Please help — Is this a wasp nest or a bird’s nest?

General
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Looks like a hornet nest to me. If you watch from a (safe) distance, you should be able to see them zip in and out.

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I believe this is a wasp’s nest, specifically Bald-faced Hornets. Though I may be wrong, the opening being on the bottom-side of the nest is very similar to other hornets nests I have seen in the past. Attached is a photo from google of a hornets nest.

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Dolichovespula nest, upload it to Inat!

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This looks like a paper wasp nest to me. I have found nests like this in natural areas where I live on the central coast of California and the occupants are paper wasps.

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Paper wasp nests (at least to the best of my knowledge) usually have the hexagonal cells clearly visible, and don’t usually grow very big! This is definitely a yellowjacket nest— you can tell by the thin papery “envelope” covering the (not visible) cells.

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I second the bald-faced hornet vote!! :)

Also, fun fact for anyone reading: bald-faced hornets are actually yellowjackets, but they’re misnamed “hornets” for their tendency to build nests on trees. Most yellowjackets belong to the genus Vespula (ground-nesting yellowjackets) or Dolichovespula (aerial-nesting, as seen in the picture with what is probably Dolichovespula maculata!) whereas true hornets belong to the genus Vespa.

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Welcome to the iNat Forum! The forum is a place to discuss iNat, but not request help with IDs. Please post your photos as an observation on iNaturalist via the website or app and you should get some IDs there.