Wasps!!!!

[Crillz]

Who knew there were so many wasps in Icicle Canyon. Every place I went I saw swarms of wasps all over the cracks - it looked like they really liked the cruxes too. Is this typical this time of year - I guess I never knew it was this bad??

[mattp]

Yes, this is a common at this time of year. Where's our local entomologist to tell us why?

 

I always seem to step on yellow jacket nests in the woods and get stung late in the season as well. A bug man once told me that it is because the nests are at their maximum population just before the colder weather sets in.

 

 

[Sherri]

Playground Point was buzzing with them a couple weeks ago. Big nest near top of Romper Room.

[Buckaroo]

Got bit when I went into the Pickets, nest on the ground, not like "domestic" yellow jackets down here. They bit and when swatted they avoided the swat and came back to bite elsewhere. I was also running and they chased along.

 

Sometimes year to year weather differences make a difference in populations. One year at the house there was a soccer ball sized nest on the eaves of the garage, and another large one on the neighbors house. Haven't seen anything close to that size before or since.

[Sol]

they were coming out of a crack just under the gun rack roof the other weekend, made pulling the roof a geter done type of deal.

[sampdx]

Buckaroo, we have something in common. I stuck a trekking pole in a ground nest and got swarmed on my way in to Challenger. I got stung over 14 times during that attack.

[plexus]

I have a nest by my bedroom window. Actually the wasps and I cohabit peacefully on my balcony. It was the yellow jackets I had to get a trap for.

[Crillz]

Curious,

Anyone been up Icicle Canyon lately - are the wasps frozen/dead.

Thanks.

[ZONK]

there gone for the most part, have not seen any the last two weekends

[sexual_chocolate]

I have a nest by my bedroom window. Actually the wasps and I cohabit peacefully on my balcony. It was the yellow jackets I had to get a trap for.

 

Yellow Jackets are wasps, but: I have spent countless days in the hills, and haven't been stung since I was 10. I think it's just the way one conducts oneself.

[tvashtarkatena]

Nope. The yellow jackets in Leavenworth and those found in ground nests near the western Cascade crest are two different animals. I challenge you to stand 10 feet from a nest of the latter in early September and time how long you can 'conduct yourself' properly.

[fresh]

Nope. The yellow jackets in Leavenworth and those found in ground nests near the western Cascade crest are two different animals. I challenge you to stand 10 feet from a nest of the latter in early September and time how long you can 'conduct yourself' properly.

 

Yeah, those ones in the ground are VICIOUS! Four of us amassed about 20 stings on the way in to Logan this summer. Luckily we figured things out eventually... stay away from rotting logs at all costs, and when in doubt, go first

[tvashtarkatena]

Forest yellowjackets are vespula acadica. They're insectivores, which is why they never go after your snacks in the backcountry. Lowland yellowjackets are usually a mix of common and western (v. vulgaris and v. pensylvanica), both carion eaters as well as insectivores. More pesky during picnics, but at least they don't go after you if you so much as pass within 30 feet of their nest like their mountain cousins.

 

The Fisher Creek area around Logan is particularly infested with the nasty kind.

Edited October 31, 2007 by tvashtarkatena

[Rad]

My dad was an entomologist who studied bees. We learned a lot by osmosis and on collecting trips. Here's a few tidbits that may prove interesting or useful (Tvash can correct me if need be).

 

There are many different species of wasps, some live in colonies (e.g. yellow jackets, white-faced hornets, and paper wasps) while others are solitary. Ditto bees.

 

Bees and wasps do not bite, they sting you with a modified ovipositor (egg laying tube) coming out of their abdomens (butts). Most bees have barbs in their stingers that rip out a poison sack from their abdomen when the sting you. If you get stung by a bee you may be able to scrape the poison sack off without having its contents injected into you. After they sting you they will die. Not so with wasps. They can sting you multiple times and be fine.

 

Insects are unable to generate their own body heat and they can only fly when their wing muscles rise above certain temps. This is why you see bumblebees looking sluggish on the ground in the evening or on overcast days: they're too cold to fly. They may get stranded on flowers or elsewhere if the temps drop. You can use this to your advantage. For example, I found a large white-faced hornet's nest in a bush near our front door a few years back. It was too big and too deep to get with raid and was clearly going to cause problems later in the fall. So I waited until night and went out with a garbage bag. I gathered up the nest and its sleeping occupants inside the garbage bag, double-bagged for extra protection, and then put the whole thing in the freezer overnight. That killed them. Turned out there were over 80 wasps in the nest. Yikes!

 

I've been nailed by the cascade ground wasps multiple times on approaches, but always I've run down/up the trail so fast I never got a good look at my attackers. It sure hurts, though.

