Mud Dauber - Nature's Master Mason-and-Potter

Mud Dauber

 Nature's Master Mason-and-Potter 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Nests of Philippine Mud Dauber Sceliphron curvatum 

Note skin castings of its own offspring and their preys, 

mainly caterpillars and spiders.

Spent mud dauber nest, larger and sturdier.

 Photos by the author. 

“The mud dauber doesn’t seek praise; its work speaks for itself in the intricate, lasting beauty of its nest.”

Mud dauber at work (Internet)

Call this tiny wasp akup-akup in Ilocano dialect;

relative of the paper wasp - alumpipinig, putakti,

falsely feared for its sting, unlike the hornet,

friendly like the alimbubuyog, the bumble bee.

This wasp is nature's mason and potter combined,

for which it got its name and craft - mud dauber;

mimic to man's masonry - or is it the other way?

Ingeniously it builds a beautiful nest under cover.

In our younger days, we would examine its nest,

to find spiders, caterpillars alive but paralyzed,

for its larvae to feed on them until maturity,

a puzzle neither we understood nor realized.

Until in later years we read about Henri Fabre*,

a naturalist who studied this queer creature;

subject of many stories for both old and young 

in medicine, the humanities and architecture.

 “Just as the mud dauber builds its home piece by piece, 

we must build our lives with patience and persistence.”

- Proverb 

Henri Fabre (1823–1915) was a French entomologist, naturalist, and author,

renowned for his detailed and pioneering observations of insect behavior, particularly in studying the life habits of bees, wasps, and other arthropods, combining meticulous experiment with careful observation. ~