Live adult mud daubers photographed at Winfield IL during June - mid September. These wasps are extremely active and rarely stay in one place for more than a few seconds. I've never been lucky enough to find one gathering mud for its nest, neither have I ever seen a nest. I most frequently come across them hunting for prey amongst low vegetation, although I've never seen one catch anything, darn it. The terrible drought in the summer of 2005 in northern Illinois seemed to be good for these lovely creatures- I saw dozens of them, whereas they are usually quite rare.