Backyard and Beyond

Past blooming, this Syringa (lilac) is a bit of a mess, esthetically-speaking: shrubby, mildewy, gnarly, clumpy with old fruit. But is it ever jumping as habitat! (Huge lesson here: a garden is rarely habitat.)
For one thing, the shrubbery was full of wasps.
There was a mud-daubber.
A White-faced Hornet.
A couple of European Paper Wasps.
There were flies, too. But mostly there were Cicada-killers. I counted seven at one point, but think there were probably more coming and going.
Female on the left, male on the right.
I witnessed two fights, where the wrestling wasps tumbled out of the tree together into the grass below.
What was going on? Sap. The wasps were lapping up sap from the tree.
And they weren’t the only things tapping the well…