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A Queen sleeps in the woods
Posted by on March 30, 2010
I woke her, ever so gently, and only for a moment…
and then I tucked her back into bed.
Although she rests now, this bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) has a big job ahead of her in the spring. With a belly full of eggs fertilized last summer, the warmer weather will soon call her to rise and begin constructing a new wood-paper nest and to lay the eggs that will eventually become her first workers. Her daughters will then take on the task of enlarging and defending the nest, collecting food and eventually, feeding the next brood of young.
There was something about the stillness of her, combined with her sheer bulk (she is a very large insect, nearly 30mm in length), that seemed both terrible and lovely, and somewhat awe-inspiring. I was honoured to have been able to take a quiet moment to appreciate her beauty.
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Awesome face shot!
With such a pretty subject, it’s hard to go awry!
Yeah, I’m with Ted. Nice shot of the wasp. It’s such a tastefully colored insect, too.
Thanks, Alex. She is a beaut, huh?
The more cool/photogenic subjects I come across, the more I covet a REAL camera. With LENSES. And MANUAL FOCUS.
I really wanted to take more photos of her than I did…but I didn’t want to disturb her for too long.
Yep, I agree! Great looking insect; I’ve always loved vespids.
I have a healthy respect for/appreciation of all things with a stingy rear – I was glad she was so sleepy or I never would have managed these pics.
Whenever I see a pic of a Hornet I always think about this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/tag/heat-ball/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q6875t036877458w/
Pretty nasty way to go I would imagine!
Yech! Not nice at all! Although I’ve seen videos of what a handful of hornets can do to a huge hive of honeybees…deadly! Mayhem! Carnage! Decaptitation! It only seems fair that they can have an equally nasty defence…
Gorgeous hornet. My son was fortunate enough to find a large bald-faced hornet nest in November. He managed to get it out of the 40 foot tree it was in. He placed it in the front of the truck with him to bring it home to me. The heater in the truck revived the wasps just enough so that they came out of the hive and were crawling around on it. (About 12 of them) He freaked, stopped the truck, kicked the hive out onto the ground and proceeded to call me and tell me where I could retrieve the *&^%# nest it I wanted it! After laughing uncontrollably for 5 minutes I drove to the spot and picked up the nest. Those wasps continued to try and protect their hive even though they had went through several nights of sub-freezing temperatures, and could barely move. It was somewhat endearing, this built-in instinct to protect above all else!
LOL! Great story! Did you wait until after the winter to bring the nest indoors?
Holy cow! That face shot is breathtaking. And what a beautiful description of those brief moments.
Thanks, Jas…WOAH! Who’s THAT guy???
Totally threw me with the new pic, there, buddy, 😛
I am an great fan of the wood-pulp paper they make their nests out of. Usually around here (Brooklyn, NY) it is light grayish and streaky like good bacon, but once I was given some that was found in Prospect Park that was a faded burgundy.
They’re quite the builders, aren’t they? The huge mandibles are clearly one of the keys to their success..
Geek—we stored the nest in our greenhouse until just a few days ago. I brought it in and put it in the basement. The thing still smells badly from all the decaying little bodies up inside. We plugged the hole with paper towels, but it still reeks. Not sure how long it takes for that smell to go away.
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