More than usual

  Perhaps it is due to our lack of winter this past year or perhaps there is a different reason but I have come across more than the usual number of Cow Killers this summer.  Cow Killers are what Pop always called the Red Velvet Ants that could be found racing around the fields in the late summer.  He would give us a stern warning to leave the critters be as their sting could "nigh on kill a cow".  Not really but, to be honest, they do pack a wallop.  I have only been stung once and that was quite enough!  That sting was due purely to my bumbling and was not entirely the Cow Killer's fault.  I was weeding and inadvertently grabbed the critter.  I became aware of her presence only when she had enough of my clumsiness and gave me a lovely sting.  It hurt.  It did not kill me (maybe only because I am not a bovine.)  I was recently reading an article that stated that the Red Velvet Ants were presenting a problem in some towns and folks were wanting help in eradicating them. "Dozens of local people have been stung and this has got to stop!" was the claim of one person that was interviewed.  Ha!  What next? This bit of  Red Velvet Ants terrorizing the neighborhoods is a tad ridiculous as my kids played with the bugs when they were kids...as did I.  All the critter wanted to do was escape to continue her mad dash in search of a suitable nesting site.

  The Cow Killer or Red Velvet Ant is not even an ant.  It is a bee. To be more correct, it is a female bee.  The male is rarely seen as it is far more inconspicuous than the brightly colored female.  Plus, the male has wings whereas the female is bound to the earth.  She runs about willynilly in search of a a hole in the ground that indicates a nesting site of a bumblebee or digger wasp.  She will then lay her egg in  the underground hive.  When the egg hatches the larva feeds upon the other bee larva.  Mama Cow Killer does not have to hunt to feed her little ones.  She merely lets them be parasites on their neighbors.

  While out and about the hillside this week, I have noticed that there are hundreds of these Red Velvet Ants running about the place. (They are so quick that it is difficult to get a decent photograph of them!)  If our winter is warm again this year, I can only imagine how many will be found next summer.  In the meantime, I better start wearing shoes as I roam about the place.  Although I think these critters are beautiful and I have no desire to kill them, I sure do not relish another sting!