Friendly neighborhood cicada killer

This is the largest wasp found around here -- to get a sense of its size, that's a 2x4 (actually, 1.5x3.5-inch) board it's resting on.

They're normally docile, unless it's a female and you're a cicada, or it's a male and you're another male cicada killer. The females sting, and have an impressive stinger to prove it; the males don't sting -- couldn't if they wanted to. I think that this is a male, but am not certain. Getting down to less than a foot from it helped me improve my technique of moving very slowly. For those keeping score, it is Sphecius speciosus.