Cicada Killer in Action

[danthebugman]

I was minding my own business on the porch with a cigar this afternoon and something fell out of the tree in the yard. Being the curious guy that I am I went to inspect. What I found made me run as fast as I could back into the house to retrieve the camera...

Sphecius speciosus caught in the act! Pretty exciting while I watched it work. Took some video also which I posted to Facebook so hopefully this works...

http://www.facebook.com/v/577677069438

Dan

 

[TreeFrog Frank]

That's awesome!!!

 

[DieselDog]

I was stung by the female a few years ago. My arm blew up the size of a baseball in about 1 Minute!!

 

[VillageIdiot]

I'm waiting for them to show up here. We get them every year under our deck. I'll walk out sometimes and see 5 or more cicadas stuck between the boards because the CK couldn't pull them through.

 

[blessednxs65]

Nice shots of some nasty looking insect.

 

[orangedog]

we have cicadas here, but I don't know anything about bugs. is the CK a good bug or bad bug? I'm guessing if they make you swell, not so good?

are cicadas good or bad?

 

[blooz4u]

Nice video, Dan! :thumbsup:

 

[GoingPostal]

Dan you should start a web series call it BugMan's wild kingdom.

 

[joshua]

I was stung by the female a few years ago. My arm blew up the size of a baseball in about 1 Minute!!

Thats pretty crazy. My dad has a nest of them right in his front walkway and nobody has ever been stung. Then again when most people see something that big that looks like a wasp they tend to stay away.

 

[Cornrow_Wallis]

is the CK a good bug or bad bug?

Bad if you're a cicada. :grin:

 

[itallushrt]

Thats pretty crazy. My dad has a nest of them right in his front walkway and nobody has ever been stung. Then again when most people see something that big that looks like a wasp they tend to stay away.

Agreed. Never heard of anyone getting stung by one.

 

[Alwayslit]

Cool video. Those are some big ass wasps.

 

[DieselDog]

Thats pretty crazy. My dad has a nest of them right in his front walkway and nobody has ever been stung. Then again when most people see something that big that looks like a wasp they tend to stay away.

They don't like the sound of a Red Max whip! When I walked near the hole on the edge of the sidewalk, she came out and attacked! You should see the size of the stingers on these things! Only the female has a stinger.

 

[Benzopyrene]

The ones in San Antonio dig holes in the ground....I had never seen them before I lived there. I remember sitting on my balcony one day smoking a cigar when one decided to come inspect....I almost jumped off the balcony, literally scared the crap out of me. I didnt go back out on the balcony for about a month after that. I hate flying stinging insects! It's an irrational fear I have that would probably bring me to tears given the right circumstances.

 

[dpricenator]

From the title i thought it was going to be someone here, that I know on another forum (air guns). This guy has been having a blast shooting cicadas off his trees with a pellet gun. his best is 55yrds out scoped, but off hand with no rest. With a rest, he's dropped one out to 70 yrds. he's gone through 3 tins of 500 since they hatched.

 

[JNT]

Great shots.

 

[Mmalone999]

Wow!!!

 

[ciggy]

Thats pretty crazy. My dad has a nest of them right in his front walkway and nobody has ever been stung. Then again when most people see something that big that looks like a wasp they tend to stay away.

See these alot in our area. They are scary to look at but I've never seen them aggresive toward humans. They go after the Cicada's and bring them back to there nest which is usually a large sandy hole in the ground.

 

[Highlander]

We used to live in the woods and there was a hive a tree near our house. They never bothered us (we kept our distance) but falling cicadas were a regular thing when they were active. The hornets would then drag them across the ground, up the tree to their nest and I'm told laid there eggs in the bodies for them to eat when they hatch.

Nice bug