I traipsed back to the wild flowers behind our house to see what I could zoom in on and snap into a photo. Hmmm. Not much. The same kind of white-faced meadowhawk dragonfly that I photographed the first two days. Some HUGE bumblebees, but they weren’t cooperating too much, preferring to hide behind the flowers.
Yesterday, I saw this huge black insect literally zooming above the wild flowers. It was going so fast, I couldn’t see exactly what it was, except that it might be a dragonfly. A medium-sized black dragonfly. I was interested in seeing what it was, but it never landed. Just zoomed.
Today it landed. Yikes! It’s the biggest wasp I’ve ever seen, and is appropriately named Great Black Wasp. They are a burrowing type of wasp. Supposedly, their sting is very painful but they don’t sting unless attacked. I’m counting on it! I really want a photo with their wings up, but this guy landed and zoomed off so quick, I was lucky to get this shot.
Sue
He looks like something I’d rather not meet up with!
We have those black wasps in our yard, too — I keep a bit of distance and they don’t seem to be aggressive. Also had a lovely and large sulphur meadowhawk (I think) recently and I’ll be posting a photo soon… Your wildlife photos are always inspiring!