[Rad]

My best bee story, in short form: my dad and I were in Argentina moving a colony of killer bees (african race of the common honey bee Apis melifera). These bees are called 'killer bees' because they are very mean-tempered. They are no more poisonous than regular honey bees, but where 10-20 regular honey bees might sting you if you disturb their nest, 100-200 or more 'killer bees' will chase and sting you. It is the sheer volume of poison that gets you.

 

But, I digress - We were told by scientists in the University in Tucuman that they had carefully sealed up the hive the night before. We didn't really trust them so we donned head-to-toe suits just in case. After loading the hive into the back seat of our Ford Falcon, we drove down the main drag toward the mountains. Sure enough, bees started to come out of the hive, a few at first then more and more. Soon there was a cloud of angry bees in the car with us so we rolled down the windows. Usually, young boys would come up to try to sell you bags of oranges at every stoplight on the strip, but they didn't come near us - crazy gringos in space suits surrounded by a swarm of angry bees - who could blame them?! Twas quite a trip.

[tvashtarkatena]

Another tidbit: Forest yellowjackets build spherical/teired paper nests in abandoned rodent holes.

 

OKTHNXBI

[Bug]

The first day I ever wore contacts a ground wasp stung me on the eyelid.

Probably karma for all the wasp nests I threw rocks at over the years

[archenemy]

My best bee story, in short form: my dad and I were in Argentina moving a colony of killer bees (african race of the common honey bee Apis melifera). These bees are called 'killer bees' because they are very mean-tempered. They are no more poisonous than regular honey bees, but where 10-20 regular honey bees might sting you if you disturb their nest, 100-200 or more 'killer bees' will chase and sting you. It is the sheer volume of poison that gets you.

 

But, I digress - We were told by scientists in the University in Tucuman that they had carefully sealed up the hive the night before. We didn't really trust them so we donned head-to-toe suits just in case. After loading the hive into the back seat of our Ford Falcon, we drove down the main drag toward the mountains. Sure enough, bees started to come out of the hive, a few at first then more and more. Soon there was a cloud of angry bees in the car with us so we rolled down the windows. Usually, young boys would come up to try to sell you bags of oranges at every stoplight on the strip, but they didn't come near us - crazy gringos in space suits surrounded by a swarm of angry bees - who could blame them?! Twas quite a trip.

I think it is so cool that you had a Ford Falcon!

[Bug]

I drove my 1960 Ford Falcon van to San Felipo Mexico one winter. We had fun except for the time I got stuck on the tide flats at an inopportune time. Luckily, I was not the first and was able to find boards and flat rocks in sufficient quantities to jack up the van, insert said objects, and pave the road ahead for as far as possible. At one point, the tide was washing our boards as we jack ed up the van in a new spot. We were finally able to make it out to solid sand and found a bottle of Tequila.

[jordansahls]

Ground bees are a bitch this time of year. Two years ago when a friend and I were trying to climb Buck via king lake, we stirred a ground nest. Needless to say he was stung around 10 times, I received none. We ended up leaving and waiting to see what happened because my friend was diagnosed as being allergic to bee stings, but that was 13 years ago. Lucky us he didn’t swell up and die. Fuck ground bees! I was told they get defensive because they are protecting their honey stash from other hives. I don’t know how much truth is in this, but it makes sense to me, not that I know anything about bees.

[tvashtarkatena]

Wive's tale about the honey. They're insect eating wasps, so they don't do the honey thing.

 

Their populations start to peak around mid august, so they get really defensive about their nests. This is the time of year when hives split, so everybody in the nest is amped up on pheromones. Perhaps they're just pissed off due to overcrowding and traffic. Who knows?

[Sherri]

Where do they go in winter?

[tvashtarkatena]

Victims of these nasty little bastards can take solice in the knowledge that their attackers will all be dead by winter. Winter kills the entire colony, except for one mated queen, who survives to create a new one the following spring.

[sexual_chocolate]

Nope. The yellow jackets in Leavenworth and those found in ground nests near the western Cascade crest are two different animals. I challenge you to stand 10 feet from a nest of the latter in early September and time how long you can 'conduct yourself' properly.

 

Sure, but both are still classified as wasps, yes?

 

BTW, I have stood 2 feet away from a ground nest near the cascade crest in the season you speak of and interacted with the wasps quite nicely. Try meditating.

[tvashtarkatena]

Meditating near ground hornet nests. How...relaxing.

 

They are different species of wasps, just as cheetahs and cougars are different species of cats. I've also passed close to nests in season without being stung. At other times, however, I've been swarmed. Do a long term study for us and publish your results, but you might want to bring your epipen along just in case the little bastards aren't feeling the satori.

Edited November 1, 2007 by tvashtarkatena