Busy Little Lady!

  Mark and Son were out back working on the big tractor this morning. Getting the tractor going was important as it was needed to move the boat.  The boat needed moving to get to my truck!  Why?  My truck has been broken for the past four years and, well, now seemed to be the time to get it fixed.  Why?  My truck needed to be fixed so Mark could have something to drive while he truck is broken!  Yep, it seems as if most of the vehicles on the hill are unusable at the moment.  So, the guys charged the battery and worked on the tractor for a bit before getting to all the other fun things.  About an hour after they started, I thought it would be a good idea to tote some water out for them.  The heat is almost intolerable if you have to be out in it for any length of time.  This whole bit of good-deed-doing on my part led to a good half hour of wasp-watching for me!

  The tractor sat back behind the citrus trees so I had a bit of a trek to deliver the water.  This was not an easy task because I did not have the foresight to put on shoes.  I was ok on the grass but once I got near the blackberry patch, I had to do some careful tiptoeing!  It was when I turned to go back to the house that I saw my friend!  A lovely Steel-blue Cricket Hunter was busily hunting for prey.  This thread-waisted wasp is one of the prettiest of all wasps and is perhaps my favorite!  I adore the way the sun glints off of its blue body.  She (yes, this was a female) scurried about the ground searching under the leaves for any prey, preferably a cricket.  This she would tote far down into a tunnel that she had dug earlier.  

  It did not take long before the Lovely Lady had her cricket.  She made her way into the tunnel to deposit this one and was immediately back on the hunt again. Her goal is to gather between five and ten crickets to place in each corridor of her tunnel.  Once she lines the corridor with paralyzed insects, she lays a single egg in one and blocks the "door" to the corridor.  She then starts the process again filling another corridor. Within a day or so, the egg hatches and the larva feasts on the crickets that Mama left for its pleasure.  As the larva eats, it develops into an identical version of its parents.  When the transformation is complete, it digs its way out of the tunnel and the hunt begins again. 

  The Cricket Hunter, like all thread-waisted wasps are compulsive hunters and help to rid the garden of not only crickets but all sorts of damaging insects.  They will attack and carry off a lot of the caterpillars that munch my vegetables.  They, in turn, pollinate the plants for me! These are excellent critters to have about the garden and I was extremely happy to see this one in the area.