knudenoggin
Aug 24, 2012, 6:33 AM
Views: 6445
Registered: May 6, 2004
Posts: 596
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rgold wrote: Those wasps have almost disappeared, but have been replaced by Yellow Jackets, which as billicoe says are far worse. Their stings really hurt, and because their nests are built in the ground (or in dirt on ledges or in cracks), and are not visible constructions tacked onto the rock, they are almost impossible to spot until you've disturbed the nest. ( If you see a yellow jacket or two around and stand very quietly, you can usually spot a steady stream of them going in and out of a hole in the dirt that marks the nest site.) If the pad was suddenly covered with "bees," I think it is most likely that it got thrown down on or very near a yellow jacket nest in the ground and caused a general alert.
Ah, some sense!
Yes, if **bees* (or yellow jackets --of whatever species) were drawn
to the pad by color / scent / or just a desire to crash, they'd hardly
be keen to sting you. (Esp. honeybees, as they'll die for it.)
Yes, by time June rolls around, yellow jackets which typically have
quite populous nests are usually able to be spotted --nest locale, i.e.--
by watching an area to see any "bee-line" trajectory of such an
insect --can be just one that tips you off to look more closely.
(They are sometimes like those WWII Douglas? torpedo bombers,
as they carry off a load of soil from excavation of the nest site.)
Rather sad to read "those wasps have almost disappeared". I recall
noting with sadness the absence of the common, suburban polistes
wasps --what I presume you had in the Gunks (open, single-comb,
paper nests ; orange&yellow-ish wasps; usually brown variety had
more secluded nests)--; I recall watching some parasitic fly stand
w/focused attention at one starting nest, awaiting the solo queen's
inevitable departure which would leave the nest vulnerable to the
egg-laying parasite, and the queen to nurture nothing of her young.
Sad.
Mostly these wasps prey on caterpillars.
More recently, I became aware a polistes wasp colored like yellow
jackets --same black & yellow, not the orange-ish w/brown--, and
having like behavior in scavenging just any ol' *meat*. One time,
one alighted on my hand, and as I was reaching for the camera to
get a photo, she BIT me --"I want a piece of you!" OW. Shook
off, no photo, sorry.
Nearby, yellow jackets have come to scavenge the rejected,
aged, dead honeybees at a hive in a walnut tree. A european hornet
came to take some live one in mid-flight ; a bald-faced hornet came
to ... hard to figure what --some damn inept attempts to catch a
fly; later, mingling w/the bees to lick whatever was at hive entry!
Shocking was how UNinterested honeybees were at their nest cavity
--moving away from or just ignoring my finger. !? Don't try this
with the wasps, 'cept maybe late September, and cool.
*kN*
ps: If you're on a street or "bike path", watch out for these guys:
http://www.lissgallery.com/..._pages/Beecycles.htm
2nd pic is at night, of the humming mass at hive's entry in the
hollow.
(This post was edited by knudenoggin on Aug 24, 2012, 4:01 PM)
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bees_pointedly-P1010140-M640.jpg
