Dinner Neutralized

Paper wasps are vespid wasps. They construct nests that made of papery material made from woody plant fiber mixed with their saliva.  

Like this nest. 

This sucker is larger than a basket ball and I gave it a wide berth last summer as the occupants have a reputation of defending their nest from any and all threats – perceived or real – by aggressively stinging the invader. 

Meet Dolichovespula maculata – the Bald-faced hornet.  

uwm.edu

Also called the white-faced hornet, white-ass hornet, bull wasp and black jack.  This insect is technically not a hornet but is a yellow jacket wasp from the genus Vespa. 

It is perfectly safe to examine the nest now as the colony does not overwinter in it and never uses the same nest again. A fertilized queen is the lone survivor and she is holed-up beneath some leaf litter it in the bark of a tree. She’ll emerge when the weather moderates to establish a colony from scratch. 

As the danger has been neutralized it appears that the birds who overwinter here have been scavenging any dead eggs, larvae or insects from this nest. 

Yum!