Tarantula Hawk

So, learning about new creatures isn't always so amazing. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but last summer (July 2017) I saw a large and bright flying thing in the backyard. I got excited, I thought maybe it was a dragonfly and started to heads towards it with my phone to take a photo. My turtle was hanging out under the sprinkler, it was a hot day, and the not so little insect was also thirsty. Which is not something you would think a dragonfly would do. I creep a little closer, and something about the body shape gives me pause... And the color was from its wings, not its body which was also odd. It's now very close to turtle and turtle is interested in its bright color. Luckily the new thing moved, gathering more water, then flew into the tree to dry off. I continued to get closer, but not too close, trying to get a better photo.

I send my fuzzy photos and inquiry to my brother since he sometimes knows what these things are better than me and it turns out to be a TARANTULA HAWK (my photos suck, go to google). I have never heard of such a thing. It's a giant ass wasp that paralyzes tarantulas and lays eggs in them. And their sting is apparently VERY PAINFUL (someone designed a sting pain scale of 0-4, bee stings is a 2 and this wasp is a 4). Though "only lasts five minutes" of which the only thing you can do is lay down and scream. Five minutes is a hellava long time to be in that much pain.

Shane said good thing something told me not to get too close. They aren't aggressive, but that could have been a bad day.