Fun Facts

Yellow Jacket Aggression 

In the fall the gentle bumblebee and honeybees are not a worry, but the nasty yellow jackets most certainly are. Unfortunately, the yellow jackets look very much like honeybees but the yellow jackets have a narrow waist and the bees are very fuzzy. Honeybees and Bumblebees can only sting once and always in defense, while the yellow jacket can sting many times to inject venom, and they attack in swarms and can give chase for long distances. The fall is the typical time of year they get angry, for natural sugar sources tend to dry up and they need to find energy, while honeybees are still visiting flowers for nectar (Raid).

The yellow jacket life cycle starts in the spring, building nests in trees and in walls under eaves while the queen lays eggs. In the summer, workers kill soft-bodied insects for protein, sip flower nectar as well as rotting fruit, and eat tree sap to feed their energy. Meanwhile, in late summer, the queen has laid eggs with a potential new queen in the batch as well as drones which will mate with the new queen. As fall progresses so does the yellow jackets’ aggression, as wasps appear at picnics near trash cans and charging after people. In late fall the workers, drones and queen all leave the nest and die with only the new mated queen surviving by burrowing into the leaf litter and hibernating in suspended animation until spring (M. Boyles, Almanac).

How to prevent stings: do not wear perfume, be aware of active ground holes, avoid submerging in water to escape for they will hover and wait for you to emerge (O.G. Davidson, Scientific American).