These aren't the big carpenter ants nor the little 'sugar ants' that do manage to get inside, but the 1 cm. Watching ants go about their business is pretty interesting. They discovered a drying worm and seem to be plugged into it. I notice that these black ants, at least the scouts, are very tentative. They'll run across a smaller ant and scurry in a zig-zag pattern or even up a grass leaf as a reaction.
Ants are probably pretty blind, they live in a world of chemical trails.
I'll run my finger across one of these invisible trails and my hand oil will cause momentary confusion to an ant going somewhere. After i watch ants for an hour or so, i can close my eyes and see their movement in either my mind's eye or on the back of my retina or something. Their pattern is a recognizable one, though they seem about as random as a thing can move. I never promised that my entries would be thrilling. Drove up on the parkway to find a tree struck by lightning .