Cicada Killer - This male was doing battle with another male to bounce his bottom up and down enthusiastically near this hole in the ground. My guess is that the female deposited her egg in the hole. These large wasps hardly notice me. The males are busy aggressively pursing each other in mid-air combat while the females dig their holes in the ground to deposit eggs so future cicada killers will emerge in spring.
Cicada killer wasps have been sharing air space with me in the garden recently. The males are harmless, unable to sting, but aggressive and hostile to one another. The females are much larger than the males and bury their eggs in the ground, digging a hole with spindly legs that resemble a John Deere backhoe. I have seen the males locked together in single-minded destruction with other boys lined up for their chance to humiliate and destroy. The peace-loving hippie bugs in these photos were hanging out on my butterfly weed having a sunbath while the beasty boys looted and pilfered above their heads.
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