Paper hanger

Yellow jackets and hornets make large, elaborate nests, interesting to find, but showing no sign of the internal structure. Paper wasps are less protective of their young. Lazier, more inclined to go off hunting, maybe.

I found one making her nest under the overhang of the toilets at Oyster Bay.

Golden paper wasp, Polistes aurifer, working on her nest.

These wasps build a single layer of cells hanging from a tiny stem, leaving them open to the air. The cells remain open while the young, one per cell, hatch and grow through several molts, with the adults watching over them and feeding them ground up caterpillars and other insects. (Maybe I shouldn't have called them lazy.)

When the larvae are ready to pupate, they spin their own silk cocoon to seal themselves in until they're ready to emerge as full-grown adults.

Paper wasp nest

And, on the logs at the top of the beach, a wasp nest, abandoned now at the end of summer.

Looks like a paper tree.

This is a paper wasp nest, probably Polistes dominula, which builds open nests, not enclosed in a paper "football", like the yellow jackets do.

Identifying a Wasp or Hornet Nest

• Paper wasps - Paper wasps build open and exposed nests that resemble an upside down umbrella. These nests can get quite large late in the season, and adult wasps will readily sting if they sense danger approaching. Some wasps build new nests on top of old nests, giving the false impression that they are reusing a nest.

• Yellow Jackets - build nests that are surrounded by a papery covering, and are commonly found within wall voids or cavities in the ground. When disturbed, yellow jackets are quite aggressive, and can attack in large numbers. Yellow jackets are typically most aggressive in late summer and this leads to an increase in yellow jacket stings.

• Bald faced hornets - build nests that are covered in a papery shell and European hornets build their nests in natural cavities like tree stumps, or in cavities within buildings.

• Mud Daubers - construct nests using mud or clay. The nests are small, tubular mud shutes usually built either in existing cracks or crevices in masonry, stone or timber around homes, sheds and garages. (From Rentokill)

View from the top. Two of the cells still contain enclosed larvae.

Wasp nest

How quickly the seasons change! Last week, we were in hot summer; this week, it's fall. It stopped raining briefly this afternoon, and I went back to Tyee Spit to look for a tiny plant I'm trying to identify. There were flowers last week. This week, there are seed pods.

Pushing through the shrubbery, I came upon this wasp nest.

Water-resistant paper and dying leaves.

The wasp nest is built from top to bottom, with cells for the developing larvae pointing downward, and the exit somewhere towards the bottom. In this one, I noticed the change in pattern; the centre top is built around twigs from the bushes, then the cells are added in rounded lumps. As the builders worked towards the bottom, they switched to a regular, layered style, working around a couple more twigs.

Zooming in to show the textures.

There was no sign of wasps, though I rustled the bushes quite a bit, breaking off dead branches to get through to the nest. There may still be a few alive inside, but they'll die with the first hard freeze.

We are here.