I see it all the time, people making memes and talking about how wasps are “evil bees”, or how they’re “out to get you”. None of which is true, of course. I’ve seen people who were terrified of non-aggressive native mud-daubers, just because they look a little scary. That fear often leads to people destroying their nests. It’s really saddening to see how aggressive people can be about hating certain taxa for no good reason, especially taxa that I love.
So, in a bid to help spread the word about why wasps are great, I want to know: what changed your mind about wasps? What do you think would help me reach out to people who don’t know anything about bugs? Also, if you have a favourite wasp species or observation (yours or someone else’s), I’d love to see that, too.
I love tarantula hawk wasps. There’s a lot in the genus pepsis near me and they have beautiful bright orange or pink wings. Also a lot of wasps build pretty interesting nests.
Understanding that in most cases they will ignore me completely. I once freaked myself in a field of flowering plants when I realized I was surrounded by flying insects capable of stings and/or bites. I took a couple of moments before realizing I wasn’t harmed coming into the field, therefore I was going to be ok walking out. The two minutes of panic was over.
Looking at the complexity of the nests.
Understanding where they fit in the cycle of life.
What helped me was being around them more and learning that there’s many wasp species who are solitary and not interested in defending a nest.
A few years back I put up an “insect hotel” in my garden that only attracted wasps (yellowjackets) to the part that was supposed to be for butterflies (lol, yeah, sure). I wasn’t happy about it but they were already comfortable so I left them alone. I take a lot of photos in my garden of insects and even within a couple feet of the nest, I was never bothered by the yellowjackets. Sometimes one would come out and just watch me but I was never stung or otherwise bothered. I even thought it was kind of cute the way the guard wasp would come out and keep tabs on what I was doing so close to the nest.
Most of the wasps I see I now know are solitary and are even less interested in me than the social wasps. I find it fascinating how some of them build little mud pots and cylinders for their nests and now there’s places in my garden I check every year for those nests.
I used to be scared of most insects actually, but once I started learning more about their life cycles and the way they fit into the ecosystem, my appreciation for insects in general grew immensely.
Keeping galls and pupae and showing people the wasps reared from them, or handling/being around others in the field without getting stung/killed. I’m quite careful because I come off badly from bee stings, so if it’s safe for me, it’s probably safe for them. (Assuming they know they are not allergic).
For the parasitoids and smaller solitary wasps/bees, be prepared to answer all the same questions -
‘yes it is a wasp even though it’s not yellow’
‘yes it is fully grown’
‘no it hasn’t laid eggs in me’
‘no it can’t sting’
‘it can sting but only a little bit’
‘these things are not killing the trees, their numbers are managed by their own parasitoids’
When people think of wasps they only think of yellow jackets, and they also are not aware that all bees and ants are wasps. Show them what they are missing out on : )
Though I never quite disliked them, I used to freeze up around them and run away if possible. Part of getting over that for me was simply growing up.
One thing that really increased my appreciation for them, though, was this paper. This paper made me fear my fear, seeing that the people who were supposed to be unbiased and reliable were also a victim of this bias. Not sure if that would work on anyone else though.
What helped me was finding out that the insect which stung me when I was like 2 or 3 was a bee and not a wasp. :P
In all seriousness, though, I have always thought wasps were cool and was always fascinated by them as well as any other insect, so I never really hated them, but before downloading iNat and taking lots of insect photos, they were definitely among the insects I was most easily annoyed by (especially when I wanted to eat dinner in my family’s garden for example and the wasps (usually Vespula sp. where I live) just invite themselves. I almost put one in my mouth once, despite being careful, but luckily noticed in time. I was stung, but not inside my mouth or throat which probably wouldn’t be very pleasant).
I used to be scared of wasps and flinch at their sight because one stung me near the eye when I was a kid and it’s still the harshest physical pain I can remember.
I completely stopped being afraid of them after building my first wildlife pond over five years ago, which quickly became wasps’ and hornets’ favorite spot for drinking and resting. At first the thought of those animals getting close to the pond while I’m around was uncomfortable, but being able to observe them in a relaxed and vulnerable state allowed me to understand them and fully get over my fear.
Eventually a hornet built her nest close to the pond and I spent a summer sitting close to it, without disturbing it or being disturbed by it. When the nest was abandoned I got to pick it up and admire it from up close. Now wasps and hornets are some of my favorite pond visitors.
As always exposure and desire to learn is what makes animal phobias disappear.
Nobody sees venomous animals as monsters when they watch them everyday.
Wasps used to freak me out quite a lot, as I got stung a bunch of times as a kid.
I made my peace with them much later, when I started photographing insects. I was fascinated by wasps getting water from our pond in the backyard and being super peaceful… I later learned that those where Polestine wasps and that they are even peaceful around their nest…
I am now especially fascinated with all those parasitoid wasps, which can be rather beautyful (goldwasps), useful in agriculture and not at least really badass!
iNaturalist certainly helped. Instead of freaking out over a wasp, I now try to figure out how to safely take identifiable pictures of them.
Also, peaceful coexistence with a nest of bald-faced hornets (which are actually aerial wasps) for a whole summer helped.
These girls did make an angry buzz when I accidentally disturbed their nest during yard work early in the season and I did hightail it out of there as soon as I realized there was an active hornet nest. But no stings - they apparently just wanted to let me know they were there. I came back later for pictures (because of course I needed some to post on iNat) and they just went about their ways. For a species with a reputation to attack they seemed rather docile. We managed to get along just fine once I knew about their existence and avoided getting too close to their tree with the lawn mower.
The nest became a prop for entomology class at the end of the season in October.
I used to be nervous with wasps until I started photographing them with the macro lens on my camera. I am blown away by some of the tiny wasps. They seem to “pose” for the camera and I wonder if the myth of fairies in the times past evolved from these creatures. Wasps often have a waist, beautiful big eyes, interesting colour combinations and wings, so, without the aid of a macro lens they could easily fit a faerie profile.
