Those darn mud daubers...

[brino]

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[brino]

I think those might be rusty spider wasp, or maybe blue wing wasp.

Thanks! I'll look those up.

they might be digging for grubs

We have plenty of those; but they'd have to fight the skunks for them!

-brino

 

[Tozguy]

One of the best ways to get rid of a football sized wasp nest that is too close to the house is to spray it with a garden hose. Wait until dusk or dark, use a jet spray so you can hit the nest from a distance and blast it until it drops its contents. You don't get attacked because the wasps can't figure where the rain is coming from.

Otherwise, there are lots of bugs out there that we need to protect and leave them be (no pun intended). Since we have put up a wild bee house like one in the following link, we have had fewer mud daubers fouling up our door latches and such.

Bee Houses for Native Solitary Bees

Learn how to maintain a backyard bee house (bee hotel) for native, solitary bees—like mason bees—which can improve your garden's crop and flower yields significantly.

www.almanac.com

There is also a multitude of bees that dig individual burrows into the sandy lawn beside our patio. They come in early spring every year and buzz around near the ground for a few weeks then are gone. While they are here we can walk right over their burrows and not be attacked. Friendly little buggers who never complain and keep coming back every year.