Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Incipient Hornet's Nest

Recently I noticed this strange little nest under the eaves on the back of my house.

2024-05-21. Hornet's nest 01
(Click on images to enlarge)

If you climb up a ladder and get close enough to it, you can see the hexagonal cells inside.

2024-05-21. Hornet's nest 02

After checking around on the internet, I have decided that this is how hornet's nests start out. We've already seen how they end up.

The bad news is, it's right in my back yard, about 3 feet above my head and 5 feet from my back door. The good news is, I haven't seen any activity in or around it since I first noticed it. I'm hoping and praying that it's been abandoned.


Here is a time-lapse video of a hornet queen building her nest almost from the very start.

Here is a time-lapse video in which you can see the pupae wiggling in their little hexagonal cells.

Here is a longer video by a guy who thinks that having a hornet's nest in your back yard is not a problem.

1 comment:

Janice said...

We discovered one the same size by our back door. We have a light fixture like yours by the nest also. And found that a robin was in the process of building a nest on top of that. A crowded piece of real estate. We really need to check all of our eaves though. . .Loved the videos!