On one recent early morning, the valley smelled sweet from blooming Japanese honeysuckles and multiflora roses. As I sat looking at the eastern sky, a wasp kept flying around me. But it didn’t try to sting me — I was probably just too close to its nest.
When wasps are mentioned, people usually immediately think of the structures some of them build in trees. But most wasps are solitary and build their nests underground or with mud.
In their larval or caterpillar stage, wasps are carnivorous and eat whatever insects they can find. However, when they become adults, they seek out nectar and pollinate flowers just like the bees that descended from wasps millions of years ago…