Don't really remember having a whole lot of these here, but man we've got em this year!!! Big dam things!!!

http://www.ksat.com/news/giant-wasps-showing-up-in-south-texas

Not seen any down here yet.

I have seen those black ones about the same size with the orange wings though. Lots of them.

Killed lots of yellow jackets too.

Yeah, I don't ever remember seeing em here. Heck I'd have remember these big bastids. First I thought they was them nasty Asian things but thankfully they are a native variety. I remember when we didn't have many deer either! LOL! They walk thru here all the time now! Really nice to have em!!!

I typically see about 1/2 dozen of them a year. Now that I'm coming up on my 5th year of living here I'm starting to get the cycles and now when to expect what and question when I don't see something.

I don't typically see the cow killers till the mid-summer but I also expect to see about 1/2 dozen of those.


I've killed the SHEIT out of carpenter bees this year in my carpenter bee trap. I emptied it one time and there we 11 in there, another 9 and many times 4-5.

I did catch a Cicada killer in it one time, but saw him there and opened it and let him go.

No praying mantis yet, but I'm good for a few of those come late summer, same with walking sticks.


The other odd thing is this year there seems to be less cottontails but I'm overrun with swamp rabbits.

We get those big azz walking sticks here.

Sombitches get big!!!!!!

Those look a lot like the Japanese Hornets which are fairly aggressive and will sting the @#$#@ out of you. I saw a NatGeo special some years back on the Japanese Hornets that was filmed in Japan. The researchers and film crew had a medical team along for safety's sake.
I still like hearing those Cicadas singing in the tree tops in summer.

Aren't Cicadas on a 7 year cycle?

Hear em every summer here. Some more than others. But I do notice they seem to be getting quieter with each summer!

Haven't heard them for decades now...

With the exception of a few times under a tree. Don't know what causes me to hear them for a short period, then not again?

cicadas have different cycles, and are not synchronized, and affect different areas, that overlap.

common cycles are 13 and 17 years for the large broods, and its possible to have stragglers in smaller broods rocking every year.

there is also a number of annual species where the hatch is less intense.

go here, enjoy.

http://www.cicadamania.com/where.html