Among the most common hornets in New York are bald faced hornets. These hornets pose a threat to the locals and we at Flash Pest Control would like to share some of the fundamentals to help people identify them and better protect themselves. Constructing their nests out of cellulose materials that greatly resembles paper, bald faced hornets are a social insects. Bald faced hornets, also known as white faced hornets, are actually more closely related to yellow jackets than they are hornets and bald faced wasps are often mistaken for bees due to their size and coloring. Generally built in the spring and used for the young, their sphere shaped paper like nests can reach up to three feet tall.
Bald Faced Hornet Caste; Queen, Drones & Workers
Bald faced hornets are not only common throughout New York but across North America. Their diet includes harvested nectar and pollen from flowering plants as well as soft bodied insects like caterpillars and aphids and like yellow jackets, enjoy meats. As social insects, bald faced hornets have seemingly larger colonies. The bald faced hornets have a queen, drones, and workers; all of which have a specific tasks to contribute to help support the colony. When the queen is receptive to fertilization, the drone’s role is to be readily available, where the queen will lay hundreds of eggs in turn. To ensure the survival of the colony, the workers complete all the other tasks such as foraging for food, nest construction, as well as caring for the young, drones, and queen. As minor pollinators, bald faced hornets visit various flowers to collect the nectar, where the height of their activity is late summer.
Bald Faced Hornet Sting
Bald faced hornets sting, and unlike bees, they can sting repeatedly since they do not lose their stinger. Their primary objective is to protect the nest and they will attack whenever they feel the colony is in danger. Females, the only sex with a stinger, are often seen patrolling just on the outside of the nests; and any perceived threat is subject to their unmerciful stings. With their smooth stinger, they also inject a venomous fluid. When people are victimized by their venomous stings, they can experience mild to severe cases of allergic reaction in tandem with pain of varying degrees.
Bald Faced Hornet Nest
The queen sets out to collect the wooden fibers, often from houses, fencing, branches, and plants in the spring when she first begins to build a new colony. Typically, their nests are suspended and hangs off of tree limbs, from the eaves or other points of a structure. Generally, the nest is about the size of a basketball when it is completed. They build layers with paper-like cells throughout the construction of wooden fibers that is chewed and mixed with their saliva. Looking the interior resembles a honeycomb.
Stinging Insect Inspections, Control & More in Greater Manhattan, & Brooklyn, New York
Being that bald faced hornets are potentially dangerous to anyone who gets close, it is best to call in the specialists of Flash Pest Control and let our experienced experts eliminate them from your grounds to keep you, family, and pets safe from their venomous stings.
