Cicada Killer Wasps

The 8th green has become home to a few cicada killer wasps.  We make an effort to control them as we see them.  These wasps become a nuisance because to the burrowing they do into the green.

Early in the morning we have been noticing piles of sand like this one.  The wasp is burrowing a tunnel into the green to lay eggs.  The wasp chooses the green to burrow because the light sandy soil is easy to burrow through.  You can see a wasp burrowing in the video on the home page of the blog.

The wasp is naturally called a "cicada killer" because it preys on the cicada.  The wasp stings the cicada to kill it, then moves the cicada into the tunnel it has just created on the green.  After the cicada is in the tunnel, the wasp lays its eggs on the cicada for the larva to feed on when they hatch.

This cicada was just off the edge of the green near the burrows.

Here is a picture of the start of a burrow.

The wasps are quite large as you can see in the picture.