Thursday 8 September 2022

Suddenly, Hornet's Nests


    I am always walking around outside our house doing things.  That is why it was so surprising to me two days ago, when I happened to glance up at the eaves in the front of our house and saw this huge hornet’s nest tucked against a beam.  It is probably 16 inches (40cm) top to bottom, and it must have been there for months, but I never noticed it before.

    Strangely, yesterday we were taking advantage of beautiful weather, sitting on our lanai, when I looked out across our yard and spotted another hornet’s nest attached to a branch of a cottonwood tree.  It was smaller than the one on the house, about the size of a very fat football.  I can’t saw that I noticed any hornets all summer long.

    Hornets build the nest during the summer, lay eggs, hatch young, then in the fall, they all die off except for the mated queen.  The nests are left abandoned before winter hits.  The queen takes off and hunkers down in some warm place for winter, then in the spring she starts building a new nest, lays more eggs, and starts the process all over again.

      I will just let the nest on the house be until winter, then take it down.  Hornet’s don’t bother people unless people bother them.



You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

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