We saw what we thought was a tiny baby bird hoping around in the grass….so I grabbed my camera.
It is a Cicada Killer wasp. She had a big Cicada that she was carrying back to her nest.
She is almost 2” long and the Cicada is much larger. She must have gotten tired and was struggling with it.
I had spotted her burrow earlier and just glancing at it thought it was a fire ant hill.
This gives you an idea how much larger it is.
She finally got it to the burrow and inside. She dug all that dirt out herself. I read that she uses one Cicada to lay a male egg in. The Cicada is paralyzed and becomes food for the larva that hatches. If she is laying a female egg, she might put 2 or 3 in. Females are larger and need more food.
She could have several nests in this one burrow so I wont mess with it.
They can be intimidating when you first see them since they are so large, but they normally do not sting unless stepped on or grabbed. Really quite beautiful.
Always something interesting around here.
Amazing creature!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I have seen this large wasp and wasn't sure what it was. And, I noticed a similar pile of dirt in the yard. I wish I could get some photos like yours---must be patient I guess.
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