I am quite fascinated by the industrious way a mud dauber wasp goes about making it’s nest. Yesterday I was working in the garden planting several new plants and then watering them in. Within seconds several mud daubers came along (how did they find the mud so fast???) and immediately started rolling up humungous drops (OK…to him they were huge) of mud. (The mud ball was just a bit smaller than a pea.) They really didn’t care that I was there, and both of us went merrily on with our respective business at hand. I did have to stop however and get the camera, since they were doing some pretty cool stuff.Mud daubers bring these relatively huge balls of mud back to their nest site. This can be anywhere:  A wall inside your garage, on a stationary car (that’s another story), a box filled with possessions you have not touched in some time 😀  ,… etc.  It will build a little tunnel with mud, fill it with live, but paralyzed spiders that have been captured, and lay its eggs inside. Then the mud dauber will seal the tunnel. The larva will hatch, consume the unfortunate spiders, and then metamorphose into adult mud daubers and chew their way out of the nest.Mud daubers are not aggressive by nature, although they will sting if their nest is threatened or they are stepped on. (Understandably!!)

So for that reason, if you should chance upon this industrious wasp in your yard, remember that (if you don’t like spiders) they are helping by reducing the spider population in your immediate vicinity and are pretty beneficial. Give a wasp a chance!