Cicada Killer Wasp

Burrowing in the dirtMajestic beast
Mad as a hornet
Markings on her back

I was tentatively curious to discover an ominous looking burrow dug in the dirt right outside our back door and rather alarmed when I saw this beast of a wasp crawl out of the hole. From antenna tip to the end of her egg laying apparatus, she measured about two inches long and was about as fat around as my ring finger. Enormous! I snuck up close to get some photos as she seemed fully engrossed in digging her hole and didn't seem acknowledge my presense at all. After figuring out that this is a Cicada Killer Wasp, which is a rather beneficial and non-aggressive wasp, I decided not to kill it but just to cover up the burrow and relocate her out of our back yard. The female will sting if provoked, and since her burrow was immediately outside our back door, I couldn't risk having Sammy pick her up or step on her.

So, I trapped this gigantic insect in a jelly jar and by the end of the night I was too tired to go very far, so Keith suggested I just toss her out the front door. It was rather comical as I came up with a plan, which included a lot of standing out front and debating. There was a surprise visit from a rather friendly neighborhood cat which complicated matters. I didn't want the cat to think I was playing fetch and go pounce on the wasp ... who was definitely "provoked" by this point having sat in a jar for awhile. Keith and I were saying "why don't you do it?" "I don't want to do it ... you do it" and so forth. Finally I just decided to loosen the lid and throw the entire jar lid and all across our front lawn and run like hell inside. I'm hoping the cat followed suit and didn't try to play with this woman scorned.

Knowing the Cicada Killer Wasp isn't really aggressive and kills the Cicada bugs (whose song I like, but drives Keith crazy) we just didn't have the hearts to kill this rather majestic beast of a wasp.