Posts Tagged: Western yellowjacket
Make Way for the Weird and Wonderful Wasps
Meet the "meat bees." Yellowjackets, commonly known as "meat bees," in comparison to the...
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, and a Western yellowjacket,Vespula pensylvanica, sharing a rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Aren't You Supposed to Be Hibernating?
Dec. 22 marked the winter solstice, the first day of winter. But don't tell that to the western...
A western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica, flies toward Algerian ivy in mid-December in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica, sipping nectar from Algerian ivy in Vacaville, Calif. in mid-December. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Yellowjacket or Paper Wasp?
Western yellowjackets, nicknamed "meat bees" (as opposed to the "vegetarian honey bees") are often...
A Western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica, sipping water. Note the black antennae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A European paper wasp, Polistes dominula, soaking up sun. Note the orange antennae.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is a European paper wasp nest tucked inside a shrub. Yellowjacket nests are often in abandoned rodent nests. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's No Vegetarian
Bee specialists like to point out that the yellowjacket is a carnivore and the honey bee is a...
Western yellowjacket (Vespula penyslvanica) heading toward a red-hot poker (but this variety is yellow). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Western yellowjacket buries its head in a tubular flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Western yellowjacket foraging. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Western yellowjacket assumes the shape of a comma. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bottoms up--western yellowjacket moves away from the camera. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)