CLOSED: What Nest

thought I saw a black wasp, but unsure

Wow that's amazing looking! Hope you get an ID.

Possibly Bald-faced Hornets? Here's a link to a picture on Horticulture Magazine's website that looks similar to yours.
http://blog.hortmag.com/PermaLink,guid,bfe79137-e941-4d97-a503-0c1b3097d224.aspx

cool!

I've never seen a nest that big. Runnnnnnn!!! Run far far away!

could also be aerial yellow jacket

Mrs_Ed, Are you going to try to remove the nest?

No, I won't remove it, that was last fall near a friend's house in Indiana. I suspect no one worried because it was not near a house or anything.

yeah, bald face hornets' nest. Often confused with yellow jackets. Just as dangerous!

When I first saw that I thought "wow, I'm glad that's not here in Indiana." LOL

I also think it looks like a bald faced hornets nest, a close-up photo with a similar looking nest: http://lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu/insect-images/images/8_1%20wasp%20nest_jpg.jpg

What part of Indiana was that in? We're in central Indiana and had a huge old hollowed out sycamore limb fall during a bad storm in late summer out at my parents. As they walked out to see the damage, they noticed hundreds of honey bees flying around. As you can imagine, we'll soon have get rid of a hollow limb about 40+ feet long and probably 3 feet in diameter. I hope all these flying & stinging insects aren't coming to live in Indiana for some reason!

This was in Coatesville, outside of Indy.

if the bees are still in those limbs, you should contact a bee keeper about honeybees. They can bring one of their hives and get the bees to live in there and then take it away. I encourage honeybees in my yard.

send those honeybees to florida.....ours are all dying.

They contacted Beekeepers and the DNR, and there are so many they all recommended we call Purdue University. It didn't help that it was late fall and they already had stored honey for the winter. To move them at that time would have killed them, and there were so many we wouldn't even consider trying that with all the honeybees that mysteriously vanished from keepers nests. Now they're starting to buzz around again.

Where the limb broke off, there was a honeycomb over a foot long and about 8-10 inches wide soaked and dripping with honey hanging off the tree. It made my mouth water, and I would love to keep them, but my Grandpa was attacked by bees he kept for years and my Mom refuses to let me keep them there (and I can't keep them at my house in town).

Anyways, Purdue Entomologists came out and they said it was the largest colony and honeycomb they'd ever seen, and they said there may be several queens in it. The hollowness of the limb is large, and we can't really tell how far up the honeycomb goes into the limb. However, if you know a beekeeper in FL who wants to drive here and collect some, contact me with their contact information. It's early enough, we may be able to get beekeepers to come out and collect a box full. I think it would be wonderful if the keepers whose bees just vanished, or had their boxes stolen, were able to come out and collect some.

My apologies to Mrs_Ed. I did not mean to get off topic with your thread, but I do think those are bald faced hornets too, which are actually a type of wasp. It's a little startling to think I could run into something like that so close to the ground. I too am not very far from Indianapolis, and this year I will definitely be keeping an eye out for those nests and others as well.

no apologies necessary. That's a really interesting story anyway. I like that you went to the university. I'm surprised they didn't get any bee keepers.

I'm sure the University will be calling soon to ask about them. If not, my Mom will most likely call them and beekeepers both. From what we were told, there should be more than enough to go around for everyone.

awesome!