Last summer there was an invasion of wasps when a queen decided to set up her nest in the eaves at my place. I rarely ventured out to the balcony until they left when Old Man Winter arrived in the Bay Area. A few weeks ago, I noticed the appearance of a few more hives along the eaves. How fitting that the next Star Wars movie is called Attack of the Clones. I was experiencing an Attack of the Wasps!
Today, Alex from the pest company came by to deal with the wasps. Armed with a two meter long force pike… err… metal pole and a can of Wasp Freeze, he dealt with the offending nests and queens. In one of the nests, we saw wasp pupae. I felt a tinge of sadness as we were destroying it, but it was fascinating to see the metamorphosis between a larvae and an adult wasp. We also saw some developing larvae still encased within the hive combs.
Alex told me that the wasps were Paper Wasps, not yellowjackets. The latter have shorter legs and are much more aggressive than the former. Paper wasps are a relatively non-aggressive species of wasps that make their nests out of chewed up wood. Recycling occuring in nature — how cool is that?
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