Post by BuckSkin on Nov 1, 2021 2:31:28 GMT
Red Paper Wasp
Maybe it is a regional thing; but, I was in my thirties before I knew they were "Wasps" and not "Waspers"; all I ever heard, and still hear, is them being Waspers.
With cooler weather the last few nights, for whatever reason, there were dozens upon dozens of these Red Wasps closely bunched and clinging onto the shop door facing.
In the first photo, at upper-right, is obviously a Wasp of a different breed, but I am having no luck in identifying him.
Although I did not provoke them, they didn't seem very interested in stinging me, nor were they in any hurry to flee the scene.
As I did not quite yet have my dedicated Macro rig ready, I took these photos with my 7DMkII and normally attached 18-250mm Sigma.
These Wasps were in a deeply shadowed area and regular on-board flash was leaving a huge lens shadow; so, I used my super-powerful hand-held LED spotlight as a light source.
That light is so bright that within minutes the door facing was smoking and apt to burst into flames.
According to insectid.org, "Red Paper Wasps are not aggressive" : whoever wrote that misleading scripture has never raised the trunk lid of a 1946 Dodge Coupe on a scorching hot Kentucky August day; "aggressive" is a mild word for their behavior under such circumstances; they will absolutely eat you alive.
Living within mere miles of "The Gate Capitol of the World", we have plenty of their paper-thin "Heavy Duty" tube farm gates and corral panels.
Within a couple years, internal condensation will rust big holes through the bottoms of the lateral tubes.
These Red Waspers will soon find these rusted holes and take up residence inside the tube.
Every time the gate is opened or anything or anyone walks nearby the affected gate, which includes any gate more than a couple years old, provoked or not, these non-aggressive docile Red Waspers will boil out in red clouds, laying their lethal stingers into anything or anyone in the vicinity --- except for me - for whatever reason, Wasps, Bees, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Mosquitoes, and Chiggers pretty much leave me unscathed; they will lay it into anyone else, but leave me be.
Sunday_24-October-2021
Maybe it is a regional thing; but, I was in my thirties before I knew they were "Wasps" and not "Waspers"; all I ever heard, and still hear, is them being Waspers.
With cooler weather the last few nights, for whatever reason, there were dozens upon dozens of these Red Wasps closely bunched and clinging onto the shop door facing.
In the first photo, at upper-right, is obviously a Wasp of a different breed, but I am having no luck in identifying him.
Although I did not provoke them, they didn't seem very interested in stinging me, nor were they in any hurry to flee the scene.
As I did not quite yet have my dedicated Macro rig ready, I took these photos with my 7DMkII and normally attached 18-250mm Sigma.
These Wasps were in a deeply shadowed area and regular on-board flash was leaving a huge lens shadow; so, I used my super-powerful hand-held LED spotlight as a light source.
That light is so bright that within minutes the door facing was smoking and apt to burst into flames.
According to insectid.org, "Red Paper Wasps are not aggressive" : whoever wrote that misleading scripture has never raised the trunk lid of a 1946 Dodge Coupe on a scorching hot Kentucky August day; "aggressive" is a mild word for their behavior under such circumstances; they will absolutely eat you alive.
Living within mere miles of "The Gate Capitol of the World", we have plenty of their paper-thin "Heavy Duty" tube farm gates and corral panels.
Within a couple years, internal condensation will rust big holes through the bottoms of the lateral tubes.
These Red Waspers will soon find these rusted holes and take up residence inside the tube.
Every time the gate is opened or anything or anyone walks nearby the affected gate, which includes any gate more than a couple years old, provoked or not, these non-aggressive docile Red Waspers will boil out in red clouds, laying their lethal stingers into anything or anyone in the vicinity --- except for me - for whatever reason, Wasps, Bees, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Mosquitoes, and Chiggers pretty much leave me unscathed; they will lay it into anyone else, but leave me be.
Sunday_24-October-2021
