INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT and/or UNDERSTATEMENT of the year:  Cicada Killer Wasps are easy to spot due to their LARGE SIZE!!  They are typically 1 ½ to 2 inches in length.  Throw in the fact they look like a hornet and THESE babies are eye-catchers!!! 

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Tuesday morning, July 28, I had just dropped off the mail at Allamuchy Town Hall. I don’t even get a ‘Good Morning.’ First thing, a Department of Public Works employee says, “There are ‘Murder Hornets’ on the Township’s ball fields!!” 

My response was, “What is a Murder Hornet?” 

Haven’t you heard about the big hornets from Japan, etc., etc. etc.? I have heard of the Asian giant hornets, which are native to Japan (and which threaten not humans but honeybees), HOWEVER, I was pretty sure that what the employee actually saw was a Cicada Killer!! 

Long story short, I am off, camera in hand to the ball fields!!  This is kind of a long shot; I didn’t ask for specific directions!!  There are three baseball fields, so my game plan was check out the infield areas with the sand and clay.  First field, second field and now I am down at the third field, walking in the grass along the fence line to get into the infield’s sandy area. Looking down and over – Cicada Killer in the grass!! 

I am going to make this assessment: either this mom just started to work on her nest site or she just finished up sealing it off!! I took several photos of this Cicada Killer and returned to Town Hall.  I was advised an exterminator had been notified and was responding.  NOTE:  this was the right call for our ballfields. However, if you see these in your yard, save yourself some money and just wait a couple of days. They will be gone. Mom isn’t really a threat, she is interested in 1. cicadas and 2. sealing her tunnel. After that, they pretty much mind their own business!! 

CICADA KILLERS

The Eastern cicada killer (aka Cicada hawk) is a type of digger wasp that lives in the eastern United State. Especially in July, adults will be seen visiting flowers or digging nesting burrows in light soil or sand next to roadsides, under sidewalks, and in lawns. They get their name because cicadas are used as food for their young. Their burrows have special chambers to keep the cicadas in until eaten by larvae: Female cicada killers will catch prey in flight and paralyze them with the venom of the wasp’s sting. Mom will then seal the cicada in the chamber with one of her larvae, providing it plenty of food until it reaches pupal stage, when it creates a cocoon and awaits the arrival of the following summer.

Did you know? Only female cicada killers have stingers!

A MEMORY

Recollections of my surprise encounter with a Cicada Killer:  It is summer in the early 1960s. A young Charlie Fineran is in the driveway adjacent to our small front yard in East Orange, NJ.  In that front yard were several notable holes. Holes where large, what we called ‘ground bees,’ would fly in and out of, never bothering anyone, although, when walking in that vicinity, one would focus on the holes!! 

I was in the front driveway, doing whatever, when suddenly, I FEEL and HEAR simultaneously A GREAT COMMOTION on my shoulder and ear!!! 

EXPLOSIVE MOVEMENT BY ME!! 

I am now looking down on the driveway and see a Ground Bee and a Cicada!!!  From that day on, after research, I always called them Cicada Killers!!  Guess I was in the flight path of momma coming home with a meal!!

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.