Old Trail; Crozet, VA 8/27/17

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

After returning to Crozet from our trip to St. Louis, we noticed some disturbed ground in a small area of grass on our front yard. Yesterday, we noticed that huge hornets (four or five of them) were digging in the ground and flying in and out of the ground holes. I did some research on them and learned that they are actually wasps, and not "ground hornets," and they are properly called Eastern Cicada Killers (Sphecius speciosus).

This morning, Alice saw one of them carrying a cicada out of one of the holes, and this species of wasp is about the same length as a cicada. And yes, we have a call in to the exterminator :-)

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer

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Eastern Cicada Killer


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