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Bald-faced hornet



I haven't posted here for ages! For that matter I haven't done much photography for ages. I didn't lose interest, life just got a bit too busy.

But spring is here and its time to break out the camera gear and start shooting some bugs. In the meantime I've been going through my files and came accross this picture of a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) that I shot last summer. I love the face on this beast...and the way these wasps rest with their front legs off the ground.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Zuiko 60mm micro four thirds macro
Settings: manual exposure (F11 @ 1/160 sec)
Lighting: Olympus flash (I don't remember which one or the setting—oops!)
ISO: 200
 
Very cool and great shot! :)
 
Very cool picture. The face the details are really nice.
 
Beautiful.

I like vespids -- at a distance -- though some are friendly enough, like mud daubers. Hornets have this permanent glare, and usually the disposition to match.
 
The front legs are held up and at the ready so they can get a good grip on whatever they plan to sting next!
 
The front legs are held up and at the ready so they can get a good grip on whatever they plan to sting next!

LOL! You know, I've never been stung by a critter that I was photographing. I've been stung many times by accidently grabbing a wasp or bee, and I’ve been stung way too many times by getting too close to a wasp nest out of curiosity! But they don’t seem to get aggressive when my camera looms over them…they generally just fly away.

EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com
 
Cool Pic, on the topic of wasps, here in Au we have a few varieties of paper wasp (small and nasty), if you go near a nest or shake the tree (by bumping it not deliberately) they will come and nail you, yet if they are in a water tray or even walking on the lip of a plant and you pick them up they never sting, is that odd for a wasp?
 
  • #10
Cool Pic, on the topic of wasps, here in Au we have a few varieties of paper wasp (small and nasty), if you go near a nest or shake the tree (by bumping it not deliberately) they will come and nail you, yet if they are in a water tray or even walking on the lip of a plant and you pick them up they never sting, is that odd for a wasp?

Wow, that is interesting! I certainly wouldn't try to pick up any of the wasp species where I live. The bumble bees on the other hand are really quite docile.
 
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