Petrified Trees & Parasitic Wasps!

Just some slides today of our wanderings in Northern Arizona and the story of very exciting wildlife. Last night as the sun was setting, we watched a tarantula hawk dragging her newly paralyzed tarantula back to her brood den. Tarantula hawks are a species of parasitic wasp, and I love parasitic wasps, so this was a real treat for me, not so sure about Lisa though. The tarantula was about three times her size and it was simply fascinating to watch her drag it backwards over grasses and shrubs. It was much too dark for pictures since Arizona doesn’t believe in daylight savings and the sun sets at 6:15 pm, so Google tarantula hawk and you’ll get to see a fantastic insect and learn more about parasitic wasps. And you should because there are more species of parasitic wasps than there are vertebrates in the world; well that and they are just cool.

Painted Desert

Never seen badlands this purple before

Petrified wood on the Blue Mesa trail

Long Logs trail

800 year-old pueblo built of petrified wood

Wukoki Pueblo

Wupatki Pueblo

View from the Little Horse Trail

Cathedral Rock, Sedona