Beetle Bailey

One morning recently I noticed a pile of dirt in the yard beside the driveway. "Please, not fire ants!" was my first thought. I went over to inspect. This is what I saw.

There at the top is a deep hole. Some critter had worked all  night scooping out dirt - or sand, I should say, since it's the lowcountry. It reminded me of the little ghost crab holes along the sand dunes, but I don't live on the beach. No crabs here!

I've watched the pile of dirt grow every day. I got Rosemary to do a little foot modeling to give you an idea of its size now.

Finally tonight we got a glimpse of the critter. It's some sort of beetle I think. It's kind of a rusty red color with black legs. It doesn't much appreciate it when we dribble bits of sand back down into the hole. He's shy though. This is as much of himself as he'll show us.

If anyone knows what this critter is, please tell me. Until then, thanks to my father's sense of humor, we're calling him Beetle Bailey.