One of my most satisfying trips to Sabino Canyon ever, this scene was the culmination of a morning of unusual sightings,
including seeing two desert tortoises. As expected, this young tarantula did not survive the encounter. More pics
capturing most of the drama as it played out are posted below.

This is my second experience in witnessing such an encounter. The first one is documented here: www.pbase.com/pegsam/tarantula_hawk


Here's the series (all images are copyright protected and may not be used in any manner without written permission):

The combatants as we came upon the scene:



The first of three fly-overs:



The wasp being deflected by the tarantula:



The wasp looking for an angle of attack:



Final approach for the strike:



Six against eight:



First sting attempt:



Making sure the sting is delivered:



Game over. The wasp is now on to find a place to deposit the tarantula, which isn't going anywhere.
Note how the wasp has its antennae on the ground looking for the scent back to the tarantula's burrow:



Burrow found, now looking for an appropriate tug point to haul the tarantula back:



Grabbing hold to begin the pull:



Making sure the burrow is clear:



Down we go (memory card full, switched to an iPhone):



It took about a minute for the wasp to pull the tarantula past some tight spot in the burrow,
but eventually brute force worked. Less than 5 minutes for this entire scene to play out: