What is it - gopher, mole, vole, aliens?

[Wysocki]

The past few months I've noticed a few small pushed-up piles of crumbly soil, typically just a few inches across. There are no noticeable trails between the piles and I've not been able to uncover any kind of opening under them. I believe they're too small for gophers, no tunnel evidence for moles, and no open tunnels for voles. So what are they and how do I make their lives miserable and short?

 

[Chuck]

The past few months I've noticed a few small pushed-up piles of crumbly soil, typically just a few inches across. There are no noticeable trails between the piles and I've not been able to uncover any kind of opening under them. I believe they're too small for gophers, no tunnel evidence for moles, and no open tunnels for voles. So what are they and how do I make their lives miserable and short?
View attachment 70473

It's probably earthworm castings

 

[Tetters]

........so be glad of them - they help!

 

[Wysocki]

Hmm, I doubt it's earthworms. When I lived in Michigan, we had huge nightcrawlers. But we only have a few, very small earthworms in So.Calif. And to make a casting pile that big would require a worm to eat a couple of burritos! They definitely don't help my lawn - they cause a lot of barren spots where the mounds are.

 

[Tetters]

How about crane fly larvae then

 

[roadrunner]

I see mole tunnels a lot in my yard that don't have an opening; the tunnels just seem to to be raised in certain areas.

 

[the lawnsman]

we have the big, non aggressive wasps that we call "cicada killers", as they burrow down underground hunting the cicada.

You can tell where they've been active, as they leave a very fine crumbly small pile of soil, almost sand like.

I've often seen them flying low, sometimes in groups, but like I said, very non aggressive, I've cut lawns where they were abundant with no problem.

(yellow jackets another story!)