3 inch killer bees!

I apologize for the quality of this photo, but I took it from inside my front doorway.

For the last 2 weeks, I have had a self diagnosed "3 inch killer bee" epidemic in front of my apartment.

Literally, the bushes are a breeding ground for them!

Every morning when I leave for work, I open my door to at least 30 of them. No joke. I counted one morning as they buzzed by.

Naturally, I waited a few days and called the apartment people to place a work order for maintenance to remedy the situation. I came home from work and the exterminator left a note that he had sprayed and everything should be fine.

Wrong!

I opened the door the next day and they had multiplied! Adrienne thought I was crazy, so I made her come visit and sure enough, she came before lunch and at least 20 of them were waiting for her.

So I went back to the apartment people and the exterminator came again.

The message that was left for me went something like this:

"Um ma'am, you don't have '3 inch killer bees' you have what's known as Cicada Killers. They won't hurt you. Well, the female will if you make her mad, so don't do that. But if you take a closer look they are all over the area and will be gone in about 2 to 3 weeks. You do have a large amount of them but spraying won't do nothing. We sprayed anyway but they aren't going to leave for a few more weeks. They are good for the environment though cause those Cicadas are loud"

So I googled "cicada killers" and came up with this lovely definition courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary, ground dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide. The highest diversity occurs in the region between North Africa and Central Asia....and your apartment!"

and this definition

"Adult Eastern cicada killer wasps are large, 1.5 to 5 cm (2/3 to 2 inches) long, robust wasps with hairy, reddish and black areas on the thorax (middle part), and are black to reddish brown marked with light yellow stripes on the abdominal (rear) segments. The wings are brownish. Coloration may superficially resemble that of yellowjackets or hornets. The females are somewhat larger than the males, and both are among the largest wasps seen in the Eastern United States, their unusual size giving them a uniquely fearsome appearance. European hornets (Vespa crabro) are often mistaken for Eastern cicada killers."

I also thought I'd include this picture from the definition. Really though, how am I supposed to walk to my car and stay away from those stinging females when they resemble one another so closely!

My oh my how I'm so pumped to be looking at that "uniquely fearsome appearance" for the next 2 weeks! Woo hoo!