The blue paleo verde (Parkinsonia florida/Cercidium floridum) has been in bloom for over a week now, shown here with a yellow flowered aloe.

Sunday afternoon I noticed something “big” (maybe an inch and half long?) but non-hummingbird like in the yellow flowers — turned out to a be a Tarantula hawk, maybe Pepsis grossa.

Turns out they mostly eat nectar, but get their ominous sounding name from the fact that females stalk, sting and paralyze tarantulas and then lay their eggs in them. I’ve never seen any tarantulas in my garden (or anywhere for that matter, aside from seeing one last fall in Zion National Park). Maybe there are more creatures (inducing tarantulas) out there in my neighborhood than I realize.

Good thing I’m not overly scared of spiders.