The flying ants are the new "Queens" looking for new nesting sites. This happens every Summer on the really hot days.

Just be careful, beacsue I have been bitten many times, and it really hurts.

If you must move one e.g don't want to squish it on the window, pick them up by their wings.

I think the Soldier ants pack the same bit, just without the wings. I suppose they are the males ready to impregnate the Queens.

The flying ones are doing it specifically to mate in the air, only happens one day a year, great clouds of them usually, often on a warm sunny day just before the weather changes, and once mated, the females go off to create new nests and lay eggs. If you have ants' nests in the garden, as long as they're not all over the place in the grass and borders, they shouldn't cause too much of a problem. Normal for there to be a nest or 3 under paving.

I had 3 nests pouring with them a littlw while back when the weather was very hot, then another on Sunday with them all over the town where I live. I was walking back and could see swarms of them. I was forever flicing them off my t-shirt and arms. I got home to find another nest pouring out.

Birds love flying ants!

Ants are also among the garbage disposals of nature. They are responsible for cleaning up a good percentage of the dead and dying plant and animal material in the wild or our gardens. I normally don't disturb them, except when our interests clash--such as when they climb my patio chairs and chew on me in "self defense"!! : ) They can farm aphids or scale for their honeydew secretions, but some garden plants produce nodules or secretions of their own to bribe the ants into protecting them from pests. A swarm of flying ants will mean new colonies soon, but I would wait until I could see what's what, before taking action.