- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Published on: June 10, 2013
Visitors to Bodega Head, Sonoma County, will see lupine, California golden poppies, wild radish, mustard, seaside daises and scores of other flowers in bloom.
And if they're lucky--a metallic blue digger wasp from the Sphecidae family of thread-waisted wasps.
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, identified this little critter (below) which preys on caterpillars.
"Sometimes they'll build their burrows on the side of the entrance of larger nests. Don't know why--maybe because the other insect activity will keep parasites away or maybe the soil is easier to dig."
Bodega Head is quite an attraction--winding trails, pounding surf, sand dunes--and sphecids!
![Metallic blue digger wasp from Sphecidae family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Metallic blue digger wasp from Sphecidae family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/16507.jpg)
Metallic blue digger wasp from Sphecidae family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
![Sphecid wasp enters a hole. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Sphecid wasp enters a hole. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/16509.jpg)
Digger wasp enters hole. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: blue wasp (1), digger wasp (1), Lynn Kimsey (412), metallic blue digger wasp (1), sphecid (1), Sphecidae (1)
Comments: 4
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/776668