A wind chime hangs outside my bedroom; it makes a lovely
yoga meditation bonging in a breeze, a more continuous sound in a storm. One day, in the midst of a thunderstorm, I
noticed it was moving, but hardly making any noise. When the storm ended I went out to look at it
wondering how a wind chime could break when I noticed bundled grass sticking
out of each chime.
Now who was the perpetrator of that? Some overzealous nesting wren that just got
carried away stuffing things? That didn’t seem that likely for never could a
wren wiggle into this. Nor a hummingbird,
for nest building is really a pretty preprogrammed thing and they use spider
webs, lichens etc. and not even the diminutive hummingbird could get itself
into one of these tubes, so who? Some
one who was tired of the clanging?
Then, last week, as I was hanging out the clothes, along
comes a lovely black wasp, one with a thread waist, and trailing from its legs,
was a long piece of grass. WOW, this is
the guy! And it heads for a small hole
in an iron chair, disappears inside and slowly the blade of grass is drawn in
behind it. Amazing! So, off to Google and it turns out, indeed it
IS one of the thread-waisted wasps, Isodontia
Mexicana, to be exact.
These are non-aggressive wasps that live throughout North
America and make their nests in any existing long holes, a favorite supposedly
being behind your storm windows or in my case in a wind chime.
They line the nest with grass, make separate
chambers, laying one egg in each and then go off to hunt for a nice juicy
grasshopper or katydid
which they will sting and paralyze, not kill, so that
the emerging larvae can dine on fresh grasshopper as it grows. Then, that larva will pupate and emerge as
this lovely black wasp with amber wings.
Won’t I be lucky if I get to see that!
So, no Zen like wind chime for a while, but I am hoping that
when they emerge they must push out the plug, so once the grass is gone the
music shall return. The chair they it is
nesting in might need to be sat in with caution for a while. But a small price to pay for getting this
window on an event I never knew about before.
Life is full of such marvelous mysteries and when one gets to be solved
it is sweet indeed.
wow awesome, they have found refuge in my wind chimes as well
ReplyDeleteWow, I wanted to know what makes its nest in my wind chimes every year. So I popped one nest out & put it in a jar checking on it frequently. This morning he popped out of the next eager to get out of the jar. So exciting watching it fly away!
ReplyDeleteMud Daubers have triple nests in my bamboo wind chimes, along with tubes on window casings. None emerged last summer,nor so far this year. I've rescued them from other tubes, putting water by their exit when I can get the tubes off with a putty knife. IDK HOW to get them out of the bamboo chimes. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteWow, what an intriguing story! I never would have guessed that a wasp was responsible for such a unique behavior. It's fascinating how nature works in such unexpected ways. If you ever find yourself dealing with these wasps or their nests, you might want to check out this helpful guide on how to Get Rid of Grass Carrying Wasp Nest. It's full of tips that might come in handy for anyone facing a similar situation. Thanks for sharing this interesting experience!
ReplyDelete