New from Tampa and can?t identify this?

[Vince.kingsley]

Hi,
Just joined and I am from Tampa, Fl.
Main reason I joined is I came across[attachment=0][/attachment] the largest hornet I have even seen by my pool and when my kids asked what kind is it my response was let?s ask the experts.
Any ideas?

[BeeMaster2]

Does it look like this?

[attachment=0][/attachment]

[attachment=1][/attachment]

Jim Altmiller

[Donovan J]

Looks like a cicada killer. Pretty big bees

[cao]

+1 on cicada killer.

[Vince.kingsley]

Yes it does look similar with a very long and scary stinger on the end.

[Bob Wilson]

I used to see these all the time at the old Wake Forest campus in North Carolina. They would fly around us by the dozens and into their holes in the ground. I thought they were hornets and dangerous. But they were never aggressive. Not even a bit, as the cicada killer description on the internet article I read says. Nice to know.