Large ugly fat ground burrowing bee-like things

We have three holes (where there use to be voles) that were recently dug. With have seen about 2-3 (no more) large-inch bee like things fly out and around. They are very fat, they have no cinch in their waist, and are stiped like a bee with a red tip. I won't get any close to look at them. They have taken up right under our areaway step and they pest company we have will not treat for ground burrowing bees even if they are not yellow jackets which is very lame indeed.

Anyone know what these are? I am not convinced they are bees. They don't seem aggressive but with kids playing in our backyard you can understand my concern.

 

I've seen a few of these things too. When my hubby first saw one he thought it might be a baby hummingbird because it hovers, but then we saw the antennae. And I saw one in my butterfly bush and thought i was the mother of all bumblebees, but upon closer inspection I saw that it was a good 3 times the size of a bumble bee, and it was red on the lower half as you describe.

I'm afraid to google it because I dont' want a close up picture of a bug staring at me. So I'm glad you asked.

I didn't realize they were ground burrowing?!

 

Possibly a Cicada Killer Wasp? They don't live in colonies which could be why you only saw several...

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N

 

OK... I got the courage to look at that image and I'm thrilled to report that is not what I saw. Anything with "killer" in its name can't be good.

 

From WTOP:

"Oh, and be aware that yellowjackets are small; under an inch long. If the fearsome looking creatures giving you the jitters are BIG-like two inches long-don't worry. Those are the amazing cicada-killing wasps. A real wonder of nature, these wasps don't bother people. They just kill cicadas and then drag the huge insects to an underground lair, where the dead departed cicada will feed the next generation of wasps."

Here is the link to the whole article:
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=47&sid=1197268

 

ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh... killing cicadas. That's fine in my book! But these what I believe hberg is talking about isn't nearly as 'bee looking' as that. It's much fatter and a bit fuzzy, which is what made me think it might be a huge bumblebee. But its bottom half is red, not yellow. And while I didn't get close enough to measure, I'd bet it's bigger around than my big toe.

 

ahhh....sorry. I didn't get the 'red' part first time around.

 

I've seen these weird creatures too Don't look like the killer cicada wasp though. Almost furry/featherlike but not really..is that vague enough?

 

these sound like hummingbird moths. they do look like baby hummingbirds! i found them last year, hovering over our hanging plants just like our hummingbirds do. http://www.birds-n-garden.com/hummingbird_moths.html

 

I bet you're right! None of those photos look exactly like the one I saw, but after googling, I think it was just a different variety.

 

local golfers should have seen plenty of these on the goose creek course

 

Here's the red variety:

 

They are HUGE, and they do not look like the photos showing the cicada wasps.

I would say it does look like a hummingbird moth but does anyone know if the burrow into the ground? I did not see that on the internet. Please say yes, please say yes.

 

OK..."yes"

No clue if that's RIGHT or not.

 

This is totally what we used to see..they'd hover over the plants & disappear as I was trying to take a picture

 

It looks a lot like the 3rd one down on the list on this webpage http://www.whatsthatbug.com/clearwing_moth.html

 

The ones we've seen around our house are dirt burrowing, have yellow/black markings yet look a lot like a huge hornet/wasp, and have a huge black stinger. They hover around our garage door and I swear their out for me as I try to unload my kids out of the car. We have killed two so far so we got to get a close look. No clue as to what they are but the second one we killed was still trying to 'sting' as it was laying on the ground. It did not look like a moth or hummingbird. If anything, it looks more like the cicada killing wasp. We have seen them digging on the dirt between our flagstone patio out back. They have long front 'legs' they use to dig. YUCK. I am terrified of them. Maybe, I shouldn't be as I'm grossed out by cicadas too....