Flying Insects

New England's flying-insect season builds all summer to an August–September peak — exactly when yellow jacket colonies are largest and most defensive. Knowing who's who matters: paper wasps (long dangling legs, open-comb nests under eaves) are semi-docile; yellow jackets (compact, ground and void nesters) defend en masse and sting repeatedly; bald-faced hornets (black and white, basketball-sized paper nests in trees and gables) are the most defensive of all. Honey bees — fuzzy, amber, single-sting — are the one group we don't exterminate; swarms get referred to local beekeepers.

Worth knowing

• A yellow jacket colony that fits in a coffee cup in June can hold 4,000 workers by September.
• Only new queens survive winter — every nest starts from scratch each spring, which is why spring eave treatments are so effective.
• Wasps remember and rebuild in sheltered spots that worked before; knockdown without residual treatment is an invitation to rebuild.