Wasp Waisted

When I was taking a photo of the water level at the dam I saw a number of large wasps flying onto the mud at the edge of the water.  Luckily the zoom lens meant I didn’t have to get too close, and I was amazed to see how tiny its waist was.   Then I realised that probably meant that it was able to move its stinging abdomen in any direction which made me a little uncomfortable.  According to the CSIRO these Mud Dauber Wasps are harmless, but according to wikipedia almost 200 people died in an air crash after wasps built their nests in the pitot tubes on the plane which are supposed to give feedback on speed.  We had a similar experience when the diesel wouldn’t come out of the pump when we were trying to fill the tractor – Brad found a wasp nest – complete with paralysed spiders in the tube.