Insects also make holes. Ants, yellow jackets and cicada killer wasps live in the soil. Their holes can range from 1/8-in for a cornfield ant to a couple of inches across for wasps and cicada killers.

Like other solitary wasps with no large colony to defend cicada killers usually ignore people as they go about their business of digging holes and hunting for cicadas. A mound of fine soil ...

These wasps are no doubt frightful in appearance ... The burrows female cicada killers make in lawns put holes in the ground and displace soil, creating a sore sight for property owners.

Three species of cicada that only emerge once every 17 years are gearing up to spring to the surface in droves.