Paper Wasp

Paper Wasp

Paper Wasp
Location: Missouri
November 12, 2010 10:06 am
I found this Paper Wasp this past summer hanging around my front flower bed. I grabbed my camera and spent some time watching her. She kept going back and forth from our wooden bench, flying off (to wherever her nest is I’m sure) then coming back. Every so often she would take a ”snack” break on our Milkweeds. It was really interesting watching her work cycle.
I have also noticed that Wasps I encounter are not extremely aggressive as their reputation claims. If I can find them away from their nest, they don’t seem to mind me at all. I was within 12-18 inches away from this wasp for the wooden bench shots and not once did I feel like I was going to be stung. I think the danger of being near a wasp must come with getting too close to their home…..away from their home, they just don’t seem to mind a human presence as much.
My ID: Female Polistes metricus.
Signature: Nathanael Siders

Hi Nathanael,
As always, your photos are quite marvelous.  We love your accounts of your observations as well, if not more.  We agree with your theory about the aggressions of Paper Wasps being limited to protection of the nest, and we find it somehow ironic that so many people would take issue with something defending its home.  It seems like that is the American way.