Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts

Sky Nursery Mason Bee Seminar pre-registration

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Saturday, September 16th, 1 pm to 2:30pm 

Hands On Mason Bee Fall Care Seminar with Ray Strelecki

Our gentle native Mason Bees have a much better survival and reproduction rate if given a little TLC in the fall.

Ray will bring in actual bee houses with live (dormant) Mason Bees and first demonstrate, then let you practice, basic fall Mason bee care.

Learn how to remove cocoons from the bee houses without harming the dormant bees, how to clean the blocks, and how to clean the cocoons.

Ray will also talk about how to deal with insect invaders (such as hornets) that sometimes like to try overwintering in bee houses.

Free, but class size is limited to allow everyone opportunity to practice.

Pre-register in the store, by calling 206-546-4851, or by emailing sky@skynursery.com.
(We will open a second session from 3 to 4:30 if demand is high.)

Sky Nursery 18528 Aurora Ave N Shoreline WA 98133 206 546-4851



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Photo: Spider with a view

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Spider with a view
Photo by Wayne Pridemore

Lucy and Wayne Pridemore were sitting at their son and daughter-in-law's kitchen table enjoying last night's sunset.

"I realized that we company, a spider hanging outside, was also enjoying the sunset. The spider didn't seem to mind that its perspective was reversed to ours, the colors were just as beautiful. Spiders do see colors, don't they ? I hope so !"

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Waspish critters: Hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps

Beware of hornet nest!
Photo by Seattle Poppy

By Malia Megargee

An ornamental plum tree draped above Frank Kleyn's Richmond Beach roof is the home for a large bald-faced hornet nest.

Dolichovespula maculata, or the bald faced hornet, is in fact not a hornet, but a yellow jacket.

The only hornet in the US is the European hornet, an accidentally introduced non-native species that resides here. Therefore, the name ‘bald-faced hornet’ is a misnomer, sort of like how we call guinea pigs pigs. (They aren’t pigs.) However, to avoid confusion, we still call the bald-faced hornet by its given name.

You can easily distinguish bald-faced hornets by the pale markings on their face, hence their name bald faced. Even though bald-faced hornets are known to have a very painful sting, they are not as aggressive as some hornets. 

Bald faced hornet nest in ornamental plum tree
Photo by Frank Kleyn

In the spring, bald-faced hornets begin building their paper nests suspended in the protective branches of trees. The spherical nests can reach three feet in height. Their nests house a large colony of hornets with a queen, and hundreds of drones, and workers. When the rains and cold winds of autumn return to the Pacific Northwest, the queen will fly off, leaving the other hornets to die and the nest will be no longer be active.

Here in Washington we get many types of waspish critters, all of which we generally classify as wasps. There are many differences despite this. You distinguish a hornet from a wasp particularly by its aggression, since hornets are more aggressive.

Certain characteristics are definitive of each type, for instance: hornets are almost never brightly colored as opposed to wasps. Also hornet's abdomens are generally more rounded than wasps.

In general, wasps are normally pollinators, and hornets and yellow-jackets are predatory. As far as differences go, however, that’s it.

Many people don’t know this and try to identify the wasp or hornet by its nest. The subfamily Vespinae (wasps and yellow jackets), makes nests out of paper, but so do the traditional ‘paper wasps’, which are placed under a different classification of Polistinae specifically for paper wasps.

Bald face hornet lunching on aphids
Photo by Frank Kleyn
 
Even though these insects have a much feared sting, they are great for your yard, as they eat aphids and other common, yet problematic pests. Frank Kleyn observed this to be true of the bald-faced hornets at his home.

If you really want to get rid of a hornet or wasp's nest, never use pesticides or harsh chemicals, as these are terrible for the environment. They damage non-stinging beneficial insects and birds.

In Shoreline area, there are people who can be hired to remove the nests using natural means. However, my hope would be that you let them be, and instead let them help you and your yard thrive.


Malia Megargee has a passion for bugs of all kinds. She is entering the 8th grade at Einstein Middle School next week.


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Insects: Bald faced hornets

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Bald-faced hornet nest
Photo by Frank Kleyn

Text and photo by Frank Kleyn

An ornamental plum tree draped above my Richmond Beach roof is the home for a large bald-faced hornet nest.

Bald-faced hornets are not truly hornets, and are more closely related to yellow jackets.

In the spring, bald-faced hornets begin building their paper nests suspended in the protective branches of trees. The spherical nests, created with wood fiber and saliva, can reach three feet in height.

Their nests house a large colony with a queen and hundreds of drones and workers.

When the rains and cold winds of autumn return to the Pacific Northwest, the queen will fly off, leaving the other hornets to die and the nest will be no longer be active.



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Lake Forest Park Streamkeepers to count insects Saturday

Tuesday, September 18, 2012


Saturday September 22, 2012: BIBI Monitoring Event

StreamKeepers conducts its annual inventory of insects in McAleer and Lyon Creeks on one Saturday in late September or early October. Insect collection is done in teams and training is provided. This activity consists of collecting aquatic insects and other small organisms from small areas of the stream beds in several locations. 

The samples collected will be analyzed by a trained entomologist, with results available in several weeks. We follow a process developed by a UW professor, which is technically known as BIBI (Benthic Inventory of Biologic Integrity).

This inventory is perhaps the most important stream monitoring activity we do, as it gives a basic assessment of overall stream health that can be compared with other streams in Western Washington. It is also the most fun, and a good way to become "intimately" familiar with our streams.

Anyone interested in helping is most welcome! Contact Mark Phillips, 206-388-7284) for information about meeting location and time.


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Wasps in Shoreline

Thursday, August 26, 2010

About the size of a basketball.  Photo by Christine Goodrich.
Thanks to the Goodrich family for sharing this photo of their wasp tenants. The wasps moved into a tree in their front yard during the beginning of summer. The family first noticed the nest on August 3 when it was "about the size of a basketball." 

Photo by Christine Goodrich
They are enjoying watching it grow - from a safe distance.

The photo on the left was taken from directly underneath the nest.  

These are often called "Paper Wasps" because their nests are made of material which resembles thin sheets of gray paper.  If the nest is undisturbed, the workers will continue to add layers of "paper" to the outside of the nest.

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