Bald-faced Hornets

Bald-faced hornets commonly build their nests in trees (as pictured above). In the spring, the queen hornet begins the nest construction by chewing up strips of wood and mixing the fibers with her sticky saliva. When completed it could accommodate hundreds of hornets. Although I looked at this nest several times when I was at Bunces Bridge (Connetquot River State Park), I never saw a hornet go in or out of it. That could be due to the weather turning cold and the hornets dying off. Only the queen hornets survive the winter and start building new nests in the spring.