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Vegetable Gardening

What kind of bee is this?

perrynewbegining

11 years ago

While working in the garden today, I noticed some holes in the yard outside the garden that looked like they had been dug out by a small rodent.... till one of these flew by me, landed, and crawled into the hole. It's almost 2" long with an abdomen about 1/2" in dia. We noticed numerous holes after we started looking. Not something I care to share the yard with! We did have a very large Maple tree taken down last weekend and the stump ground. I suppose we could have destroyed their previous habitat, but we haven't noticed any of them before today.

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Comments (5)

Christian
11 years ago
I think its a Cicada Killer. Its harmless to people and should not hurt you unless you step on it.
Joe1980
11 years ago
A cicada killer indeed. It is a solitary wasp, meaning it doesn't defend it's nest like yellowjackets and hornets do. This means they won't attack you, and as ccabal said, it is quite harmless unless you physically harm it or get tangled up with it somehow. I'll tell ya though, I got some serious goosebumps the first time one of those things flew in front of my face, because I had no clue what it was.

Joe
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IAmSupernova
11 years ago
They can be intimidating, these things just recently moved in to my yard. Every time I mow, I have to deal with anywhere between 5-10 buzzing and darting around on the row I just went over.. I was extremely nervous at first, especially because some wasps can be agitated by loud sounds.. But they just seem to ignore me.
perrynewbegining
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the replies. Glad to hear it's not overly aggressive.
wolverine1012
11 years ago
I have them flying around me all the time when I mow the yard or work in the garden and I have never had one act aggressive towards me.

I'm just happy that they're working on the @#$%! cicadas. Unchecked, they can do a number on your garden.

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