Nature Done Wright

Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs

August 3, 2020

Best Monday Mystery Ever?

Walking through the Dead Zone at the Celery Farm last week, I heard a strange buzzing noise, then saw the above, followed by the photo below.

What story do these photos tell?

(This Saturday, I am giving a free Zoom presentation entitled "Every Picture Tells a Story," for Bergen County Camera. You can register for the event here.)

2 comments

Mike Limatola

6 years ago

We had about 30 nests in our front lawn in Ho-Ho-Kus starting about 15 years ago. Amazing seeing them fly in to the nests with a cicadas.
We also used to get them in the paddocks on the horse farm that I lived at in Saddle River. They would drive the horses nuts.
Mike
Janet T

6 years ago

Very Cool! Two great photos of a Cicada Killer Wasp with prey! While working as a letter carrier, each summer I would see numbers of these large wasps zipping back and forth above small mounds of dirt on some of my customers’ lawns. The dirt mounds were created by the wasps digging burrows in which they would then place a live cicada paralyzed by its sting. It would then lay an egg on the cicada. Once the egg hatches the cicada will become a food source for the wasp’s larva. It was amazing to watch the wasp carry such a large insect as a cicada and drag it into its burrow!
https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/10-facts-about-cicada-killer-wasps/

Comments are closed.

2 comments

Mike Limatola

6 years ago

We had about 30 nests in our front lawn in Ho-Ho-Kus starting about 15 years ago. Amazing seeing them fly in to the nests with a cicadas.
We also used to get them in the paddocks on the horse farm that I lived at in Saddle River. They would drive the horses nuts.
Mike
Janet T

6 years ago

Very Cool! Two great photos of a Cicada Killer Wasp with prey! While working as a letter carrier, each summer I would see numbers of these large wasps zipping back and forth above small mounds of dirt on some of my customers’ lawns. The dirt mounds were created by the wasps digging burrows in which they would then place a live cicada paralyzed by its sting. It would then lay an egg on the cicada. Once the egg hatches the cicada will become a food source for the wasp’s larva. It was amazing to watch the wasp carry such a large insect as a cicada and drag it into its burrow!
https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/10-facts-about-cicada-killer-wasps/