I looked up & the 6 wasps in the nest over my nap were all stopped,
motionless, immobile, even the one with its head stuck in the cell.
"Don't move! I gotta get a camera!" I told 'em
& I had time to get a camera before the Boss Wasp came back
& the crew went back to work. Or it looked that way.
Six wasps immobilized on a hot day
Seven wasps in Action
Two wasps hug & kiss
The Boss Wasp seems to be the designated water carrier.
See those hugging, kissing wasps in this close-up? She's sharing water.
Here's a lucky shot from the same nest a couple of weeks earlier.
After seeing this, I made up the rest of the story to explain things.
Things in the yard need water. Wherever there's open water, wasps, birds & littler tinier bugs show up to get some. Water is a Truce Area. (I made up that, too, but i never was chased or stung, so Good Enough!)
Then I got a Bucket & Chair, filled the bucket with water & sat next to it in the chair with a camera on my knee for a few days - Here's what happened...
