Living with insects

[old man emu]

If it's small, flies, buzzes or crawls the usual response is to swat or squash the life out of it, but how often do we appreciate insects just because they exist.

 

This time of year is when Mud Dauber Wasps are reproducing. That means that they have to build a secure nest for the egg to develop in. Because I haven't had flyscreens for a while, a few wasps have decided to come inside to find places for their nests. One has chosen the side of the bookcase next to my desk. During the day she (it's the female who builds the nest) flies in and out through the open windows and, in a cross species metaphor, makes a bee line for the nest. If I happen to be in here path, we perform that embarrassing dance you see people doing trying to get past each other in a supermarket aisle. I read up on these wasps and found that they are not aggressive unless attacked. The nest looks like someone has thrown a handful of mud at a wall, but they come away easily.

 

Now I have a problem. I'm making the flyscreens which will block the entry the wasp uses. But I think she will leave as soon as she has finished the mud nest, laid her egg and stuffed a couple of paralyzed spiders in as food for her young one. So that leaves me with a nest and larva sitting until Spring. I could gently lift the nest from where it is and place it outside in a safe place near other nests , or I could just leave it where it is and let Nature take its course and let the emerging insect figure out how to leave the house next year.

 

I don't want to destroy the nest and the egg. The wasp which built it and laid her egg in it did nothing bad to me. In fact, I often bid her, "Good day" as she flies inside in the morning*. And I wonder if I'll be called on for larva sitting again next Summer.

 

*I'm not going nuts. You talk to your pets, don't you?

[rgmwa]

Maybe you need a wasp flap in the flyscreen?  

[kgwilson]

I made the mistake of allowing a pair of Welcome Swallows to nest in my Garage some 20 years ago. They built an elaborate mud nest high up the wall & I used to leave the roller door open about 100mm from the floor so they had access. They would fly in with the most amazing accuracy at very high speed.

 

Once the 3 or 4 young fledged and left I removed the nest and cleaned the wall. The problem was that next Spring there were more than a dozen of them wanting to build nests. I had to keep the door locked but they kept on trying for weeks.

[old man emu]

Nah. She's flapping her wings enough while she's applying the mud.

 

Isn't a WASP flap an access point for certain American churchgoers?

 

On a further point, while I was writing the above, I had a soaker hose on outside. There was a racket  and I looked out to see some Twelve Apostles, Willy-Wagtails and finches arguing over access to the puddles. 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Once in the Alice Springs gliding comp, I was asked by old Vic what I used to thermal with. I said the variometer, what do you use?

I reckon he had his total-energy blocked by a mud-dauber wasp, but he had already packed up so we never found out for sure. ( he used the altimeter to thermal with, but this was not very good)

[facthunter]

Were you flying at Bond Springs in 1969?  Nev

[willedoo]

I'm not very familiar with mud dauber wasps but hornets are probably my favourite insect. They are peaceful insects and easy to live with. If you don't attack them, they won't hurt you. I've had them building a mud nest a couple of feet away from where my head resides while watching TV, and they've never bothered me. Have also had them land on my arm and fly away again. If you were a nervous person and freaked out by trying to hit them, it would be a normal response from a hornet to defend itself. If you leave them alone they just cruise around and do their own thing.

 

I recon there's more going on with animals than what we give them credit for. Most of them know instinctively whether you are a threat or not, and are prepared to co-exist if you feel the same way. The exception to the rule is paper wasps and jumping ants. Both malicious psychopaths in my opinion.

[willedoo]

55 minutes ago, old man emu said:

On a further point, while I was writing the above, I had a soaker hose on outside. There was a racket  and I looked out to see some Twelve Apostles, Willy-Wagtails and finches arguing over access to the puddles. 

That's why I recommend a bird bath close by the house; it can be a source of constant amusement. I have one on a planting box type of arrangement which cantilevers off the verandah rail. It serves a few purposes. Obviously a drinking and bathing point for the birds, but it also brings some joy into my life watching their bathing antics. It also provides another bit of routine to keep it filled and maintained. It's also educational as you get to see various species up close and get to learn a bit about them.

 

The main birds that use the bath are the ravens, mickey birds, butcher birds, and blue-faced honeyeaters. The latter three will all get on ok and share the facility at the same time on a hot day. The crows on the other hand don't mix with other birds and are probably aggressive enough to intimidate the smaller birds into keeping their distance.

 

The smaller birds bath by jumping into the water, flapping their wings like crazy and flying out, almost in one action. The crows are really funny to watch when they have a bath. They sit in the bath like a little kid does and have a fat old time wriggling and splashing water all over themselves, all the while fluffing up their feathers into a big black ball. They also get some really comical expressions on their face while doing it. Every time the crows have a bath, it has to be refilled as their antics cause most of the water to be splashed out. The smaller birds will jump in and out in a flash and do that multiple times, whereas the crows will be in the bath for two or three minutes at a time. Sometimes longer on a hot day.

[spacesailor]

Hornets !

