Yellow Jackets

It's hard to feel good "about the seasonal scourge of yellow jackets. In the interest of fairness, it must be pointed out that they aerate soil and eat enormous numbers of other insects. That is hard to appreciate when they are diving into your soda can or hovering over your picnic table.

To put them in context, they are wasps, not bees, and they eat meat. They nest on the ground or on buildings and can sting without warning.

The reason for their aggressive behavior is that their society is falling apart. 'At this time of year, the yellow jacket colony is at its largest, but its social structure is breaking down,' says a Maryland Department of Agriculture publication. 'There are no more developing larvae to feed, so workers are foraging randomly for themselves. In the fall, their food interests switch from mainly proteins to mainly sweets.

Once it gets cold, all of them will die except the new queen. Next spring, she will start a new nest" (D'Vera Cohn, The Washington Post, September 7, 2003)