Did you expect profundity from this blog this morning? Probably not.
Texas is home to many fascinating, wonderful, awesome, terrifying bugs. One such bug is the cicada killer. These giant wasps fly around until they find a cicada resting on a tree branch or bursting out of its carapace on the ground. Then, they sting it, paralyzing it and laying their eggs in it. They haul it off to an underground burrow, and when the eggs hatch, the offspring feast on the zombie cicada. Grim? It’s a lot like the relationship between television advertising and your offspring, but that’s a story for another time. Click the image for a bigger version.
These bugs are big enough to shoot, but they rarely bother you. Unlike some other stinging bugs, with these you want to move back quickly if they approach, because your only danger is being mistaken for an object on which there might be cicadas (obviously, don’t pick up a cicada killer to show to your friends). They are single-minded in their purpose, which in the odd paradoxical methods of nature, is love: they love their future children, and to feed them, they’re going to slaughter zombie cicadas. It’s also love for cicadas, and not just as a food source. The cicadas around here seem to be getting smarter about camouflage and staying alert with these big wasps buzzing around, talon-like stingers at the ready.