The great golden digger wasp delivers — it’s HUGE and golden, the only part I haven’t seen is its digger qualities #wasp #greatgoldendiggerwasp 🌰🌿

Great Golden Digger Wasp and Western Honey Bee sharing Milkweed

#GreatGoldenDiggerWasp #Wasp #WesternHoneyBee #Bee #Pollinators #Milkweed #NativePlants

A Great Golden Digger Wasp perched on a Yellow Sage flower near Frenchglen, Oregon, in the southeastern part of the state near the Steens Mountain. These non-aggressive wasps are beneficial pollinators, and while males lack a stinger, females rarely use theirs except to paralyze prey. Nesting underground, the female stocks each chamber with immobilized insects—often grasshoppers or katydids—on which she lays a single egg. When the larva hatches, it consumes the still-living prey, ensuring a fresh food source.

A Great Golden Digger Wasp on a Yellow Sage flower near Frenchglen, Oregon in the southeastern part of the state. I took this in mid-September a few years ago while looking for a wild horse herd. #greatgoldendiggerwasp #oregon #steensmountain #wildlifephotography #invertebrates #frenchglen