Buzz kill
Today's eco-question: Not that I miss them, but where are all the yellowjackets this year?
| Posted at 2:59 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (13)
in my backyard
Posted by pril | September 19, 2005 8:23 AM
I noticed that as well, Jack.
I did see four or five yellow jackets devouring a mouse carcass my cat disgorged the other day. Other than that, they haven't been half the nuisance they were last year.
Posted by chris McMullen | September 19, 2005 10:19 AM
Must be global warming.
Posted by Rob Kremer | September 19, 2005 10:47 AM
Better than global swarming
Posted by steve schopp | September 19, 2005 11:06 AM
We have a few nests this summer(4 at last count), but way better than the 24 last summer. The cold rainy spring drowned out some of them, for which I was grateful....
Rich
Posted by rich | September 19, 2005 11:37 AM
I too have noticed the lack of yellowjackets this year. However, as soon as I read your post I went out to my car and a yellowjacket promptly flew right into my face; thankfully he kept his stinger on safety.
-Greg
Posted by Greg Passmore | September 19, 2005 11:56 AM
I was talking with the pest control guy who works for my organization about this just a couple of weeks ago - he says that we had a brief period of warm weather early on, which got them active, followed by a prolonged period of cold and rainy weather, which blew their metabolism and killed most of them.
Posted by Jay | September 19, 2005 3:28 PM
In my yard, I think the moles ate the yellowjackets. I assume this is like a fertility drug for the moles since they have been going like crazy.
Posted by Steve | September 19, 2005 3:34 PM
Now that you mention it, I haven't seen any this year either and I'm writing in from central Texas.
Scorpions, yes. Giant venemous redheaded centipedes (gotta see these to believe them), yes. Got lots of those. But no yellowjackets this year.
Posted by Kent | September 19, 2005 7:02 PM
From what I can tell, all of the various insect life has been screwy ever since our strange four weeks of sun between med-Feb and mid-March. Here in Oak Grove, we had mosquitoes in winter. Then the rains set in and lasted for a couple of months.
Plants have been affected (vegetable gardens are wonky this year), as have insects. How many honey bees have you seen this year? I didn't see many. Part of this is probably due to the catastrophic disease that's wiping out honey bee populations, but I think a lot of it is due to the weather.
There are yellow jackets around, just not many.
Posted by J.D. | September 20, 2005 9:47 AM
All the honeybees are at my house, hovering around the giant rosemary bush that's currently blooming.
Posted by Betsy | September 20, 2005 10:11 AM
they are apparently all in my yard. want some?
Posted by Gullyborg | September 20, 2005 1:21 PM
They were SO bad last year!
Posted by Lynne | September 21, 2005 4:49 PM