Fight to the Death!

On Friday, I was lucky enough to be working from home, and since the weather was nice I had the windows and our sliding glass door open.  Around 9:00am, I heard something thump against our patio table and when I looked outside, I saw a giant insect buzzing around our umbrella.  I didn’t see anything on the table, but I did see this giant bug laying dead on one of our chairs.

I’m not an insect expert, but after consulting with Nick (who hadn’t left for work yet, that lucky duck), we decided it was some kind of cicada.  Then we saw this guy, who must have plummeted to his death after I saw him in the umbrella.

I thought he was a Cicada Killer.  What an obvious name!  But Nick informs me that he is just a carpenter bee.  We are familiar with cicada killers though, as they have been burrowing in our front yard for the past few years.  They are horrifyingly large but are pretty harmless to humans since they don’t sting.  Anyway, I placed my lens cap next to the bee so you can get an idea of how big he is. 

This year we have noticed swarms of Cicada Killers near the path that runs through our neighborhood, and behind our house.  Thankfully the path is enough distance from our house or I’d be afraid to go outside.  They are very intimidating!

The cicada is pretty large itself.  Here’s a lens cap comparison.

The cicada had some pretty neato wings and markings on his back.  I was too chicken to flip him over, but you can get the idea.

You won’t be surprised that I left both parties in their final resting places because I was afraid to pick them up (even when knowing that both were dead).  Yesterday when we went to get our bikes out of the shed (also on our deck), Nick and I noticed that the cicada was gone.  I guess one of our neighborhood Cicada Killers must have spotted him and had a nice feast.  The fallen bee remains on the deck.  I’m hoping that something comes by and eats him too, otherwise Nick is going to have to dispose of him.  Just thinking about picking him up in a paper towel gives me the willies.