Cicada killers (Sphecius spheciosus look like this.

Thanks, York---that certainly looks like him. Funny thing, our local Home & Garden guy's column in today's Sunday paper featured cicada killers. Apparently they are a bit rampant around here right now, and I'm not the only person freaking out.

They are similar to carpenter bees in that the female has the stinger & stays in the nest, while the male is stingerless & does the dance of intimidation around her. I'll keep my distance either way since I'm not about to get close enough to identify the business end of them.

As intimidating as they appear I've walked among them in their nesting areas and never been stung. I don't make a point of pestering them, but my impression of them is that they're usually completely indifferent to us and our presence. I find paper wasps and hornets to be far, far more likely to sting.

The only other time I've seen these is in the park where we play softball. They like the sandy soil that's mounded up along the backstop fences, and you can clearly see the holes the females have dug. They're hanging around a similar type of area at my house. I think they like hot, dry, sandy types of areas where there's rocky dust or loose silt. Probably easier to dig a home in that type of ground instead of the rich, dark earth common to Illinois?

The thing that scares me the most is that I can't hear these coming. Most of the other stinging or large insects have a loud, low buzz. I can't hear these when they are flying around & sometimes I'm unaware that one's next to me until I turn around & it's in my face.

Another thing I've always wondered: can wasps or hornets sense my fear? I know I'm not supposed to flail my arms or swat at them, but am I sending out some sort of chemical signal that I'm scared to death? I get completely covered in goose bumps when they are near me, I get stiff as a board and paralyzed in fear. I was stung a couple of times when I was a kid & I'm allergic, so I guess I panic more than the average person.

That's a good question, and unfortunately I don't know the answer. I suspect the answer is "No", but I can't say that I am certain of that. I would far sooner suspect that a dog could smell it. Dogs (which are wolves extremely modified for human cohabitation) are already bred from mammals that prey on mammals. Such a genetic heritage would be a perfect one for acquiring the ability to smell whatever odors we produce when we're afraid.

I'm nowhere near so sure there would be much benefit to a wasp developing such sensitivities, and particularly not a cicada killer which has no reason to bother with us.

By the way, I also always see them nesting in dry sandy or silty soil. Such soils probably are easiest for them to dig in.

You're going to love this---I went back outside & braved the beast to finish my walkway project. I nearly stepped on HER as I walked down the path. She had a dead cicada in her grasp & was dragging it into her nest. This was the COOLEST thing I've seen in awhile!! And now I also know to keep my distance, since I'm dealing with a female.

I have both pictures and video, and they are awesome. I'm bushed & getting ready to call it a night, but I'll be posting whatever I can tomorrow. My DH agrees that they are silent in flight, and the only time she makes noise is when she's chewing out the opening to her nest.

Get this---she is chewing through the retaining wall blocks that I used to construct the rose bed. I have never seen anything like this before. It's absolutely fascinating! I know now that the telltale nest sign is a mound of dirt that looks nearly identical to anthills here, but the exception is that the grains of dirt are a bit more coarse than the ones ants use.

Such an interesting day!
---Laura

Good for you! You successfully faced a fear and simultaneously learned several things you otherwise wouldn't have learned! :)

it's two inches long, has red eyes, brown wings, and black belly with some yellow markings, and it's been terrorizing me for HOURS a day for the past three days by flying around and bumping into my basement window (lawn has no flowers) and trying to get in and i'm sure it's the same one every day. today, i was standing close to the window to observe, and it landed on the glass opposite my face and tried to bite the window and wrote pheromone letters with its butt on the edge of the window. is this a european hornet? why is it doing all the things i mentioned above? will it bring more of them? i'm scared to go out. what should i do to get rid of it? because of it, i've been seeing bugs out of the corner of my eyes all day for three days and getting jumpy all the time.

Can you take a nice close photo of it from your basement through the window? In all likelihood it is fascinated with some reflective property of the glass. Either that or there is an Alfred Hitchcock movie yet to be made