I Want To Talk About That Mud Puddle

Yes, yes, yes…I see them. Those oaks ARE beautiful! But, really, I do want to talk about that mud puddle. Because, I want to talk about Mud Daubers. This unbelievably beautiful view is off the front porch of Rochelle Plantation’s main house. That direction we are looking is the finest selection of coastal plain of the South Carolina Santee River Delta I can find and I am lucky enough to get to wake here and have some coffee and walk about. We are looking East towards Bulls Bay, ultimately leading to the Atlantic Ocean. Very close to being beneath sea level, too. So, the bugs around these parts are plentiful and varied and important and some can be super cool and interesting. Like, the Mud Daubers, or Dirt Daubers, or Sphecidae Wasps, a category of thread-waisted wasps that build their nests from mud and cling them to the side of the cabin. Or, porch. Or, bury them up in the bow of your jon boat. These wasps abound around Rochelle. I have seen their nests all over the joint. They fly down to that particular mud puddle there after a rain and navigate their tiny bodies to the rim and collect their material for home building. They are non-aggressive to humans. No need to fear. What they really want to eat and feed their young and store in their tubular larders are Black Widows. Dang, can you say “Thank you?”