SKETCHBOOK: "Cicada Hawk"

About a month ago, I noticed what looked to be a "hornet" burrowing into the ground by my back screened porch door. Not allowed...so I sprayed it. But not to let a perfect specimen go to waste, I decided to sketch it!  As my daughter, Courtney, informed me...this was not a hornet.  It was actually a "CICADA KILLER" (or HAWK).  I looked up the insect online, and was pretty creeped out by it.  This is a female, and she was making a nest in the ground. They then sting and kill about 3 to 4 cicadas, bring them to the den, and start laying eggs in the cicadas.  Nasty.

But this lovely lady looks cool...and I couldn't resist a couple of evenings of sketch time with her.