Ok, then wtf is this?

Downvoted for self-censorship

You can’t say shit on the internet anymore, or what?

Please learn the difference between PAPER WASPS (non-aggressive) and YELLOW JACKETS (super aggressive). They both look like the one on the far right, but paper wasps are friend.

Sorry this is basically an ad for a pest control company, but it does a good job at explaining the differences: https://www.lindseypest.com/resource-center/post/paper-wasps-vs-yellow-jackets-whats-the-difference

I used to live in a house with 2 pear trees. I quickly learned to pick up any fallen fruit, because the pear juice would ferment under the skin in the warm summer sun, the yellow jackets would pierce the skin and drink the pear liqueur, and then drunkenly chase me around the yard. Turns out, yellow jackets are belligerent drunks, which is, frankly, not surprising.

I fucking hate these guys…

Indian yellow wasp, aka Ropalidia marginata.

When I was a kid, I used to turn over the landscaping timbers around the house to find lizards and such to catch. One time, wasps had built a huge nest under one and I ripped the nest open when I turned it over. Man, did those things sting the ever-loving shit out of me. My whole body was covered in stings.

Any nest I found after that, I made it my mission to get rid of it. I’d put on whatever clothes I had like winter gloves, long sleeve shirts helmets, etc. Of course, whatever I put on always seemed insufficient to protect me and I’d still get the shit stung out of me. What a dumb kid.

If we could somehow get the yellowjackets to hunt down ticks then maybe we could come to an agreeable truce

There are either dozens or hundreds or thousands of species of insects that have evolved to look similar to wasps and hornets and bees that can’t actually sting. Protect your native bees however you can.

Wasps aren’t bees. And most wasps don’t suck, just yellow jackets and maybe a few other species that I’m not familiar with. European Hornets are quite chill too, as long as they don’t get stuck in my house and get mad. And I presume they’re all useful, even yellow jackets, but unlike the rest of them, the yellow jackets don’t seem to understand when to fuck off.

I have a huge pine tree next to my apartment, it towers above the apartment building. In the past month (maybe more), the thing is basically buzzing all the time. It’s a bumblebee invasion, hundreds of them. But we also get many European Hornets and the occasional wasp. It’s quite impressive to see, in a time where all these specifies are under huge pressure, this massive tree seems to almost single-handedly feed multiple colonies of different species. Makes me realize how important even a single tree can be. Also for my entertainment, because I love to be on the balcony and stare at the activity in the tree a few meters away. Interestingly enough I also have only had one bumblebee enter the house accidentally, and nothing else, despite having doors and windows open almost continuously the last weeks

was expecting https://files.ohai.social/media_attachments/files/110/572/540/754/559/825/original/6ef5db5a6eab7c39.png

Fuck wasps fr!

Invasive pos | native pollinator | native pollinator

FTFY

Hey!!! Now, waitaminit!

Those “pieces of shit” do a bang up job of keeping the caterpilars and other pest creepy-crawlies off the fruiting trees.

NGL, have a friend whose house has 2-inch eaves (not soffits) that are lined each summer with wasps nests.

They do nothing but ferry all the caterpillars off the peach trees to their nests all summer long.

Also, as there are always people outside on the porch, the wasps are totally chill with everyone and no one has ever been stung or swooped at.

(Friend shares the bounty… we get lots of peaches for their diligent work… peach pies, peach cobbler, peach schnapps, peach jam, peaches with ice cream… you get the idea…)

It’s about being a part of the territory, not an interloper.

I like the wasps… now the white faced hornets… that’s another story. Utter cunts, those ones are.

I am honor bound to come wasps’ defense. They are very cool critters! The vast majority cannot and do not harm humans, and are largely an ecological boon. They prey on cultured crops pests. Some even specifically prey on roaches.

I’ve lived in paper wasp territory my whole ass life and only been stung twice, and it wasn’t even all that bad. Like the pain was gone in a minute tops. And I consistently stick my hand and fingers into unexplored, and frequently inappropriate, areas.

Wasps are bros as much as spiders are. I would argue more so because they actively hunt pests, and are responsible for far less human deaths than spiders.

Yellow jackets are mean, but don’t confuse them with paper wasps which are chill little dudes. They’d rather head bump you to get you away than sting you.