Giant Wasp

[Pine Strip]

For my part of the country...this is a supersized GMO Wasp!



Enjoy from a safe distance

 

[Midniteoyl]

That IS big..

 

[Mud Mechanik]

I bet that fella could hurt ya.

 

[jinman]

Cicada Killer wasp, I think. Yellow hashmarks on tail and size give it away. If it buzzes louder than a humming bird, it's surely a Cicada Killer.

 

[rekees4300]

Cicada Killer wasp, I think. Yellow hashmarks on tail and size give it away. If it buzzes louder than a humming bird, it's surely a Cicada Killer.

Yes that's what it is. Killed one in the garage last year. Took 1/2 can of wasp/hornet killer to bring that bad boy down!

 

[Wombat125]

I had one of those stuck in the grill of my truck a couple weeks ago. I think it reduced my fuel economy a bit.

 

[Baby Grand]

We had one flying around the potato field, yesterday.
Poor thing was carrying a cicada and looking for her burrow, which we had just (apparently) destroyed in the process of digging up our potatoes.
She flew around with that huge bug in her arms for at least 5 minutes - I couldn't believe she could even maintain altitude with that payload.
They are about the least aggressive wasp you could ever hope to encounter. They will buzz us if we are near one of their burrows, but they never get really close.

Around here they are considered "friendlies" and enjoy life in the no kill zone.

 

[cqaigy2]

Whoa! I'd for sure, go the other way if i saw that coming.

 

[bigtiller]

I wondered what they were called. I see them on my walks this time of year usually around landscaping bricks.

 

[jinman]

They are about the least aggressive wasp you could ever hope to encounter. They will buzz us if we are near one of their burrows, but they never get really close.

Around here they are considered "friendlies" and enjoy life in the no kill zone.

Absolutely. They look big and bad but are extremely non-aggressive, but also extremely curious. They fly around you at about 2' to 3' above the ground and people think that's them on an attack path. Actually it is, because they are looking for cicadas emerging from the ground. They could not care less about you and might not even sting you if you picked one up and held it. I've heard their sting is not bad to humans, but deadly to cicadas. They will labor forever to drag a cicada to one of their tunnels. I love watching them and consider them flying around me about like I consider humming birds doing the same. They are beautiful and great fun to watch.