It’s a gorgeous fall day. Not a cloud in the deep blue sky and a pleasantly cool November temperature — a good day to walk over to the pond and see that hornet’s nest my brother Greg wants to claim. Becky and I will let him take it, but whether Denise will allow him to bring it to their house is something else again.
Greg was born in the wrong century. He would have been right at home 200 years ago living in a log cabin and celebrating Indiana’s newly established statehood. Heaven for Greg is traipsing through forests and wild lands. He loves to hunt but has said many times he doesn’t really mind if he comes away empty-handed because his true joy is sitting serenely in his tree stand amid the beauties of the natural world.
He stopped by yesterday after a walk to tell us about the nest and wondered if we wanted it. As we visited, he related that one day last summer he happened to disturb the nest. Quickly realizing his mistake, he turned to run as hornets sped out like attack fighters.
He didn’t make it.
“It felt like getting hit in the back of the head with a baseball,” he said. He was aching and sore but not angry, accepting that that is just how nature works. His biggest regret was that his hunting partner didn’t video the scene.
“It would have made an awesome segment on America’s Funniest Home Videos,” he said.
This morning Becky and I crunched through the leaves to see the nest. I had not been aware of it before the falling leaves opened new vistas through the trees, and chances are I might not have noticed it anyway. It is hanging high up on the tip of a branch of an oak tree growing out from a cliff that drops to the creek running through our property. The nest is shaped like an oversized, rough football made out of gray paper.
According to what I have learned, it is the nest of a colony of bald-faced or white-faced hornets which are not really hornets but a type of yellow jacket. I also learned that this late in the year it is highly unlikely that there are bald-faced, white-faced hornet/yellow jackets alive inside the nest. That is good information for Greg.
The nest itself is, in fact, paper the hornets make by mixing chewed wood pulp with saliva. It is used for only one season, so if Greg didn’t take it, it would soon be destroyed by wildlife and weather. As a precaution, he should probably keep the nest in his garage until it gets colder just to make sure no hornets survive. With proper care and kept in a dry location, it will last indefinitely.
A hornet sting can really hurt, that is for sure. But like many things in nature that are sometimes bothersome to humans, hornets have a function that helps keep things in balance. Their diet consists partly of pest insects such as flies, caterpillars and aphids. They also gather nectar in late summer so are considered minor pollinators. Hornets are one more example of how it is not so easy to separate a thread from nature’s cloth without upsetting its design.
And speaking of upsetting designs, I am curious to learn what Greg’s plans are for his prize nest. Denise has designs of her own when it comes to decorating, and I am pretty sure a hornets nest is not part of her grand vision for their condo. I think Greg ran into the same dilemma when he had his 13-point buck’s head mounted and made ready to hang.
But I’m sure they will work something out. Just as in nature, balance is everything.
<em>Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].</em>
