More from New Jersey

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to New Jersey last weekend visiting friends. One new addition to their house since the last time I was there was not a human remodeling job, but a natural one - two hornets nests on the eaves in the front of their house.

The construction of the nest is really amazing, especially up close and personal.  (No, I wasn't that close, but borrowed a zoom lens from my friend, Lynne.)  Look at the color variations.  It almost looks like a layered upside-down pottery vase of some kind.

Do you notice anything different about these hornets?  Lynne identified them as white-tailed hornets, also known as bald-faced or white-faced hornets.

They belong to a genus of yellowjackets, but obviously, they are not yellow!  They build one of the largest wasp nests that can be up to 14 inches in diameter and almost 2 feet long.  Naturally, I didn't get close enough to measure this one, but I think it's pretty darn close to those measurements.  The queen starts the process by beginning the nest and laying the first eggs that become the workers.  The workers are all infertile females who expand the nest by chewing up wood which mixes with a starch in their saliva turning it in a malleable substance that can be spread with their legs and mandibles.  They also guard the nest, with multiple stings, and care for the young.  They feed on nectar, tree sap, and fruit pulp, along with other insects such as flies, caterpillars and spiders. The drones are males born from unfertilized eggs and have no stingers.  As far as I can tell their only job is to fertilize the eggs of new queens which are the last eggs to be laid.  The new queens hibernate for the winter and start the process all over again in the spring.

Source:  Wikipedia

The rest of the hornets die with the coming of winter, the nests are abandoned and are not used again.  Very interesting species!