Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

And now the other one:

Following up yesterday’s Common Aerial Yellowjacket, here’s a more common-around-here Bald-faced Hornet devouring a skipper.

Everything but the wings. The big mandibles of the Dolichovespula can scrape up the wood fibers they use to build their paper nests, and then dismember prey lickety-split.

I see Bald-faced Hornets hunting all the time, but this is the first time I’ve seen one dispatching prey.

Leave a comment