Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: What is this stingy-thing?, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
I'd love to see a picture of the hummingbird skewering one of those hornets. That would be one of those rare photographic moments.

I was stung by one when I was a kid living in Maryland. My buddies and I decided to pick some apples at an old abandonded farm but we didn't see the hornet nest hanging in the same tree. Needless to say we all got stung before we even realized what had happened. I got stung on the middle finger and my hand swelled up past my wrist. You want to avoid these if you can.

I wasn't happy with that last picture so I went back out with a smaller (much lighter) lens and an external flash. I think the flash made a huge difference. The nest is practically hidden under all the dense canopy and the sky is overcast.