I made a call to my dad who I know always has wasp nests around his property. Of course, he didn't know I was going to be wanting to see his nests so he had cleaned them all out a few days ago. Sigh. I was so discouraged because I wasn't aware of any nests at our house.
I mentioned this to Mr. B and he immediately knew where there was the beginnings of a nest up in the eaves of our patio. Wahoo! I was excited and he thought I was nuts. I asked him to bring over a ladder so we could climb up and get a good view and he was not thrilled about the prospect of getting up close to the nest. It is an active nest and he has been stung before and know that they hurt. I told him I would do the climbing and take a few quick photos.
We decided after some investigation that this is a paper wasp nest and not a yellow jacket nest. Paper wasps have open celled hanging nests and yellow jackets are usually subterranean or enclosed.
This was an amazing structure and it is only because of the information in the Handbook of Nature Study that we were moved to peer closely at this insect's home.
We found this webpage to be helpful: Wasps, Yellow jackets, and Hornets.
We have found several other insects that we think are yellow jackets so this study will be on-going as we move through the summer and into our picnic season. In our part of the country we often times call yellow jackets by another name, meat bee. I thought this was because they always come around when we have a burger on our plates but after some reading online I learned it is because they ofter eat other insects (hence the reference to meat?).
On another insect note from the week, we found these interesting eggs on the backside of the hydrangea leaves. We identified them as harlequin bug eggs. I can't get over how each creature is as unique from the very beginning as they are as adults. We were able to ID this bug from the tiniest details on the eggs. Amazing.
What a great start to our summer nature study! We posted our first photo in the Summer Photo Challenge: Cricket! Everyone is welcome to join the photo challenge at any time.
Also, don't forget to submit your blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Every entry this month is an entry into the Your Backyard Monarch Butterfly Giveaway as announced in the June Newsletter. Take advantage of the time to get outside with your children this month, even if it is just a few minutes and you follow your child's lead. Keep it simple and enjoy it!
You can see one of my dad's paper wasp nests in this entry: Paper Wasps
