Bald-faced hornets' nest with perfect camouflage in our patio table umbrella
Talk about the perfect camouflage! These bald-faced hornets built their paper nest in our patio table umbrella and it blended in so well, we didn't notice it until we saw a hornet climbing out of the hole. And this was just a few feet from our back door, the door we went in and out of several times a day taking our dogs out. Once I found out what they were, I panicked. They aren't true hornets but rather yellowjacket wasps according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They are highly aggressive and can sting you over and over again if you get too close to their nest and there was no way to keep a distance as it was so close to our back door. Although I must admit that we must have walked past it a gazillion times without issue before we discovered it. The Missouri Department of Conservation posted that in the Ozark mountains in the early 1900s, empty hornets' nests were considered good luck, especially for childbirth and so "nearly every old-time mountain cabin" had one hanging in the loft. -- These photos were taken in May 2019 in Hiram, Georgia, USA.