Bald-faced hornet / White-faced
hornet
guêpe à taches blanches
Dolichovespula maculata
(Linnaeus, 1763)
Responsible Publisher
Dieter Kosmeier
Photo Galleries and Videos
Dr. Elmar Billig
Scientific Advisor
Thomas Rickinger
> Part 2 <
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E-Mail of Mike
Ewbank:
I have been around many bald face hornets nest here in
mendocino co. california. In fact I have one right now on the back
side of my solar panel tracker. Its attached to back of one of the
solar panels and wrapped around wiring harness. Very nice as I've
watched it grow all summer from my deck. Its as large as a basket
ball.
Hornet story: I found a large rattlesnake caught in the chicken
wire fence around my veggie garden. It had died so it was a snake in
perfect condition and I decided I wanted to try and strip it of its
flesh and have this great rattlesnake skeleton. Local yellow jackets I
thought would be the ones to strip away the flesh. Tacked out on piece
of plywood the yellow jackets had more than half of the flesh eaten
whithin a week. I have watched bald faced hornets chase and catch
yellow jackets in my garden over the summers and that same scene
played out with this dead rattlesnake. What was amazing though was the
bald faced hornets started hiding inside the exposed ribcage of the
snake and when the yellow jackets would squeeze thru ribs to tear off
meat inside the hornets would grab them, kill them and squeeze back
out thru ribs with prize in they're jaws. Pretty cool show to watch up
close. Keep the neat hornet stories coming..
E-Mail of Michael
Ellestad:
This huge bald faced hornet nest -
found near a park - from 1999 was at least over a foot in diameter but
it is very elongated and has a very small entry hole.
photo: Michael Ellestad
click on thumbnails to enlarge the images
photos: Michael Ellestad E-Mail of Michael
Ellestad:
The closeup is on the left side of the outer envelope and I
like it a lot because it makes me think of the painted desert in
Arizona ...
E-Mail of Michael Ellestad:
The bald faced hornet often builds a large gray paper nest suspeneded from
tree branches or the eves of the house and depending on the area one will
see a species of yellow jacket called aerial yellow jackets that make a
similar nest like the bald faced hornet. In 1999 I found a HUGE bald faced
hornet nest near a park that had a few in it one of which buzzed up my
shirt. Heres a photo of some of my hornet nests the one in the middle is
from the aerial yellow jacket.
photo: Michael Ellestad
Something really strange I have seen bald-faced hornets
queens do when making a nest they will often have an entrance tube that
can be anywhere from 3 to 6 inches long.
photos: Michael Ellestad
But sometimes the entrance tube is much
longer! The tube portion of the next pictures was a good 38.5cm's long and
1.4 to1.5 cm in diameter!
photos: David E. Holman, Kelowna, BC,
Canada
E-Mail of Michael Ellestad:
Heres photos of live bald-faced hornet nest on
ladder. This is the first time I have shot photos of a live nest. The wet looking spots are area
where new pulp was being added. They were taken in the dark because during the day I was afraid
to get too close so I did it at night which let me get closer.
photos: Michael Ellestad
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page: Bald-Faced Hornets, Part
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