I’m having a terrible problem with paper wasps (Polistes metricus).  Something about my patio draws them in like moths to a flame.  Mind you, it’s the flame part of that statement that is unfortunately true; I have killed at least 20 of these devils in the last seven days alone.  Nearly every time I step out to the patio I stumble across one or more of them.  In fact, at 5:45 AM today there were two out there when Vazra showed up.

Only after the carnage of the last week did it occur to me I might be demonstrating a bit of psychopathic behavior with regards to these winged visitors.  Paper wasps are rarely aggressive outside of nest disturbances and breaches of personal space.  Sadly, and very much unlike my relationship with the cicada-killer wasps (in the interest of disclosure, also the world’s largest wasp), these red and black wasps are not to be trusted as I’ve been wounded by them on many occasions.  Given an opportunity to build a nest on the patio where I spend quite a bit of time, I’m quite certain things would get very ugly indeed.

That fact also requires me to admit my current disdain for and murderous tendencies toward these flying demons well could be the result of historic altercations.  I’ve never been stung by a cicada-killer.  I’ve been stung many times by paper wasps (and bees and yellow jackets and hornets and ants on and on and on).  That is, of course, how I learned of my own deadly allergy to such stings, an allergic reaction that only presented long after puberty (before that time, such stings were no more than an annoyance to me).

Could my own history with these flyers provide me cause to reach out with violence when I meet a species of insect which has in years before lashed out at me?  I don’t fear the massive cicada-killers.  Why then do I feer the significantly smaller wasps and hornets?  I strongly believe it’s because I fear only those with whom I’ve already experienced a sting.

Then again, cicada-killers don’t try to nest on my patio, and one important thing about bees and wasps is that they react violently when the nest is threatened.  Having a nest of gargantuan wasps only feet outside of my patio is quite different than having one hanging right above my head.  Also, with the fence between me and the former but not the latter, which kind of parent is most likely to strike out if I’m just standing on the patio?  You guessed it.

Perhaps it’s their time of year now, much like the cicada-killers who came and went earlier in the season.  All I know is paper wasp bodies are accumulating rather quickly as I am forced to dispatch them on a daily basis.