This hornet nest is made by bald faced hornets. It's not something you'd want to mess with as they will attack en masse but in general a good critter to have around as they eat other insects. They begin building the nest in the spring and leave it after the first heavy frost. Queen hornets start the nest and then workers expand the nest by chewing up wood that mixes with a starch in their saliva, which they spread to dry into paper. Nests have been found over three feet in length. Bald faced hornets are found throughout North America.
This nest is in a Purple River Beech that Margy gave me for a birthday gift some fifteen years ago. This tree is deep maroon through out the summer turning a gorgeous bronze in the fall. A very slow growing tree.
Now that the hornet's nest is empty I think I'll take it down and hang it in my shop porch as an object d'art.
1 comment:
did you take that macro shot? i'm totally pining for my SLR dad. think you could fix it for me or get it fixed and send it to me? the villagers are SO photogenic and love having their pictures taken and all i need is a black sheet and a few lamps and i'm set. oh, and a camera. need the camera. there is a darkroom in the press that i can use!! i'm psyched. i think the village would love to have someone photo-document it for historical purposes, and it hasn't been done in a while. sooo...how bout it?
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