Your bee guide for the summer
(midwest.social)
FunnyI am honor bound to come wasps' defense. They are very cool critters! The vast majority cannot and do not harm humans, and are largely an ecological boon. They prey on cultured crops pests. Some even specifically prey on roaches.
I've lived in paper wasp territory my whole ass life and only been stung twice, and it wasn't even all that bad. Like the pain was gone in a minute tops. And I consistently stick my hand and fingers into unexplored, and frequently inappropriate, areas.
Wasps are bros as much as spiders are. I would argue more so because they actively hunt pests, and are responsible for far less human deaths than spiders.
Hey!!! Now, waitaminit!
Those "pieces of shit" do a bang up job of keeping the caterpilars and other pest creepy-crawlies off the fruiting trees.
NGL, have a friend whose house has 2-inch eaves (not soffits) that are lined each summer with wasps nests.
They do nothing but ferry all the caterpillars off the peach trees to their nests all summer long.
Also, as there are always people outside on the porch, the wasps are totally chill with everyone and no one has ever been stung or swooped at.
(Friend shares the bounty.. we get lots of peaches for their diligent work.. peach pies, peach cobbler, peach schnapps, peach jam, peaches with ice cream... you get the idea...)
It's about being a part of the territory, not an interloper.
I like the wasps.. now the white faced hornets.. that's another story. Utter cunts, those ones are.
Hell yeah! I'm so glad for lemmy opposed to reddit cause I see some wasp defense here! Wasps are bros.
I have no real ill will towards any bug that is outside other than horse flies. Horse flies can go to hell. Fucking bastards bite just for fun
Also, as there are always people outside on the porch, the wasps are totally chill with everyone and no one has ever been stung or swooped at.
In the States, our yellowjackets don't swoop and sting much, but they have a super-annoying tendency to hover over one's food. Possibly the behavior's a bit different where you are, possibly via related but different species.
It’s particularly bad in late summer and early fall, when their diet shifts to be more protein-rich — human food tends to be more appealing.
We have wasps that love meat here, they come and sit at the table at your picnics. They're still friends though, even when you're fighting ten for a piece of sushi. They don't sting even when you accidentally hit them swatting them away
Wasps are always invited to the cookout!
They actually scare away the flies from what I've seen. Flies puke on your food, wasps chomp intentionally leaving less fluids.
Schnapps, you say? (suddenly in need of a drink )
They aren't this high resolution in real life and they are moving all over. I'm fine with the big fatties but anything else I tuck my arms into my sleeves and make a high pitched scream.
And you're not wrong for doing so. The phat bois mostly don't even have stingers. But wasps are also less likely to swarm.
Yellowjackets are rage with wings. Fuck the little bastards.
They give other wasps a bad rap.
actually the wasp eats pests. but it's also very ignorant when it senses food. so yeah, i get the resentment
So do bats. I propose we trade all of the wasps for some quantity of bats.
You want hemoragic fevers? That's how you get hemoragic fevers.
Now you’re speaking my language.
Replace "piece of shit" with "avoid this asshole". Take these jerks over mosquitoes or ticks any day.
Haven't even thought about ticks in a few years. I cultured my property to encourage a diverse local fauna, which results in very few of the fuckers.
Two of the three I save when paddling.
