Q: How does the mud dauber make the buzzing sound when nest building? The wings do not appear to move.

A: Mud daubers do indeed make a buzzing sound when they are working. I’ve noticed it when visiting barns and sheds. I don’t hear the buzz when they fly, so my bet is that their wings are hitting/rubbing the clay walls of their “tubes”. It wouldn’t take much movement to make a sound and if the wings vibrate slightly the hard mud surface would amplify the noise.

My bet is that the noise is not defensive but is simply a byproduct of her happily constructing the clay cells in which she will deposit spiders and the eggs that will eventually hatch and consume the hapless creature.

see Wasps and Their Ways

dirt dauber tubes