Although I caught her on this shrub, most of her time she spends on my deck stair post.
From this vantage point, she has a great view of the bees as they come and go. She didn't like my presence and although she didn't sting me, she dive bombed my hair as she did the day before. It worked. I moved.
Although I didn't get a shot of it, I saw a bald-faced hornet struggling with a bee. The hornet finally won the battle and carried the still-fighting bee off to feed its family.
I think I've gotten a photo of the bald-faced hornet in its cannabalistic glory every year so I'll have to watch over the next few days for another opportunity to capture its image.
We don't have the European hornet in Oregon thank goodness. However, we do have our share of yellow-jackets and they are picking off the old bees that land on the ground in front of the hives. I usually have a few bald faced hornet nests around but they don't seem to bother the bees. The bald faced hornet by the way is not a hornet. It is a variety of yellow-jacket.
ReplyDeleteThe bald faced hornet, the European hornet, and the yellow jacket are all wasps unlike the honey bee which is a bee. Wasps have thin waists for example while bees do not
ReplyDeleteI imagine that most people finding your blog know the difference between wasps and honey bees. Most however, probably are not aware that although the common name is "bald faced hornet", it is not a hornet.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify: The baldfaced hornet is an ‘aerial yellowjacket’ - one of 7 or 8 species in the genus Dolichovespula in North America. However, it is not a ‘true’ hornet – it is a yellowjacket. The only hornet in North America is the European hornet, Vespa crabro, and it is an accidentally introduced species. All of the yellowjackets in the genus Dolichovespula build nests in bushes and trees (sometimes on the outside of buildings), and produce the characteristic football shaped, grey papery nests.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Vespinae
Genus: Vespula
Species Dolichovespula maculata
Fascinating. Thank you for the info and for all the effort !
ReplyDeletebizde sizdeki eşekarısının daha büyüğü var.kovanlara hiç rahat vermiyorlar.özellikle ağustos -eylül ayında en fazla oldukları dönem.karton üstüne fare yapıştıcısı sürüyoruz.birkaç parça tavuk eti serpiştiriyoruz.eşekarıları ete geliyor ve yapışıyor.kovanların korunması için bunu yapmak zorundayız.
ReplyDeletehttp://talhabasaran.blogspot.com/
You are nicer than I am Linda. I guess I get overprotective of my bees and I kill any spider or wasp I see near my hives! The hive tool comes in handy =)
ReplyDelete