Cicada Killer
It was a foggy, dew-dropped morning here in Cedar Rapids. As I was in the backyard photographing a water droplet-laden spider web, I was caught off-guard by the giant cicada-killer hornet. It was not the first time I have seen it flying around here. In fact, they seem to be quite abundant this year. A few weeks ago, as I was finding myself in seemingly every sand trap on the golf course I noticed many of them doing a good job of keeping me away from my golf ball. I don’t really care for things that sting. However, some research tells me that only the females can sting, and they do so only on rare occasions when their nests are disturbed. What is even more fascinating about them is, according to a wiki page, a hundred of them can wipe out 16,000 cicadas.
So, anyway, here is that thing that looks more harmful than it probably is.
Click me for a full screen view of my lips and buck teeth.
This lady (I assume) is at least 2 inches long.
Look! I can touch my eyes with my antennae! Click me – I won’t sting you.
And if you’re curious about that spider web that caught my attention in the first place. Here you go…
