Day out looking for hornets

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,815
1,511
Stourton,UK
You have Captain Sharp now With his two sheaths. So Fair is fair. And mom knocked it into Mr Spongy Potato Seeds tank so it doesn’t fit this new Raymond knife and the Happy Egg all disintegrated in it. It is thicker than Captain Sharp anyway.
People are not going to have one clue as to what you’re on about here, except Clem. So here is a guide to understanding Poppyisms.

Captain Sharp…….. Her old RM Wilkinson Sword knife

The Happy Egg……. RM ferro rod. So called because she used to think that upside down, RMs snowshoe logo looked like a happy egg.

Mr Spongey Potatoe Seed……. Her pet cuttlefish.
 
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TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,257
1,723
Vantaa, Finland
As to the feather. Tawny is a possibility if you have the brown version that is not from the grey one. How about barn owl?
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,815
1,511
Stourton,UK
Just brown ones around here.

I think she’s spot on. Tawny owl primary. Our Barnys arent as densely barred and have a lighter fawn colour. They aren’t quite as fluffy around the edges either. Nice find.
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
Out looking for hornets, are you? We have the typical "Yellow-jacket wasp" and the "Bald-faced Hornet" which is bigger, much worse sting and a black & white coloring.

What you don't have and I hope you never see are the Asian Murder Hornets.
These boogers are 5-7 cm long. No kidding. Slowly but surely becoming established around the Salish Sea. This is the ocean region from Seattle up to Vancouver and west to Victoria.
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
I think you might have missed the good part. Does your reference explain what the Murder Hornets like to do for fun?

They will sit in front of a hive and chop up honey bees by the thousands.
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
Dig out a serious map of western north america. The continent.
The Murder Hornet distribution so far seems to cover northern Washington state and the SW tip of British Columbia, over to the south end of Vancouver Island.

The strategy right now is NOT to kill individuals but to try to trace them back to the hive colony and get them all before the young queens disperse every year.

I have BIG but very cool solitary Mud Dauber Wasps which build nests of mud cells in my garden shed (quite big.) If we get tomorrow's prediction of 25mm rain, I expect to see the wasps working in the shed on Monday.

They fill the mud cells with spiders or flies for their newly hatched larvae to feed on. The bumble bee nests are under the floor. I guess my place is bug-acceptable.
 
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daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales
I found a hornets' nest in an old hollow tree and went back in the winter to see how it looked after they'd gone. I've still got the brood chamber here.
20210815-161225.jpg

They also nest in the roof of my parents' house and I watch them stealing the grapes off my vines in late summer. Amazing creatures.
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
Biggest yellowjacket wasp nest that I ever found had 5 layers of comb in it.
Probably some 40 cm tall, 25 cm in diameter.

By mid November here, we may get the first of the winter snow storms.
The wasps have shut down and you will find the paper nests meticulously clean.
Evidence claims that it's the shrews that feast on the entire wasp nest contents.
 

henchy3rd

Settler
Apr 16, 2012
612
424
Derby
Every summer I sit & watch common wasps eating the sap from a tree, then the hornets attack the wasps & bites their heads off & flys away with it.. they leave a small pile off heads near the base of the tree.
has anyone else seen this or know why?
 

Lean'n'mean

Settler
Nov 18, 2020
744
464
France
Every summer I sit & watch common wasps eating the sap from a tree, then the hornets attack the wasps & bites their heads off & flys away with it.. they leave a small pile off heads near the base of the tree.
has anyone else seen this or know why?
Hornets like wasps, feed their larvae meat,(in exchange the larvae produce a sweet honeydew like substance on which the workers feed) that is why they are useful in gardens as they hunt a lot of invertebrate pests. And then in late summer when the production of larvae ceases, the workers become mildly annoying as they search far & wide for the sugars they need to live.
I haven't ever seen hornets attack wasps but I have seen them catch masonry bees in flight as they flew out of a hole in a stone wall.
 
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