Here is the dreaded Yellow Jacket. This is the one that bugs you when you are trying to have a quiet afternoon with a soft drink. Yellow Jacket ( photo / image / picture from Kildale's Garden )
Know what they really like? Fried chicken!! Have a picnic with chicken and these dudes will chase you all the way back home :'( Rotten yellow jackets :twisted:
I know they can be a real pest to us humans but they do help to keep the aphid population down. However, I'd much prefer it if they would visit someone elses garden.
Here is the Black Jacket. If you are interested. Black Jacket ( photo / image / picture from Kildale's Garden )
ewww, Me and yellow jackets do not get along. The first time I was stung by one of those crittters the back of my hand swelled up. I try to stay away from any jackets, or bees, or wasp.
I encourage a lot of creatures to live in my gardens but Yellow Jackets are definately not on my list of beneficial insects. Sure, they eat some pests in the gardens and beautiful to look at close up, so I will concede they have their merits. But there is no-way I like having Yellow Jackets around. In fact, I have many reasons for not liking them. Number 1 fact is I have been stung by them many times.....and it really, really hurts!!! Really. I was stung twice in 5 minutes. The pain made me cry. I sure wasn't a very happy camper for days. Number 2 reason is they want to share your food with you. Hmm...maybe sharing is the wrong word. They want your food all to themselves which makes eating outside impossible. Even though I really dislike them, I must admit you, Kildare are a great photographer. Beautiful picture.
They do like watermelon as well. Nice photos, I've never seen a Black jacket before. FYI, They are repeat stingers, wasps don't lose stinger like bees do, one reason why they can be so aggressive, no death warrant on them when they sting. Ron
I found out the hard way that Bumblebees can sting multiple times too, Papatomykids. When I was riding on the back of a motocycle a bumblebee flew up my sleeve. I kept trying to shake him out and not fall off the bike at the same time. Sure made the driver mad when I was flailing away behind him. He thought I was some kind of nut-case until I showed him the stings. I saw another motorcyclist attempting a yawn while riding on the highway when all of a sudden a Monarch butterfly flew into his open mouth. The rider managed to pull over to the side of the road and not crash. Boy, he was spitting butterfly out for a long time. Good thing, he didn't choke.
I have been lucky I guess. I've been photographing bugs etc. for 5 years now and although the camera is only an inch or two away, I have not been stung at all. In fact when the bee/wasp/fly etc is in my shadow or on the wrong side of the flower. I get hold of the flower and hold it in a better photo position. Look at this page from my nature site, just visit.Photographing bugs.
