This is one of a series of sightings of 5 European Wasps that were systematically stinging many European Honey Bees as the bees were drinking water from the road surface. The wasps returned to the dying bees and typically cut each one in half before either flying away with the lower half of each bee, or removing the contents of the lower half and flying away with that. This behaviour has been observed at several areas within the ANBG wherever the European Honey Bees congregate for water or flowers. Thanks to Marcus Leach for the initial sighting.
Hi Michael, Thanks. I wasn't able to locate their nest on that occasion but I'll follow up on the sighting and identify the location if I find it, and the location of any other nests I find. The sobering thing about these wasp sightings was just how aggressive the European Wasps were and what little chance the Honey Bees stood. The European Wasps were quite clinical about going after every Honey Bee that was present and stinging the lot.
Describe how you intend to use these images and/or audio files and your request will be sent to the author for consideration.
Your request has been successfully submitted to the author for consideration.
2,159,941 sightings of 20,030 species in 6,568 locations from 11,732 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.