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Aggressive, black and silver like metallic colored bees
My mom and I found this bees nest in our Redwood tree about a week ago. About two weeks prior part of the redwood tree fell down and as we were cutting it up, my mom started being attacked by the bees. At first I thought they were a carpenter bee until I found the nest. They are very aggressive, all we have to do is go near the tree and they will attack. I tried to get a good enough picture of one. However, I am hoping you might be able to get an idea of them just by seeing the nest. You can kind of see the bee coming in and out of the nest. They look black and almost a whitish silver like color. they also pack a painful sting. We are located on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Any help in identifying these bees would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Puget sound area, Washington State
Heather

Bald Faced Hornets Nest

Hi Heather,
These are not bees.  They are Bald Faced Hornets, social paper wasps.  They are not aggressive if their nest is not threatened.  We imagine they are a little sensitive right now as their treetop home has fallen to the ground.

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