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• FINDING A WINTER WOODS TREASURE |
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007 |
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Years ago, my five-year old daughter and I were walking along a woodland trail enjoying the crisp winter air and sparkling white snow when she stopped short. As I crashed into her she asked, “Mom, what’s that great big gray thing hanging in that tree?” She was pointing at was a large, papery looking, oval, gray object hanging high in the branches of a tree. It had the shape of a football, but was a bit wider.
“Wow, Heather, you’ve found a Bald-Faced hornet’s nest!” We talked excitedly about Dolichovespa maculata, commonly known as the Bald-Faced or White-faced hornet. We walked circles around our find, viewing it from all angles. Later, at home, we pulled out books to learn more about this surprising structure. Interestingly, this winter-time treasure told a summer-time tale.
Our summer story begins this way… A single female, fertilized the previous year, survived the winter by hibernating in a sheltered spot. It was she who constructed the foundation of the nest and was the queen of this new colony. In the beginning she worked alone to build this home, lay eggs, collect food and tend her first brood. Quite an accomplishment for any mother! From this first brood her future helpers emerged.
The nest, built originally by our queen, did not remain small but grew as the colony increased. Unlike humans who build from the ground up, the Bald-Faced hornets built downward, suspending each new layer by columnar supports. They also extended the nest laterally when necessary. The lightness of their building material made the massive size possible. Similar to paper, it was made from small particles of wood the hornets shaved off with their jaws from wooden beams, play sets, posts, and nearby trees. Mixing their saliva with the shavings to form a pulp, they cemented the layers together. Most likely the gray color of this nest was due to the hornet’s collection of shavings from weathered wood objects. All that labor lasts one season only as the community abandons its home in the winter, never to return.
Our queen’s community had an internal thermostat responsible for telling them when to “turn up the heat” or “turn on the air conditioning”. Around the breeding combs, the temperature was kept at a constant 86 degrees Farenheit by a special group of workers. They acted as living “heaters”, contracting and stretching their abdomens in rapid succession. When it got too hot on any given day, the hornets would carry in water to moisten the cells, which were cooled through the process of evaporation.
“Mom, do they sting?” Every organism in the animal kingdom is specially equipped to protect itself in some way. So too, the Bald-Faced hornet. Its sting is very painful and you will want to avoid it at all costs! They are most likely to sting when we are too near their nest or are disturbing them in some way. Makes sense to me!
My daughter and I were lucky to see this winter walk treat. Since then, we have had the opportunity to examine several abandon, hornet-free nests. They are true architectural masterpieces from top to bottom. We hope you and your family have the chance to find one of these “insect homes” on one of your walks. Meanwhile, for more information and some incredible pictures try www.vespa-crabro.de/
After your walk you may want to settle in together with a good book or two about winter and the wonders available to you outdoors. I would recommend the following: White Snow, Blue Feather by Julie Downing; Owl Moon by Jane Yolen; Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett. Of course having a good animal track guide available would be an excellent idea as both mud and snow produce great evidence of passers-by.
I hope you enjoy your winter treks this month. There’s no telling what you will find!
~ Trudy Phillips, Director for Environmental Education |
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