I'm sitting on the bank of "Folsom Pond" looking for dragonflies and damselflies that might be playing amid the reeds and cattails.
Off to my left, I see a flash of red on a cluster of swamp milkweed. It is gone as quickly as it appears. This happens several times.
As is often the case when I am out looking about, the object of my attention shifts.
I move so I am literally staring only at the milkweed flower. The flash suddenly reappears -- a Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) is right before my eyes.
These solitary wasps hunt grasshoppers and crickets that they provision their underground tunnel nests. While rather intimidating looking, they very rarely sting.
