Bald-faced hornet nest

John Brett snapped this sculptural and lovely bald-faced hornet nest on his property in Sharon. 

These hornets look like bees and are actually a type of yellowjacket wasp, according to a blog by  UConnLadyBug at the university’s online Home and Garden Education Center. 

There is nothing particularly autumnal about the hornets or their nests, except for this:  The group of hornets, led by their queen, begin building a nest early in spring, using bits of old wood that they collect from trees and fences. Usually the nest is attached to a tree or a building.

The queen creates small cells inside the nest and eggs are deposited in each one. More layers of old wood are added on top, until the nest can be as big as a basketball, with an interesting swirl pattern on the outside. 

In spring, the adult hornets clear other bugs out of your yard and garden and feed them to the larvae in the nest. Favorite foods include yellowjackets, caterpillars and flies. By late summer and into autumn, they are collecting pollen (and helping spread the powder from plant to plant). 

The nests are used for a single season and then abandoned, although some other bugs and some birds will sometimes move in. 

The blog promises that these hornets will not attack unless they feel that their nest is threatened. But if they do attack, the stings will be nasty and very venomous, so exercise extreme caution. 

— Cynthia Hochswender