What kind of “bees” are these (Bald Face Hornets)

What kind of “bees” are these (Bald Face Hornets)

 

Welcome to the 3rd post in the what kind of bees are these series. Today we are talking about bald face hornets which our customers often describe as bees. While we often get calls for “bees” we’ve observed over the years that our customers sometimes refer to anything that stings, and sometimes any thing that flies, as bees. The irony is that for all the bee calls we at All Seasons Pest Control,  respond to they are almost never for bees. Sometimes its yellow jackets, sometimes its carpenter bees, or cicada killers, and often it is bald face hornets.

How to identify bald face hornets

If you find your self troubled by stinging insects and asking “what kind of bees are these?” here are some tell tale signs of Bald face hornets.

Bald face hornets make large paper like nests which they manufacturer from saliva and chewed plant matter. The nests often hang from trees which helps protect the colony from weather and predators. When these insects build their nests in the woods they are of little trouble to anyone. But when the tree is in your yard, or if the “tree” is actually your house the aggressive behavior of bald face hornets can be annoying and dangerous.

When a bald face hornets nest is close to your home it can interfere with outdoor activities such as time at the pool or outdoor dinning. Bald face hornets are so aggressive we often hear reports that our customer have a hard time getting to their cars!

Aside from the nest bald face hornets look similar to yellow jackets except having white markings instead of yellow. In fact both yellow jackets and bald face hornets belong to the same wasp family.

All seasons pest control is happy to help, whether you have positively identified your pests as bald face hornets or you are unsure what stinging insects you have and would just like them to go away we are happy to treat them for you.