I think the wasps have accepted me as one of their own.Since spring of last year, wasps have been homesteading near the tall, Russian Sunflowers in my side yard. Their nest is only about 3 inches across, snug inside a shallow length of dry pipe...a pipe I come within inches of, everyday, when tending my garden. Last summer, some well-meaning neighbor destroyed their nest, and every wasp in it. But this spring, sure enough, new wasps came and started a new one.
These are yellowjackets. Hunters. They eat mosquitos, tomato worms, and grasshoppers. God Bless the mosquito eaters!
When I come to water my garden, some will come out of the pipe and hover...then land on the petals and leaves of the sunflowers, and drink on the drops there. Sometimes, when I'm just there to futz around, one or two might come over and hover near my hands. Sometimes they hang around, sometimes they go back to their nest.
They spend a lot of time on my sunflowers. There isn't a lot of room in that pipe, except for eggs and babies...I think the sunflowers' leaves have become the front porch they can sun on and doze.
[click on image to enlarge]
2 comments:
I think your art is wonderful! I love how you use a limited pallet like this one - it oozes the feeling that goes with your story. I wish though they could be viewed in larger format. Apart from the cats :) your blog has the subject matter that makes me feel at home. I communicate with birds and insects mostly.
how did i miss this post? lol
i'm not so crazy about the box elder bugs (we get thousands every fall, around here)...but most of the other critters in my neighborhood, i get along with quite nicely.
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