Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp digging tunnels

The adult Eastern Cicada Killer Wasps lead a short, but active life. Almost like clockwork they begin emerging from the earth in late July. This giant 2 inch long wasp has a seemingly impossible job to do and wastes no time getting started. After selecting a suitable nesting site, typically in the same general area from which she emerged, the female wasp begins a vigorous excavating project, digging a burrow for the sole purpose of laying her eggs. The main tunnel will be 10-20 inches long, with side tunnels added to entomb each cicada she captures. The holes are about the diameter of a dime, carved out with her powerful jaws and removed by using her specially designed hind legs, pushing the soil backwards, out of the tunnel. Given her size, the amount of soil she will displace is nothing short of impressive! Piles of displaced soil can be 5" high or more, pushed out over a surface area of 12"! Side tunnels will be dug as needed and she may dig 10 or more nesting cells, before she is through!
Once the female has successfully completed a tunnel and at least one side tunnel, she will begin her hunt, to find her one target of prey. The cicada! Exactly how she finds the cicadas is unclear. She will capture equal genders of cicadas. Since only males cicadas sing, there must be more to her hunting strategy, than sound. Once she finds her prey, high atop the trees, she immediately impales the cicada with her giant stinger, injecting it with venom that does not kill, but paralyzes the cicada. In her next feat of strength, she straddles the cicada, belly up and begins her flight back to the nesting tunnel. Cicadas are 3 times her weight and size, but she uses gravity and precision homing knowledge as she lifts off and takes a direct course of flight from great distances, hitting her tunnel entrance with amazing precision! She wastes no time dragging her living prize down the dark burrow and within seconds she disappears, placing the huge, helpless cicada in a side tunnel, immediately laying one egg under one of the cicadas leg joints and sealing off the entrance to that tunnel. That egg will hatch in two or three days, where the grub will begin feeding off the live cicada at an alarming rate. Somehow the females knows ahead of time which gender her egg will produce. Since females wasps are much larger than males, she will bury only one cicada for the male egg, but two or three cicadas may be buried for a female egg.
The developing grub will completely consume its live food source in about two weeks and the larvae now remain in an earth-covered protective cocoon of sorts, where it will quietly spend the rest of the summer, winter, spring and part of the following summer underground, before pupating in the nest cell over the last 25-30 days, then emerging as an adult and digging its way out of the ground in July.
The male wasps have no stinger, but aggressively patrol and fight other males for mating rights. Both sexes have short lives and by summers end, they will die, leaving behind the next generation of killer wasps, quietly underground. These wasps perform almost herculean feats of strength and stamina in their short lives. To say they are impressive, is an understatement. Given their specific needs for exactly the right kind of soil, as well as an environment rich in cicadas, their nesting sites will typically be repeated year after year, given the available resources don't change. You need not fear this wasp, as it has no desire to attack or sting anything beyond its prey. If you are fortunate enough to have them in your area, enjoy, admire and appreciate their amazing, but short lives.

[@Laineybugs]

Thank you for this! Amazing job of capturing from such a great angle. 😊

[@EveretRegal]

Thank you!

[@celinal8215]

This was the coolest video ever. Great shot. I saw one of these for the first time today and found it so interesting I had to look it up. Thanks for posting this awesome video

[@EveretRegal]

Thanks, Celina! The more you learn about them, the more amazing they are!