When someone mentions wasps, many of us shudder at the thought of being stung by one. But, yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets aside, many have no interest in us and are more fearful of us than we of them. All I have to do is raise my camera and most fly away and frustrate this guy who just wants pictures and no wasp head stuffed and on my wall.
Bramble Mason Wasp-Ancistrocerus adiabatus on Boneset. Although these are members of the stinging wasp group, no matter how close I got they showed no interest in getting aggressive with me and just went about their business. And they are cute.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
I like the idea of a smiling wasp! 🙂
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Most are our friends so we should be smiling back. 🙂
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Beautiful pictures of wasp! Well captured.☺️👌
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Thank you, Priti!
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Your top picture’s an excellent closeup. While taking pictures I’ve gotten close to plenty of bees and wasps. I take the attitude that I’ll go about my business and they’ll go about theirs, and that has worked out well.
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That philosophy is generally successful with most insects except the two I mentioned, yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets, but I’ve been lucky with them Obviously that could change at any time but I don’t let them smell fear.
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Great macro shots, Steve! Despite the bad reputation wasps have, they are very useful insects. They play a vital role in protecting gardens and farm crops by controlling pest populations. They capture and consume insects such as flies, caterpillars and beetle larvae.
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Thanks, Peter. Many are also valuable pollinators as you can see that this one is dipping into the Boneset nectar.
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I recently saved a wasp that had fallen into the bird bath. Not be stung, I offered a twig so it climb up and escape its watery grave.
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A good deed, Peter. Thanks!
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I do like the smile on this one’s thorax. It’s obvious enough that I noticed it even before reading your text.
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The one on the other species I mentioned is curved a bit more at the “mouth” ends and could even be said to be grinning. Maybe one will visit the yard one day.
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Good pollinator garden buddies!
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That they are. It’s not only bees and butterflies dong the heavy lifting.
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Beautiful photos–your macro shots are stunning!
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Thank you, Tina. The shots reflect my love of nature and insects in particular.
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Perhaps harmless, but this one’s smiling like a Jack-O-Lantern…
Looks like he’s a vegetarian though, unlike the yellowjackets that seem to want to join our backyard suppers if there’s meat on the menu.
Once again, excellent detail.
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Thanks, Dave. We don’t have backyard suppers, but I can personally attest to yellowjackets’ taste for meat…my own. Actually they only bite to hold on to you…while stinging.
The adults of these are pollinators supping on nectar but they do capture prey that they provision for their young back in the homestead…often some sticks or twigs.
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I need to spend a little more time learning to better identify the various wasp species in the field. I’ve gotten very used to some that I recognize just by their nests, like paper and mud wasps, which I’ve always found to be calm and accepting of me. Like you said, though, still treat them with respect.
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I’ve only had one bad wasp encounter. Oe day while mowing I went over a yellow jacket nest in the ground while wearing shorts and, of course, a few flew up and provided a special sort of pain.One of a few reasons why I no longer wear shorts. 🙂 This summer I’ve been photographing quite a few and it seems every day I see a new species. Haven’t identified many but I am working on it.
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