Bald Faced Hornet

With the fall foliage completing its cycle, the number of beehives or should I say bald faced hornet hives are everywhere. By everywhere I mean in central Massachusetts,  driving through the towns of Rutland, Oakham , Barre , Hardwick & Petersham  nests are easily seen .To quantify the increased hive activity, a late fall hike in Quabbin I counted 24 bald faced  hornet hives over a twelve mile stretch. The hives were built as low as four feet from the ground and were as high as forty feet in a variety of trees. I don’t believe I have ever seen twenty four hives of any type in my lifetime, never mind in one season. That’s what has me so inquisitive. Why are there so many hives in central Massachusetts this year, Was the winter of 2012 mild enough where temperatures  minimized the death toll of the queen bald face hornets. The queens will typically protect themselves from the winter by borrowing into a rotten log or under bark. Is there something more to the increased bald faced hornet activity? My next questions were, how do they build their nests, what is there purpose, do they pollinate like the honey bee?

The bald face hornet uses their saliva mixed with the wood that they chew in fabricating the paper that makes the hive. I have not figured out there purpose.  They do pollinate but it doesn’t appear with the intensity of a honey bee. Bald faced hornets are aggressive and will attack other small insects.

I have always found hives catch most peoples eye and make for an interesting conversation piece. Taking a hive in the late fall has no impact on the inhabitants or the hive. The drones have all died off with the female seeking winter cover elsewhere in hopes of making it to spring where she will start a new hive with a small cone.

Jim