Paper Wasps

Well, after my own hibernation, I am back to writing. There have been a few things that we have been curious about over the last two months. I hope to share those with you over the next few weeks. But for today, I am going to cover a topic that we first discovered this past summer... Paper wasps!

Of course now, in the middle of winter in Wisconsin, we don't need to worry about wasps of any kind. But last summer, we were lucky enough to find a very large paper wasps' nest in our neighbors' shrub. I say "lucky" because it was so interesting, not because it's such a great thing to find in your backyard.

Paper wasps are the wasps you will find that build their nests under the eaves of your roof. You may knock those nests down before they get too big, which is good if they are built in places where people walk or play. The reason it's good to discourage the building of nests near your home is because these wasps are VERY defensive of their nests. If they feel threatened, they will sting. In a nest or surrounding areas, there can be hundreds of the wasps. If one wasp is threatened, they will "call" out to their friends and more wasps come to the rescue! This can mean bad news for the person near the nest or wasps. So, if you see these nests being built where people may be around, it is best to carefully get rid of them. Usually this is done best at night when the wasps are sleepy and respond more slowly than normal. This can involve a wasp spray or may use other techniques, but it is best to have an adult do this and to research this before undertaking this job. If you have a lot of the nests being built or they are getting quite large, you may even need to call in an expert for the situation.

So, back to the wasps' nest we found. Our neighbor needed to cut this down because it was in an area where kids would play or where people walked around it. When nests get to be a bigger size, there is an increased chance of someone getting hurt because there are so many wasps that call the nest home. It was pretty big (about a foot long and almost a foot wide) and was built right into the shrub which made it a little harder to remove. The branches had to be cut and had to be taken with the nest as you can see below.

We did not cut the wasps' nest down until we were certain that the wasps were dormant for the winter, had left the nest (which is something they usually do in the Fall) or had died. This nest was cut down in late October after we had a few colder days. We secured it in an old fish tank and put a screen over the top so we could see it while making sure no other wasps were going to come out of it. We wanted to save it until now and then cut it open. The reason for waiting so long to cut it open was that we wanted to make sure everything was frozen inside, so if there were wasps still dormant in the nest, they would not be able to come out and sting us if we disturbed them.

The nest itself is quite beautiful with amazing subtle color differences. The wasps build this nest by chewing up different wood and mixing it with their saliva in their mouths, then spitting it back out to create this papery nest. The nest actually feels almost like a papier-maché ball. It is quite fragile and the outer layers will rip easily. There are layers upon layers of this "paper spit" that the wasps put out. They leave a small hole open for the wasps to get into and out of the nest. You can see it here:

It takes quite a while and many wasps to create a nest quite this large. You may even see larger nests like this high up in some trees. These nests are better off left alone, not only for your own safety, but also because these wasps are beneficial in the sense that they are pollinators. That means that these wasps pollinate the flowers around the area which can make plants grow. We need pollinators to help produce food for us. So if you see a paper wasps' nest somewhere where it would be safely away from people, I encourage you to let those stay put so we can have help with our plants.

Today was the day we decided to split open the nest and see what was inside:

We found many "combs" that had many cells inside. Each of these was built by a paper wasp. It is utterly amazing what these wasps can do and how perfect each cell actually is. We recorded the process of cutting open the nest in order for you to see it. With me being like a kid, and being extremely interested in this, I have to say... IT WAS AWESOME!!!! See for yourself below:

We learned a lot about wasps just by finding a nest in a neighbor's backyard. I guess it pays to keep your eyes open and be curious. I know that I have a new respect for these creatures and all they do. They truly are amazing!

I'm hoping you find many new Backyard Adventures!
Cheryl

Resources:
http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/wasps/paper_wasp/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_wasp