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Post by joniverson on Aug 28, 2017 14:50:49 GMT
After having two traps up for over a month, I had this visitor to one trap this morning. I noticed one buzzing around yesterday, but it didn't enter the trap. Also, there has been a large, female cicada killer frequenting the area within the last 48 hours and I noticed where one goes, the other shows up sometimes. Anyway, happy with this find, haven't seen many in the wild this season.
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Post by trehopr1 on Aug 28, 2017 18:02:04 GMT
Do you have a penchant for Hymenoptera? You must be from the U.S. if you saw a Cicada killer in your area. Very few if any members have ever indicated much interest in bees, wasps, or their kin. As for me, I have always had a passing interest in the large or colorful Hymenoptera. Occasionally, I will take a specimen or two here and there while out in the field. I also have a small collection (30 examples) of paper wasp nests which I have collected up over the years. They are all in great shape as I keep a sharp eye out for them just as the leaves are beginning to fall. This way, they are intact and un-damaged by November's blustery winds. I have a locale not far from my home where I could regularly collect cicada killers every year in July thru mid August --- in numbers. The females are quite large and bold creatures but, on occasion a large male can fool you into thinking you just saw a female. V. crabro is most often encountered in late July through August as their colonies are relatively small (always) as compared to other paper wasps. Queens, can be found sometimes in May when they have emerged from their long winters hibernation and are out scouting for new nest sites.
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Post by joniverson on Sept 1, 2017 9:24:57 GMT
Do you have a penchant for Hymenoptera? You must be from the U.S. if you saw a Cicada killer in your area. Very few if any members have ever indicated much interest in bees, wasps, or their kin. As for me, I have always had a passing interest in the large or colorful Hymenoptera. Occasionally, I will take a specimen or two here and there while out in the field. I also have a small collection (30 examples) of paper wasp nests which I have collected up over the years. They are all in great shape as I keep a sharp eye out for them just as the leaves are beginning to fall. This way, they are intact and un-damaged by November's blustery winds. I have a locale not far from my home where I could regularly collect cicada killers every year in July thru mid August --- in numbers. The females are quite large and bold creatures but, on occasion a large male can fool you into thinking you just saw a female. V. crabro is most often encountered in late July through August as their colonies are relatively small (always) as compared to other paper wasps. Queens, can be found sometimes in May when they have emerged from their long winters hibernation and are out scouting for new nest sites. I sort of like the unusual ones, or ones I rarely see. I first spotted the hornet years ago feeding on some some sort of food along a forest's edge. I was just a kid at the time and thought it might have been a different type of cicada killer, since the hornet seemed to be about the same size. It was definitely larger, although not by much, than the image above so it may have been the female. Since I posted, I found another Euro hornet, along with some bald faced hornets, in my butterfly baiter. I just started using one of the baiters and have been having a lot of success with it. I read that these hornets are nocturnal, but I have yet to find any in the special traps I have for them. With the sugar water/ banana bait I use, other than bald faced hornets and butterflies, I get a lot of horse flies. I was really surprised by this and some of the flies are probably a cm long.
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Post by joniverson on Sept 3, 2017 17:57:35 GMT
Another one of these hornets today. That makes the third found in my butterfly traps, but not the special soda bottle traps made for them. I have a notion to take the soda bottles down. Only difference in the mixture is that the butterfly traps are a lot more enriched with overripe banana, whereas the hornet trap bait is not. Interesting. Now they are attracting plenty of white faced hornets (both types of traps are in fact), but only the butterfly trap gets the European.
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