Wasps

[rmb...@istar.ca]

I mentioned yesterday that I had a yellowjacket wasp at the window,
and was going to capture it before Wild Puppy tried to eat it. I
caught with my trusty Lee Valley Tools bug catcher, and while peering
at it noticed that it was darker than the one I had captured a few
days before. I managed to wrangle the now-angry wasp into a bug
container, and set it in the refrigerator to cool it down and
photograph it. iNaturalist tells me that it is Widow Yellowjacket,
Vespula vidua. That is a different species from the previous one, a
German yellowjacket, Vespula germanica. I had not paid much attention
to the different species of yellowjackets, all I know is that they
have stung me with very little or no provocation, and that it is a
daunting task to remove a nest. I don't remember noticing a dark
yellowjacket, only the little yellow striped ones that buzz angrily
around my head when disturbed.

German yellowjacket: May 19, 2026

Widow yellowjacket: June 3, 2026

Bald-faced hornet: May 27, 2026





The other wasp that I approach warily is the bald-faced hornet, I have
had 2 at the windows in the midst of the moths, I am hoping I don't
come across a nest nearby.

Rose-Marie, north of Perth Road Village

[I Macaulay]

Are these guys still alive when you photo them?  They look like they are asleep.

Now I am going to have to find out what type of Bee I have bothering me.  They hang out at my doorway and when someone goes to open the door often there is a wasp on the handle.  

Senility has been a smooth transition for me.

Note New Hours

Ian Macaulay   Carp, Ontario

Open at 11:AM   Close at 5:00 PM

45.2397 N long: 76.0991 W Elv 137 M UTM
    Don't Forget to Save the Stamps

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[rmb...@istar.ca]

They're alive, just chillin'. Literally. I put the container in the
refrigerator for about 15 to 20 minutes and the cold makes them sit
still. Take your photo quick, because it doesn't take long for them
to warm up again, and they wake up grumpy. I set them on the table on
the balcony, get my shots, then go back inside while they recover and
buzz off.

Rose-Marie

Quoting 'I Macaulay' via NatureList <natur...@googlegroups.com>:

> Are these guys still alive when you photo them?  They look like they

> are asleep.Now I am going to have to find out what type of Bee I

> have bothering me.  They hang out at my doorway and when someone
> goes to open the door often there is a wasp on the handle.  
>
>
> Senility has been a smooth transition for me.
> Note New Hours
>
> Ian Macaulay   Carp, Ontario

> Open at 11:AM   Close at 5:00 PM45.2397 N long: 76.0991 W Elv 137 M UTM

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/1884865058.1136036.1780589350232%40mail.yahoo.com.
>

[I Macaulay]

Amazed,  

Senility has been a smooth transition for me.

Note New Hours

Ian Macaulay   Carp, Ontario

Open at 11:AM   Close at 5:00 PM

45.2397 N long: 76.0991 W Elv 137 M UTM
    Don't Forget to Save the Stamps

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/20260604121906.20123ujmiairfdkq%40webmail.ca.inter.net.

[Frederick W. Schueler]

On 6/4/2026 11:33 AM, rmb...@istar.ca wrote:
> The other wasp that I approach warily is the bald-faced hornet, I have
> had 2 at the windows in the midst of the moths, I am hoping I don't come
> across a nest nearby.

* we haven't seen any of these, despite finding a few nests around the
village when the leaves fell last fall. I was hoping to get photos of
them gnawing bark off the Cathartic Buckthorns, which they do in the
spring, leaving scars a few cm in size, but that would be chancy even if
the hornets were around.

On Bishops Mills Day I brushed some lint off my pants, without looking
to see that it was a Yellowjacket, and she stung my finger - she looked
like Rose-Marie's Vespula vidua, and we've twice had similar ones
trapped between the screen and glass of the front door.

Other than that it's the one European Hornet and lots of Polistes that
I've mentioned before.

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------

[Aleta Karstad]

On Jun 4, 2026, at 1:53 PM, Frederick W. Schueler <bck...@istar.ca> wrote:
>
> On Bishops Mills Day I brushed some lint off my pants, without looking to see that it was a Yellowjacket, and she stung my finger - she looked like Rose-Marie's Vespula vidua, and we've twice had similar ones trapped between the screen and glass of the front door.
>
> Other than that it's the one European Hornet and lots of Polistes that I've mentioned before.

… and one giant Vespa on 27 May, found indoors and set free on our woodshed door.