Yellowjacket from underground nest
So, on September 15, 2013, I was driving a fence post into the ground for a new stretch of electric fence[1], when suddenly I was swarmed by a whole bunch of these yellowjacket wasps. I’d evidently driven the post right through their underground nest. They followed me for almost 50 feet[2], although I only got stung a couple of times.
I caught one that was tangled in my hair and still trying to sting me, and froze her for pictures, so here she is:
Her markings are a good match for the darker form of the Eastern Yellowjacket, Vespula maculifrons. These are a common yellowjacket in the Northeastern part of North America, and their typical habitat is (as I found out) holes in the ground. When they get into buildings, they like to nest in crevices, attics, and hollow walls, which would make them one of the types that you are likely to encounter when remodeling old buildings. The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification calls them “one of the most common and most pestiferous yellowjackets in the northeast”.
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[1] I was setting up a new beehive location (the previous location just gets buried too deeply by the snow), and needed the electric fence around it in case any bears came wandering by. Bears are a big problem to beekeepers around here. They’ll knock the hives to pieces, and eat all the young larvae, destroying the colony. The worst of it is, they don’t even particularly seem to care about the honey, they just scatter the honey-filled frames all over the place. I’ve had them knock my hives apart in the past, and have no interest in letting them do it again.
[2] I was walking away briskly, not running, and not flailing my arms. Running doesn’t get you out of the area that much faster, and makes it way more likely you will trip and fall. And flailing the arms just seems to infuriate them, and immediately sting any part of your body they can get to. My advice when attacked by wasps is just to shield your face as best you can and walk away. If they sting you, they sting you, but at least it won’t be near your eyes.
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I didn’t realize they had so much hair! We’ve got them aplenty here in San Diego, but they always seem so clean-shaven.
It is rather startling just how hairy so many insects are, even ones that we normally think of as hairless. It’s just that their hair is so very, very fine (maybe only a tenth the diameter of a human hair on some of them), that the hairs aren’t even visible without magnifications – they just look like a faint haze to the naked eye.
Thank you! I am fascinated (love-hate) by yellow-jacket wasps. These photos are very helpful and thank you for identifying to species. AND for advice on what to do it one accidentally disturbs a nest.
I encountered a yellow-jacket nest under a house. We (2 of us!) very slowly & quietly backed out (I was in a crawl space on my back) with no stings. My heart was pounding, however.