Let's play name the critter...
 

So I got to visit my house today after about three weeks away and found this on my shutters:

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...v/9b0b03f0.jpg

I found a smaller quantity of the dry, dirt substance last month. When I scraped it off there were insect larvae in it. I suspect this is more of the same. The question is what kind of insect?

I also have a new summer boarder who I hope does not have a white stripe.

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...v/c0961ab9.jpg

Any ideas?

looks like the work of carpenter ants

It defiantly looks like a termite tunnel to me...... The only thing that has me wondering is that it appears to be on PVC or composite material of some sort and they do not touch those materials.

If the residue ...
 

... feels like sand to the touch then I would guess some kind of sand dauber wasp.

It feels like hardened, crispy, regurgitated sand.

Jonas is correct. It is a mud dauber nest on the shutters.

The hole could be a skunk or ground hog. They share burrows.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...b/IMG_1002.jpg

Caddy Shack
 

"I want you to go out there and kill all of the golfers"
"I can't do that, if i kill all of the golfers then noone will be golfing"
:laugh:

I expect my Cairn Terrier to dive into the hole in search of the critter. A skunk encounter would be a significantly different experience than that of a ground hog.

Any ideas on deterring the mud daubers?

There are no termites in the lakes region of NH but there are plenty of carpenter ants which are a greater threat to property.

Would carpenter ants do this to my plastic shutters? I'm hoping for mud daubers.

I can almost guarantee it's mud daubers doing that to your shutters. They're also called dirt daubers and they build anywhere they can get two things: water and dirt. They're prolific in the South and would raise havoc on a home (and were hell on construction sites - they'd get ahold of the mud (mortar) and those nests were impossible to clean off!)

It appears they had plans for your home. We have the type that build nests that look like pipe organs up here.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sR_MszAgX_...0/P1060477.JPG


The other is a groundhog hole. We had a family of them at our house when we moved in - I'd named him Portnoy from Bloom County.

Hubby read that they don't like cat poo, so he cleaned the litter boxes and shoveled the litter into Portnoy's home - and Portnoy promptly moved out; never been back. (I think he became a speed bump.)

Critter update...
 

I filled the gopher hole with rocks, dirt and mulch. There has been no attempt to re-excavate.

I blasted the dirt deposits and the back of the shutters with wasp spray. So far they havent returned.

But...
My lawn looks like a sieve, as in well perforated. Let's hope the Grub-X works!