Hi.. I am much much better at ID'ing birds, and often the only way to determine once and for all a tricky ID is by behavior.
I'll confess I am no expert on wasp ID, but I noticed one thing from the main description that might help. it was stated that the wasp twitched it's wings alot. Don't mud daubers do that alot? Unless the cricket hunter does that too, the behavior might confirm your initial ID of the blue mud dauber.

If not, forget I wrote this. ;) just thought I'd chip in.

KP

I was thinking along the same lines, however, I was surprised to read someone also attribute the the clicking to a cricket killer, so my hopes were dashed! I still see this wasp often. Maybe someday I will see him with his prey!

I am researching common backyard wasps for a public educational program I'll present this September, and I remembered reading something Eric Eaton wrote in another posting series regarding these same two species. (Wow... how's that for a run-on sentence, eh???)
Anyway... HE said that Chlorion aerarium (Steel-blue Cricket Hunter) is "rarely seen at flowers." Keep an eye out and try to observe whether or not he/she visits your flowers.


I see you noted your pretty wasp patrolling your pond. Try to see if it gathers blobs of mud. If yes, it's the dauber. The Cricket Hunter is a digger, so they won't be interested your mud.

If you're not familiar with the Blue Dauber's nest, here's a nice shot:

Sooo.... twitchy wings, flowers, and mud nest= Blue Dauber.


I also have Daubers (Both Blue and Black and Yellow) that visit a muddy spot in my little pond, and they even have a pair of nests right on my porch- across from the Paper Wasp nest! I also have Great Golden Diggers, and Golden Diggers. Not to mention oodles of bumblebees. It's funny..I never really noticed them until I started to do this program's research. Now I see them everywhere. cool, eh?

Hope you'll enjoy your detective work! I love this sort of thing. if I can't figure out what something new is, it actually keeps me awake sometimes! I'll obsess over it until I get it! I'm wierd that way.
But hey... it's my job. How cool is that??????!!!!

;)

Karen

In the past I may have gone to greater length to solve this mystery. The mitigating factors are that the entire insect world is like a new discovery for me. I think of it as a blue mud dauber, though, it is just tentative. There are far more spiders around here than crickets, so I just don't see why cricket killers would make a home here. It is a very rare night that you can hear a cricket. That and the fact that the size seems closer to that of blue mud dauber. In my patio, laundry room, there is a strange mud nest but it is small and just has one hole, like it housed only one insect. It is located high up on the wall, and has a very odd green color to the mud. The single hole is pretty large too. I don't think it is being used, but then, I have only looked during the day so who knows.