Burrowing insect

[rhm3769]

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-54_great_golden_digger_wasp.htm
Think I have one of these hanging around.... Was trying to get a picture of some of the chocolate hab flowers that opened this morning, a wasp flew by so I backed off and checked out the other plants. Saw a mound of dirt at the base of a plant, looked at a different angle, there's a hole.... Grabbed a pic
http://imgur.com/fpi3tqq
Then the wasp flew by again, backed away again and watched it mess around with the hole. Couldn't get a picture of it, it kept moving and when it would stop, it was in the shade of a leaf and didn't show on the camera.... Black head, dark folded wings and orange/red legs, huge.... Sounds like the wasp from the first link.... It can stay....

 

[CAPCOM]

Yep, got them all over too. beneficial insects.

 

[Jerry Rigatoni]

I'm not an expert on these things, but it sounds like it may be something like a spider wasp.  I've seen them hunting burrowing spiders in the garden here in the Sacramento area.

 

[rhm3769]

Saw a monstrous cicada killer wasp today, too.... About the size of a AA battery. Kind of scary just from the size....