If you know me well, you will know that me + wasps are not an equation with a happy solution. Usually, this equals me running away, losing a shirt, or pretty much shoving someone out of the way (a la George Costanza) to escape said wasp.
I know wasps have their place. They eat tons of caterpillars and garden pests. I get it. God made them for a good reason. Okay, fine. What I don’t get is why they have to single me out of a crowd to dive bomb me and make me look like I’ve lost my mind. Despite this fact, when a wasp decided to built its nest on one of our windows at eye level, I decided that this might be a good thing. After all, how often do you get the chance to study a wasp nest safely through glass?
So it’s been a few weeks now and the little nest had two new members. Honestly, I’d pretty much forgotten to check it out but I decided yesterday to snap some pictures. When I got back with my camera, I just so happened to hit the wasp watching jackpot! This was better than the Eagle Cam! (Okay…so maybe not.) There was some activity happening in one of the cells. Let’s tune into the Wasp Cam to see what the excitement was all about!
The nest was buzzing with excitement:
Here’s a little biology review so you know what you’re seeing:
The excitement builds!
Could it be? Could it be someone’s…((gasp))…birthday?
And after the birthday party for Carl, Cheryl had volunteered for the clean-up committee, so she meticulously removed the cell’s cap, balloons, banners, and hats, and put them in the proper recycling bins.
Yes, Cheryl, Claire, and Carolyn got a new nest member, whom we shall call “Carl”. Carl is a male, as you can see from his curly antennae and yellow face. Now you know! Of course, I had to name the wasps. It somehow makes them slightly less disturbing if I know their names are Cheryl, Claire, Carolyn, and Carl.
I will admit to you that as I was working on my photos, I got a little nauseated. No, a lot. A lot nauseated. Wasps have that effect on me. I was sitting there, trying to put up cute little banners and balloons on the nest and I honestly wanted to throw up my hummus and chips all over this laptop and call it a day. But I suffered for YOU, readers! So that YOU might be able to join in the wasp party, too!
As I was working on this post, this went down:
Jason: “Hey, come here a sec!”
Me: “Hold on, I’m trying to photoshop birthday hats on some wasps!”
Jason: (dead silence), then, (chirping of crickets), then, (a lone wolf howls)
So, there is just a peek at life in our household. Hope you enjoyed the Wasp Cam 2017!!! I’m not sure if I can stomach another year of wasp watching.
Oh! And as for the title of this post, these wasps are Polistes metricus, or, the metricus paper wasp. I always called them the Black-butted wasps, but what do I know? See, I learned something, too!
My Little Country 
You are seriously nuts and I LOVE it! You are in Texas, right? So how come my Florida wasps have bigger butts? Fab-O photos.
I don’t know how I missed your comments, but thank you! I take it as a compliment! haha! Not sure about Floridian wasp butts, though! LOL