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Wha 'tis it
susie
Member Posts: 7,416 ✭✭✭✭
Sitting on the deck, enjoying the day, reading a good book when this feller buzzed by. A little Black Flag aimed appropriately and he was DRT.
Now I need an ID on the deceased. Any forensics experts out there want to hazard a SWAG? Approximately one inch in length.
Comments
Don't know what kind,but he was a handsome little fellow.
Yellow jacket. And they hurt for a few days after sting!
Not a yellow jacket. They are in the fly family
Around here we call them a news bee, they can hoover and don't sting
Yes, news bee. Seeing one means you're supposed to get some good news.
well until you kill it 😁
Well, that's news to me! 🤔
I actually found a nest that they make. It looks like a miniature hornet's nest, about 4" in diameter. There were only 3 or 4 of them flying around it.
Jeezy guys, it is a hornet. And yellow jackets are eusocial wasps that nest in the ground, ot flies. No reason to kill it Suzie away from the nest they are not aggressive.
Googled it after seeing the answers. Good news bees are actually a form of fly. I feel bad for killing it. We have had Asian hornets show up next county over and the bugger had me spooked with its aggressive behavior.
So..... technically I was right! Yellow jacket! 😁 OK, I was wrong about the sting part apparently. Never heard of a yellow jacket fly. I have had several encounters with yellow jacket wasps, and they all sucked!
Suzi, you are right, got it on the computer screen instead of the phone. It has two wings, not four and that alone distinguishs it as a fly. Yellow jackets still not flies, so technically you were wrong Mike.😁
My daddy always said, "No News is GOOD News" So I forgive you susie. 🙂
Big ol fly.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Black Flag works well
@susie My wife was bitten by one of these today. We were in Harbor Freight & it got her on the elbow. So much for those sites that say they don't bite. Yes, it did hurt for a while, but no swelling , etc.
Yikes. Glad the sting wasn't worse, no allergic reaction or such.
@montanajoe Thank you, the spot still hurts. It's still red & hot. Funny that web sites say they don't either bite or sting.
If it is still red & hot I would be going to get it looked at for sure. Infection is my worry. Let us know.
I can tell you one thing for sure a yellow jacket will sting you no matter where he's at. I was at Cherokee lake in East Tennessee in the summer of 1967 at a picnic eating a sandwich and a yellow jacket landed on my sandwich and I didn't see him and the next bite I took he stung me on the side of my tongue. I thought I was going to choke to death but mostly it just pissed me off. Then to make matters worse my car conked out on the way home and I had to get out and take the breather off the carburetor and beat on the side of the carb to get the float unstuck before it would restart. My girl friend, June, who was in the car with both her hands over her mouth trying to keep me from seeing her laughing at me for raising hell sounding like I was cussing in a foreign language with my tongue all swollen up. I threatened to make her walk home but she knew better she knew I'd never make her walk anywhere she was the love of my life and after thinking about it, it was funny. It hurt like the devil but I was laughing about it to. Luckily I wasn't allergic to those things or I would have kicked the bucket. 😛
Well yeah, but if you don't try to eat them, they are not aggressive.🤣
The redness & heat are going away & now it's just itchy. She was just pushing the buggy when it got her. Maybe it was on the handle & she bumped it. Sites say this "fly" doesn't either bite or sting. There was no stinger in the "wound" but I don't see a bite causing this reaction. There was what could have been a stinger hanging out after I mashed it, but I'm no entomologist. By the way, HF employees were very responsive. Thanks for your concern. Al
Yellow jackets do sting and if you stumble upon a nest of them in the ground, many of them will sting you. The insect I killed had a flat abdomen area, not wasp/bee configured. Also, upon closer inspection there was no stinger. It is colored similar to the yellow jacket but had slight variations. Very easy to mix up the two.
Yellow jackets are attracted to sweet just like honey and bumble bees. It makes them a danger if you have a canned soda outside.
Glad to hear the sting/bite is healing and is no longer hot. @Toolman286
@susie Hi, it looked exactly like your photo. If not for your post, I wouldn't have had an idea what it was (thanks.) I joke with my "sweet" wife that I like having her with me so the bugs go after her instead of me.