Diggers

Digger wasps (Scolia dubia) hide their lights under their dark blue-black wings. “Blue-winged Wasp” is another common name for them.A bunch of these were looping over a strip of dirt on the edge of First Avenue at 41st, rather industrial ground for natural history, except for the feral cats and Paulownia and Ailanthus trees. But as is so often the case, the barrenness of the urban setting is deceiving. The wasps were hunting for grubs — of Japanese beetles, May and June bugs, etc. — beneath the surface, which they burrow after to sting and lay their eggs on. When not on the hunt for fresh grub meat for the next generation, they gather nectar for themselves, as this example (pics 2 & 3) in Green-Wood.