How to get a six pack

We are waiting and hoping that the males and new queens will emerge soon and will find their way to the feeder. Meantime the worker hornets are putting on a good show.

One thing they seem to like even more than banana is maple syrup - perhaps it is not surprising as they are known to forage for tree sap and will strip bark from small branches to get at it.  It is fascinating to watch them expand as they fill up with syrup.  When a hornet arrives with empty tanks she has a yellow abdomen.

Each worker drinks for two or three minutes and as she drinks the abdomen extends and becomes black and yellow striped.  When she is full she is noticeably longer than when she arrived.

In this photo the hornet in the middle is full and about to depart, the one on the left is half full and the one on the right has just arrived.

These two below have just arrived "empty" and are noticeably different in size.  Worker size seems to vary and so far we haven't definitely identified a new queen, although this might be one.  However, males should emerge before the new queens and we haven't yet seen a male.


Every departing hornet flies on the same trajectory into the woods but we still haven't found the nest.