Like other solitary wasps with no large colony to defend cicada killers usually ignore people as they go about their business of digging holes and hunting for cicadas. A mound of fine soil ...

Insects also make holes. Ants, yellow jackets and cicada killer wasps live in the soil. Their holes can range from 1/8-in for a cornfield ant to a couple of inches across for wasps and cicada killers.

Although many wasps fall into this category, the most common ground wasps are yellow jackets, cicada killer wasps ... small conical piles of dirt with holes in the center of each mound.

In this May 29, 2024, file photo, shells left behind by cicada nymphs from an emerging 17-year cicada brood remain on the ground next to holes created when they burrowed to the surface in Park Ridge, ...