CLOSED: What is this stingy-thing?

I am in North east Ohio. Can someone tell me what this stingy thing is?

This is a bald-faced 'hornet'; Dolichovespula maculata (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) - see http://tinyurl.com/nf6yju for images and information. They have little or no sense of humor when their nest is disturbed...

The other day when I was limbing up a tree I did not know about the hornet nest higher up in the same tree. The next thing I knew I had 3 very angry hornets circling me and I froze solid. The valuable seconds ticking off led to more hornets buzzing around so I made a decision to hightail it out of the area instead of waiting for the entire nest to locate the one who disturbed their nest. I cannot believe my good fortune of not receiving one sting out of that encounter. Yellow jackets would've been another story.

I had another hornet's nest in a privet bush up next to the front of our previous house. I let it alone and no one got stung. After several killing frosts I cut the nest out and shook out any remaining larvae and stored it in the garage for many years thinking one of my daughters may want to take it to school for show and tell. I finally threw it out after they were in high school and showed no interest in it.

Here is the nest today If somebody will come and cut away the branches then I can get a clearer shot of these mad hornets.

Ooooh yaa ya! They don't look anyway too friendly. Hubby got stung by Red Paper Wasp for the season having unintentionally disturbed its nest! The localized swelling lasted quite awhile!

Thankyou all for the information. This is the first season I've seen them here. Lots of wasps, yellow jackets and carpentor bees. The bald-faced hornets have been feeding (?) at a feeder set out for the humingbirds; nasty buggers those bald faced hornets ---- I have seen them - more that once - chase away the hummingbirds; Saw one hummingbird scewer a hornet with that dagger they call a beak.

Gary

This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 10:28 AM

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.

Hi Lily Love! Those red wasps are just as aggressive as a bald faced hornet, except all you have to do is come into the area they're 'sniffing out.' They do this back and forth thing til they get ya!

I find the last comment interesting in that wasps in this genus (Polistes) are quite common here, often making there nests in or on our outbuildings or other structures, and I have never found them truly aggressive. The only time I've been stung by them is when I've been careless in removing a nest; like many insects, they will defend their turf if threatened.

I think that is true on wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, etc. - they will defend their nests.

The old adage "Leave them alone and they will leave you alone" I find very effective.

I can get close up while bees are foraging and not feel threatened. Here is a photo of a bumblebee in some sumac while I am pulling back the branch for a better shot.

In my area, if there is a red wasp sniffing the top of the grass and you walk near it, it will start flying back and forth real fast, they get a little closer to you with each swoop. I try to walk away and leave it alone but sometimes they follow.

I had to mow the lawn yesterday and we have a mow strip between the Concord grapes, which have lost their leaves now, and a Muscadine vine that's very full and I think that's where that Bald Faced Hornet's nest is. I mowed the whole lawn first, then at almost dusk I rode the mower to the top end of the mow strip, with the throttle on Slow. I put the throttle on Fast and waited to see if any were going to come after me, they didn't so I put the blades down. They still didn't show up so I floored the gas as hard as I could and flew through the middle of those vines, I kept going to the front yard and turned my head to see if any of them were behind me, there was 3 chasing me! I lifted the blades so the mower would go faster and then they were gone. Whew!! I really need to call someone to get it removed but fall is so close and we're going to take those vines down anyway this winter, I feel like just dealing with it.

I got stung by one of these before I even knew the nest was near. It got me through a garden glove on the top of my hand. The pain was like a jolt and my hand and wrist swelled and ached for days. It was memorable for sure!

Helen

Looks like what we call paper wasps. They usually built high nests, but I've had them even hanging under the front porch floorboards. True what's been said about leaving stinging bugs alone; I too work among the flowers with the bees, but these guys seem more excitable. (Many insects, mosquitoes and blackflies at least, track us by our carbon dioxide exhalations-if being chased, hold your breath.) I've not been chased by these, but I've not accidentally disturbed a nest.

I got rid of them by waiting for a cool night-under 50 degrees-when they are home and sluggish, and dropping the nest into a plastic bag by detaching it's top with a putty knife. (Do it by day when they're not home, and they simply return and rebuild. And the ones who are home will be mad!) "Now what?" from my freaked-out teen daughter, so I put it in the freezer til I could empty the bag onto our next campfire. Freak-out intensified; she would not open that freezer if starving!

Funny thing this year at nest-building time. They were buzzing around and under the porch again this spring. I put a radio on the porch floor and played it LOUD for several full days while I gardened. They left! The vibrations right on their hanging surface? My taste for oldies and NPR? Whatever, as the kids say. It worked.

Wasps will defend their nests too but usually you can knock down a small wasps' nest with relative ease. A hornet's nest is something else though. Usually they are quite large by the time you find them and aren't attached at one point like the nest of paper wasps. A hornets' nest is built around several branches of a tree. You have to cut these out with pruners if you want to remove the entire nest. It is best to leave this alone until winter or use a wasp and hornet spray if you absolutely must remove it.

Don't do like the commercial of the two guys using a large trash can, a step ladder, and a tennis racket to remove a hornet's nest.

Yea, doing it like the commercial would not be a good idea.

My DH Dave went out and pruned those vines around noon the other day! I asked him if he was bothered at all by the hornets, he said he never saw a single one until he put the clippings in the compost pile which is next to the forest. I went out at 7 that evening and counted 7 hornets sitting on the leaves of the vine. That's a lot of hornets to not have a nest, especially close to dusk when they all come back home. Now I'm wondering if they're just going after the Muscadines, but they're not ripe yet, and at dusk?? So I don't know. Anyone have any thoughts?