You can inform her apart from a bee since she’s a bit less hairy.
Today this yellowjacket is on a hunt for tasty protein.
And she’ll have what you’re having.
However very first she does a little quality control.
Sensing units on her mouthparts and antennae assist her judge the food’s condition.
She slices off a piece with scissor-like mandibles.
However she doesn’t actually consume this great fare.
Mature yellowjackets like her do not need the protein themselves.
So she rolls it up into a meatball, using her forelegs and mandibles.
And takes that hamburger to go.
Flying it back to her underground nest.
And she does it all for these cuties.
Yellowjacket larvae need protein to develop. And they like meatballs.
All that collecting food and flying around offers our adult yellowjacket a cravings.
She prods the children and they use their thanks in the form of a sweet throw up, or exudate.
The adults slurp that up and jet off on more meatball objectives.
And yellowjackets bring back all sort of intriguing entrees.
Ever attempted moth wings?
Cockroach croquettes?
As these yellowjackets make mouse tartare for their babies, they can clean up a carcass down to the bone!
Which’s a crucial service.
I indicate, would you want to clean this up?
To help sustain their frequent flying, they stop at flowers, downing sweet nectar and pollinating as they go
But what about that sting?
Unlike her bee cousins, she can sting once again and again.
However it’s a last hope when she or her nest is threatened.
So give them some space!
And attempt to remember the great she does as a scavenger, a pollinator and a service provider for her nest.
As she’s swiping a tiny meatball from your plate.
Laura here.
What’s colorful, charming but still a little scary? You thought it, ladybugs!
They spend most of their lives alone, packing themselves on aphids.
But every winter they collect by the thousands for a ladybug love-in.
Enjoy.
