Saturday, July 28, 2012

Saturday Snapshot ... It's a Cruel World




... the scene of  the crime





... the victim and the perpetrator






... the wasp goes below to get things ready for the guest





... poor katydid lies there like turkey on the platter





... time to pull the victim down to meet the family






... oh, how I wish I had the fiberoptic cam to thread down into the nest to see just what happens next


This little vignette is right out of a Discovery Channel nature show. I have watched these wasps for the past three years, when they began taking up residence under the bricks of my terrace. They are not aggressive to humans at all and have no real tendencies to protect their nest entrances. They buzz about but co-exist well with us. If we rough the sand up by the entrances with the hose, our feet or chairs, they simply wait for us to clear the area and then stand in the entrance holes and dig the sand clear again. No worries ... unless you are a katydid or caterpillar, that is!

Nature certainly is a wonder, isn't it?

To see what others are posting on Alyce's weekly photoshare, click the link and check out all the different posts! Perhaps you will be inspired to share some of your original photos!




16 comments:

  1. Never seen such interesting scene of crime pictures! Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Oh wow, what great shots! That poor katydid :(

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  3. Great photos! Nature seems cruel at times, but we'd have too many kaydids around if it weren't for the wasps.

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  4. Great shots! I don't think I could be that calm about the nests, though...

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  5. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who loves to observe insects! Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. That's crazy. I've seen a video of that on YouTube before, or something like. Amazing how that's going on right there near you. Honestly, those wasps look like they'd take on people and everything else, they're so aggressive with those katydids. What a great set of pictures!!

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  7. Sometimes a cruel world even in insect world. Very clear shots.

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  8. Those are the most amazing photos, and so informative. It must be fascinating to watch these wasps - I'm not sure we have that particular species or the katydids in England, though we do have do have all sorts of wasps, crickets and grasshoppers.

    By the way, I'm dying to know if the title of your blog is a tribute to Flann O'Brien (aka Myles na Gopaleen aka Brian O'Nolan)...

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  9. Nature mirrors life doesn't it. Thanks for posting this vivid sequence. Thanks for stopping by Ripple Effects. -- Arti

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  10. Nature really is a wonder - thanks for this excellent series os photographs!

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  11. Absolutely amazing! And cruel too, yes. Poor little katydidn't!
    Thanks for stopping by my pictures of the girl's lining up to see Chris Colfer. Glad you were able to see Jodi Piccoult and her daughter - what a wonderful mother/daughter activity, eh?

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  12. That's a great series of photos! I would never have thought of doing that. Our wasps tend to be aggressive and nasty so I'm never pleased to see any.

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  13. That must have taken some patience on your part to get those shots. I'm glad you included the narrative for us too! We get wasps that build onto our house, so we have to knock the nests down from the eaves - and they are very pesky.

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  14. Oh Alyce, we have those pesky buggers too! My husband gets the job of poking the nests with a loing stick or spraying at dusk ... they can be mean stingers, those paper wasps!

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  15. Wow, great pics! I'd be terrified to have the fiber optic cam, though! Who knows what's down there :)

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