It was only recently that I saw my first Great Golden Digger Wasp

It was only recently that I saw my first Great Golden Digger Wasp and it was quite impressive. In fact there were several females busy doing their tunnel digging and I just had to learn more about them. Two Professors of Cognitive Science did a study of these interesting wasps and certain behavioral aspects that they have. As I witnessed and photographed their work, it was truly a remarkable experience. These wasps are quite large, 1 to 2" in length, black heads abdomen and thorax with golden red legs. Their black wings are so vivid, they look almost navy blue in the sunlight. Evidently from what I have gleaned these wasps are non-threatening, do not defend their nests as many wasps, hornets and bees do, they are non-aggressive and do more good than harm. The two Professors found that even when certain things are changed in the routine of these wasps, they go back to where they began, so as to keep every act in a sequence, which they understand, and will not deviate from. They dig a main tunnel and then many secondary tunnels that lead to many larval cells. The wasp will hunt cricket, grasshopper and katydid larvae, sting them until the are anesthetized and leave them along side the tunnel. She unearths the tunnel with her mandibles and after making sure that everything is good order, she will come back out and grab the prey and drag it into her nest. Once she reaches the individual larval cells, she will deposit each insect she has captured and place them into the cells and then lay an egg on top of each insect, placing it horizontally on the prey's thorax, which will serve as a source of food for the young wasp as it develops. These observations are stunning to me, in that such a small creature has this built in system of doing things, and it all works according to how they were created to behave~