Farmgirl's Farm Photos: September 2005

Bear Is Busted Playing In The Hay

The Doodle excels at letting you know when she's not happy.

This Was What I'd Initially Planned To Capture, Though It Now Seems Plain Without The Butterfly

He's A Donkey Doodle Dan-dy!

Dan Loves His Hut

Starting The Week With A Fiery Brilliance

Monday Sunrise

Big Chip Hoping For A Hug

Baldfaced Hornet Nest Under Construction

Here is a series of photos of the nest currently being built on the underside of the little overhang above our back door. I have learned some interesting things about our busy, buzzing neighbors, including that although they are known as Baldfaced Hornets, they are not true hornets but are actually members of the wasp family. Their name is derived from the fact that they are mostly black with a white pattern on their faces. They are also sometimes called Whitefaced Hornets.

Baldfaced Hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) are only found in North America, and they live throughout the United States. They are in the Class Insecta, the Order Hymenoptera, and the Family Vespidae.

Baldfaced hornets build gray envelope nests that are constructed of a paper-like material formed from chewed up wood (cellulose) and contain many layers of combs, or compartments, inside. A mature nest can be bigger than a basketball, but pear-shaped, with the larger end at the top and an entrance hole near the bottom.

Baldfaced hornets and other wasp colonies have a distinct caste system. It includes:

1. Workers: Infertile females which do the labor of the nest and defend the colony with their stings.

2. Queens: Fertile females which lay eggs.

3. Drones: Fertile males which mate with the future queens. The males do not have stingers, and they are born from unfertilized eggs in late summer.

What sent me searching for all of this information was a desire to learn more about the life cycle of the hornets. For it seemed like they were going to complete construction of their nest just in time to freeze to death and die. I was pretty much right. Here's how it works. (Most of this information was found, believe it or not, on the website of an extermination company! Links to resources are listed at the end of the post.)

Wasps have annual colonies that last for only one year. The entire colony dies in the fall, with only the newly produced queens surviving the winter. The new queens leave their nests during late summer and mate with males (drones). The queens then seek out overwintering sites, such as under loose bark, in rotted logs, nder siding or tile, and in other small crevices and spaces, where they then become dormant. These queens become active the following spring when temperatures warm. They search for favorable nesting sites to construct new nests. They do not reuse old nests (which would explain why collectors are able to find and "harvest" them).

A queen builds her nest from chewed up cellulose (wood pulp and saliva), laying one egg in each compartment, or cell, as she builds it. She feeds the larvae protein from other insects and flower nectar. When the first workers emerge a month later, they take over feeding and nest building, while the queen continues to lay eggs. Eventually there will be three to five combs, or clusters (of several hundred cells each) which are attached one below the other. The nest will have 100 to 400 workers at its most active time.

In late summer, when the colony is declining, larger cells are built to raise queens and males. Newly hatched queens and males leave the nest to mate. The queen that started this year's nest, the workers, and the males all die. Only the new queens survive, as the yearly cycle starts over again.

To be continued. . .

Please check back, and in the meantime, enjoy the photos.