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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond
Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world. "The place to observe nature is where you are."—John Burroughs
This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
That nest is a stunning work of art, so beautiful! Paper wasps are pretty common here and they are very good at scanning plants for caterpillars and such! I wonder if you see Chinese mantises a lot – in our yard there’s tons of them now, and they got huge and fat over the course of summer. I was on the fence with them for a long time, but now when I see one, I want to feed it to the fish in Sheepshead Bay.
I’m all for getting rid of them. Especially be on the lookout for their oothecae, or egg cases, during the winter. Destroying these is a great way to reduce the population. This biologist’s blog is good the IDing the egg cases of the various species; Tenodera sinensis is distinctive https://colinpurrington.com/2019/03/identifying-mantid-egg-cases-pennsylvania/
Thank you for the encouragement, I’m dispatching them promptly now, whenever I see one – no more relocations! I will be on the lookout for egg cases. It’s impressing how well they can blend in: they are easiest to spot while devouring something beautiful.
The Wasps have a beautiful Art Deco look. The nest looks like a wind-swept sand sculpture.