Location (3)

Still at Shawangunk. There’s one of those perma-porta-potties, thick with Drain Flies, and an observation gazebo. Mud-daubers and paper wasps appreciate the dry, sheltered spot.

Seemed like everywhere you looked up there were old or current Polistes nests.
There are… a number species of paper wasps in the Polistes genus in the northeast; 11 by one count, 21 by another, I assume it’s a matter of the range of the “northeast”. Anyway, this maybe P. fuscatus, the Northern or Dark Paper Wasp. Says Bugguide.net: “the separation of P. fuscatus from related species remains the greatest taxonomic problem of the northeastern Vespidae fauna.” Interestingly, the very yellow and black European Paper Wasp (P. dominula), which is all over NYC, is also in this genus.

Started seeing these dark ones in late August in Brooklyn, too. After a steady diet of P. dominula all summer, they’re a welcome sight.
Speaking of diet, this one has some food. I gathered there was a nest down there.

So many wasps! There was a time I would have avoided them all. Yikes! But they’re just going about their business, and I’m just quietly photographing them, and nobody is bothered.