The Story Garden by Ellen Sheppard Buchert

Author:Ellen Sheppard Buchert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Published: 2017-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

Sand Hornets

Locally called sand hornets, commonly called cicada killers, these big solitary wasps prey on annual eastern cicadas. They nest in inch-wide holes that they dig in barren areas, the sides of gravel roads, and lawns like Doc Miller’s. You can see adults flying low over areas looking for a good place to excavate. The females do the digging, and they really get into it. Their holes are 10–20 inches long with side tunnels. They make a fair-size sand pile by biting off a bit of soil then kicking it out of the tunnel with their hind feet. Their next job is to catch a cicada, which they paralyze by stinging—pretty much the only thing they do sting. They carry it home, put it in a side tunnel, and lay one egg on it. Then they go hunt another cicada. Adult sand hornets live all summer, until September. The next year, males emerge first. They cannot sting, but rather fly to tops of hills and wait for the females, wrestling in the air as they defend their territory.

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