Mud Nests and Spider Catchers

   I am probably one of the few people who will go out of my way to save a critter.  No.  Let me rephrase that.  I am probably one of the few people who will go out of my way to save a wasp.  Not just any wasp but the mud dauber sort.  Most folks try to rid their homes and yards of the critters simply because of the "unsightly" nests they make.  A fist-sized ball of mud plastered to the side of the house is not to most folks' liking regardless of the value of the residents therein.  Those mud nests are housing the next generation of the mud daubers and, those, my friends, are highly valuable.  At least in my view, they are.  Son was uncovering the table saw when he accidently knocked a mud nest from the tarp.  Carefully, he toted the thing inside where I was canning pears and asked if I thought they would still live.  I was not sure.  Hopefully?  We put the nest openside down in the greenhouse and hoped for the best.  Son is about the same as I am when it comes to critters.

  Mud daubers are solitary wasps that are extremely slow to sting unlike their cousins the paper wasps or yellow jackets.  Mud daubers lack the nasty tempers of the others.  They go about their business of building their mud nests and then catching spiders or other insects to put inside with their eggs.  The same folks that get rid of the mud daubers will complain when they have spiders and caterpillars.  To my way of thinking, it is far better to let nature take its course.  Let the mud daubers live!  And, for that matter, let the spiders live (the ones that do not fall prey to the mud daubers!)