen ant comes down to timing. Most species fly once a year, often within the same hour across a whole neighborhood, and if you miss it you wait another twelve months. To make that window easier to find, we built an interactive Nuptial Flight Map that shows which ant species fly where in the United States, and in which months.
Try the Map
Pick a month, search for a species, and tap a dot for details. You can also open the map on its own page for a bigger view.
What Is a Nuptial Flight?
A nuptial flight is the mating flight of an ant colony. Once a year, sometimes more often, a mature colony produces winged males and winged virgin queens, called alates. On the right day they leave the nest together and mate in the air. The males die shortly afterwards. The newly mated queens land, break off their wings and look for a place to start a new colony on their own.
For ant keepers, that short window is the best chance of the year to find a mated queen.
How to Use the Map
Start by selecting the current month to see which species are flying near you right now. If you already have a species in mind, search for it and check which months it flies in your state. Each dot opens details for that record, so you can plan ahead instead of guessing.
Keep in mind that the data is indicative. It comes from AntWiki, scientific papers and ant keeper flight reports, and flight months shift with weather, rainfall, altitude and latitude. Treat the map as a guide, not a guarantee.
When Do Most Ants Fly?
For most of the country, late spring and summer are peak season. May through August hold the most flight records on the map, and July is the busiest month. In the South and in Florida, flights are spread over a much longer part of the year.
Many species wait for a warm, humid day after rain. Moist soil makes it easier for newly mated queens to dig a founding chamber, and calm, humid air suits the weak-flying alates. If you see a warm, damp afternoon in the forecast during peak season, keep your eyes on the sidewalk.
It's early October as we write this, so in most northern states the season is largely over. In the Gulf states, Florida and Hawaii, several species fly in fall and even in winter, so it's still worth checking the map for your month.
You Found a Queen, Now What?
A mated queen is clearly larger than a worker, has a broad, muscular thorax and has usually removed her wings, leaving small wing scars on her back. You'll often see her walking alone, searching for a place to dig in. Our guide on how to catch a queen ant in the USA explains what to look for, and our queen identification field guide helps you confirm what you caught. Once she's home, a test tube setup is the simplest way to get her started. For more on regional timing, see When Do Queen Ants Fly in the USA?
One more thing: keeping a native queen you caught in your own area is generally fine, but transporting ants across state lines is regulated. Check our guide to US ant keeping laws before you buy, sell or ship any ants.
Share the Map
Teachers, nature clubs, bloggers and ant keepers are welcome to use the map. Use the "Embed this map" button on the map page and please link back so others can find it too.
