Three Sisters Yellowjacket Wasps Postcard
These three ladies are drinking sugar water. They are yellowjacket or yellow jacket wasps, small flying insects with black and yellow stripes and patterns, sometimes brown or brownish black. Wasps are often mistaken for bees but they are different insects. Each wasp has her own specific pattern of markings. These are probably sisters from the same colony, as yellowjackets tend to nip and chase other wasps, or nest-mates who are of a lower dominance rank, or males. The wasp world is female-dominated and the girls like to boss their men around by pushing and biting - however I've never seen a male wasp bite or threaten a female. They also recognize faces - each wasp has a slightly different face - which helps a wasp identify herself to her nest mates. Yellowjackets are very small but can create big panic at outdoor events such as barbecues or high tea (whatever you have) because they have an ill-deserved reputation for stinging people. In fact these little insects are just hungry. They're at the end of their life cycle and starving because their main source of food, a sweet liquid produced by their larvae, is no longer available. The larvae have pupated and emerged as adults. Adult wasps cannot digest solid food but in late summer, when their source of liquid is gone, they'll show up at picnics and BBQs seeking something sugary to drink. They are not interested in stinging anyone, but accidents can happen, usually when people lose their calm or forget to look before taking a swig of their drinks. It's important to be "aware" around wasps. They are not automatically aggressive, as some folks would have you believe. I have had them buzzing all around me, walking on my face, licking sugar water from my fingers, and I've rescued a couple of drowning ones just by letting them climb on my hand. Wasps can arouse some primal fears but they are very intelligent creatures and beneficial in the garden. By early August, young Princess wasps have become Queens during a mating flight. A female might mate with more than one drone (male). After the mating flight, workers and drones eventually die as food supplies diminish, and with the cold weather, the Queen goes into hibernation. In spring she starts a new nest made of wood or plant fibers mixed with her saliva, a kind of insect world papier mache, and lays eggs that will become small workers. This image of three wasp sisters is great to give to anyone interested in the magical world of insects, especially wasps. You can personalize the text if you like. Photo by M Sylvia Chaume, Canada. Happy Blessings!
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