A Wasp by Any Other Name

Several years ago at III, I learned about an insect called a carpenter bee, a creature that drills a hole into wooden structures like decks and barns.  They were huge ol' things and can damage the structure and Himself conducted an all out war against the critters.

Yesterday I saw a new bee or wasp.  It looked like a two-toned bug, double bodied.  Today, Himself informed me that these things are called Cicada Killers.  I thought he was telling stories but he dared me to look it up . . . and I did . . . and they were.  They are called Cicado Killers (but official name is Digger Wasps).

These wasps make their nests by burrowing into the ground.  You can find the nests by looking for very fine soil mounded up by a sidewalk or in a flower bed.

And honestly, these wasps seek out and attach Cicadas!  Himself says he remembers them as a child one hot dry summer . . . but I have never ever heard of them!  Himself has seen three or four cicadas attacked and carried off down the burrows of the Cicada wasps in these last two days.  I have not seen that happen yet but I did see the Cicada wasp carrying a critter as big as himself and had ample time to look it over.  CK was in no big hurry.  However, these are not my pictures . . . only borrowed from the internet.   

Honestly, I have to wonder where these Cicada wasps hang out and survive in those summers