The Hidden Wasps’ Nest 📸

over 3 years ago (Edited)

Yup, as I mentioned in my last creepy crawler post, I snapped a decent amount of insects on my hike that day. But I think I got really lucky with the following shots.

Below is a pic of the rugged up hill terrain. While the spiders where easily seen, one could go through this entire place and not sot another insect... well. On my way my way up, I did not see the wasp nest, but on my way down it was right below knee level just on the edge of the path. Luckily my eyes catch on to things like this quickly .I am not ashamed to say I love taking photos of insects. I really wanna start with birds but I don’t have a lens that zooms in as much as I’d like.

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this nest. In my mind wasps’ have big ole hives, so to see this small thing with what appeared to be baby wasps kinda confused me. It has been that long since I have seen one of these nests in person. I also thought they could be baby hornets at first, but judging from their slim build, they are wasps. And they may not be babies after all.

The closer I got, the slower they moved, a few of them glanced my direction but were mostly unbothered by my presence.

What were they doing? Someone tell me in the comments below, but my guess is they were feeding the larvae in the cones....maybe, maybe, I am no “waspologist” 🤷‍♂. It is interesting how they built this nest so close to the ground. This was probably strategic as it is actually harder to be seen being so low. I am guessing some birds and other insects would feast on these easily if they were up in a tree, like the robber fly which I only knew existed recently.

The nest was hanging from a low branch that was thin and seemed to come from the root system that was poking out the side of a dirt pile. Though I tried and tried to get the perfect shot, I don't think I did. The lighting and detail is a bit off. still not bad shots at all though.

If I had to choose a favorite shot, it would be this one below, though it looks like one of the above. I had to get down low to get all these shots especially this one. The camera was basically on the ground pointing up a the wasp nest. Was it worth it, hell yeah. Taking photos is a very relaxing hobby for me. Unlike people they don't care how they look and won’t ask you to send a copy to them 😂 But I do wanna try some model photography some day.