'' They are peaceful insects and easy to live with. If you don't attack them, they won't hurt you. ''

Wrong

I was stung below my eye , (  As a kid ) , What  a painful sting that was, had a lump like a Boxer had thumped me ,

And

I didn't see it coming , what had I done to that Nasty Devil .

But

I used to play with wasp's , they could sting you many times, but only a little sting at a time .

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

I'm not a fan of wasps - they attacked our bees on the one year we had a hive, eventually killing so many that the remaining bees went elsewhere. 

Bees though - lovely insects. I used to sit next to the hive with a coffee and watch them coming and going.  Never got stung. 

[old man emu]

There's wasps and there are wasps. These mud daubers are harmless if left alone so I don't really mind sharing space with them. But the paper wasps are to be killed on sight.

 

When I was a toddler I knocked one of these nests and was severely stung by a swarm of them. Since then I always destroy their nests, preferably with a flaming bit of rag on a stick. You have to do it at night when the wasps have settled and you can be sure of killing the whole swarm. The other day I was fossicking in my shed and did not notice a nest. I must have knocked it down because I caught something dark in the corner of my eye and then felt a sharp pain on my cheek. Needless to say that as soon as I saw the nest on the ground, I stomped on it.

[willedoo]

Bees hate adrenalin and will bite you if you're pumping it out. That's why it's important to be calm and relaxed around them. If you freak out in their presence they will go for you. I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar with hornets and some wasps.

[willedoo]

1 minute ago, old man emu said:

But the paper wasps are to be killed on sight.

I agree with that 100%, they're horrible things. About 18 months ago I copped about 20 to 30 bites from them. I'm glad nobody was there with a phone camera when I was doing some very strange dance moves. Not to mention the Tourette Syndrome like cursing. I got them in the end though.

[old man emu]

I was worried that I might suffer an allergic reaction that could have killed me as there was noone close to monitor me.

[willedoo]

16 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I was worried that I might suffer an allergic reaction that could have killed me as there was noone close to monitor me.

When I had my altercation with the paper wasps I was alone. After I copped all those bites, it got me thinking how easy it would be to die from them. All you would have to do is fall over and knock yourself out and the wasps would just keep biting while you were out cold. Enough bites and you might never wake up.

[facthunter]

A bee sacrifices a lot to bite you. IF you ease the sting out carefully you get less venom..  Nev

[kgwilson]

Wasps and Bees Sting. As far as I know none of them bite but sandflies and mosquitos do.

[facthunter]

Mosquito's don't bite. They just stick a hypodermic needle into you and suck your blood and infect you with what the last person had.  Nev

[kgwilson]

True. They all have lethal proboscis, but nothing bites with its bum.

[facthunter]

Some stingy people Bum a bite. Nev

[willedoo]

I thought the sandfly bite was actually a secretion, sort of like they p*ss on you.

2 hours ago, kgwilson said:

but nothing bites with its bum.

What about politicians. Most of them talk through their rear end, so it follows that some would have teeth there.

[kgwilson]

If you have ever been to Jackson Bay, the furthest South you can go by motor vehicle (4WD minimum) on the West Coast of the South Island of NZ you will know what a sandfly bite is like. The buggers are huge. They put their bum up & head down and suck blood out by the litre & there are about 10,000 per cubic metre of air. I met a helicopter pilot there who was recovering deer shot in the mountains for the venison export market back in the 1980s. He told me he was refuelling and put 20 litres of fuel into his chopper before he realised it was actually a Jackson Bay sandfly. The stories are as tall as the mountains down there.

[facthunter]

They  don't tell you about the Sand flies and midges in the Nz and Scottish  Tourist brochures. Darwin's pretty ordinary also near the shores these Days (& Nights).  You scratch the bites and get infected because they  are unbelievably itchy. Nev

Edited February 22, 2023 by facthunter

[Old Koreelah]

On 21/2/2023 at 2:44 PM, kgwilson said:

I made the mistake of allowing a pair of Welcome Swallows to nest in my Garage some 20 years ago. They built an elaborate mud nest high up the wall & I used to leave the roller door open about 100mm from the floor so they had access. They would fly in with the most amazing accuracy at very high speed.

This morning I was at the airport designing a barrier to keep the sparrows out. They nest right above my plane and crap all over it. We’ve watched one fly straight through the 45mm gap above the door without missing a beat!

[Old Koreelah]

On 21/2/2023 at 10:14 PM, old man emu said:

There's wasps and there are wasps. These mud daubers are harmless if left alone so I don't really mind sharing space with them. But the paper wasps are to be killed on sight.

One of the few animals I have no qualms in killing on sight. The buggers have attacked me so many times without warning that I now conduct regular scans of my stone walls for them; they can build a new nest in a day! 

 

Almost all their nests are on the northern side of our house, but recently I noticed one high up on the southern side. Being too difficult to reach with a flaming roll of newspaper or a long pole, I resorted to gunfire: wound down the regulator on my air rifle to minimum power and brought it down with a couple of pellets, which bounced harmlessly off the timber rafter and clattered into the guttering.