What's on my mind?
I noticed there haven't been as many destructive Japanese Beetles in the yard this year as there were last year. I usually pick them off of the plants and give them a bubbly demise by dropping them into a jar of soapy water. I have noticed though, that there were swarms and swarms of an insect flying low to the ground everywhere in the yard.
Upon investigation, I learned that this bumper crop of insects were the Blue-winged Digger Wasps, Scolia dubia. The female burrows into the soil and lays an egg on a beetle larva. The beetle is consumed as the wasp grows (parasitoid).
Shown is the adult feeding on the nectar of Goldenrod flower. They also enjoy a good Mountain Mint. Perhaps this native wasp is my "beneficial" of the year!
Watercolor and Micron pen in my Jane Davenport Canvas Journal.
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