Anyone who has ever picnicked in the park has experienced the dive-bombing and swarming of yellow jackets. Yellow jackets are aggressive predatory wasps that have yellow and black or black and white striped bodies and are about the same size as a bee, but skinnier and less hairy looking.

Like bees, yellow jackets are social insects that live in colonies, but a lot smaller than the ones bees live in. Like bees, yellow jackets carry a nasty stinger, but because it is not barbed, they can sting repeatedly while a bee can only sting once. Although annoying at your picnic as they buzz your ham sandwich and potato salad, they are in fact beneficial insects because they prey on other insects.

Yellow jackets eat a number of things. They can capture and chew up insects (or your lunch meat), but they also have a long proboscis for sucking nectar, fruit, and other juices. Yellow jacket nests are generally found in trees or shrubs where they are in a protected environment. They can also be found in human structures such as attics, hollow walls, inside flooring, in sheds, or under porches or house eaves. Some even live in abandoned mouse burrows or in cavities in the soil. Their nests are made from chewed up wood fiber.

In the spring, adults feed on things rich in sugar, but their larva feed on protein, which the adults find, chew, and condition to feed their young. The young produce a sugar the adults relish. In late summer as larva mature, worker yellow jackets change their food preference from meats to sweets as the young stop producing sweet treats for the adults that feed them.

If you find a yellow jacket nest near your house, it is best to get rid of it so you or anyone else or your pets don’t mistakenly aggravate them and get stung. Because these insects are aggressive and can sting repeatedly, it is best to call a professional to clear the nest away.