Baldfaced Lodge

Around here, if one uses the term, baldface, the assumed referent is the Baldface Lodge and ski resort high in the Selkirk Mountains just north of Nelson. Yet, this picture shows a baldfaced lodge and it certainly has the appearance of the folds and faults of a mountain landscape of metamorphic rock, but it is unrelated to skiing.

This is the lodging of the Baldfaced Hornet and it is located in my yard. The paper-like nest is made of chewed wood fibre mixed with saliva. The different coloured strata merely reflect different sources of wood. If they feel threatened, Baldfaced Hornets will aggressively defend their territory. Further, they can sting repeatedly. Justin Schmidt, an entomologist who offers a Sting Pain Index, colourfully describes its sting as: “Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.”

The nest, above, is not the only one in the vicinity. Nearby is this smaller one that looks as if it would fit right into a craft fair—minus its lodgers, of course. Incidentally, the Baldfaced Hornet is not the same species of wasp that has gained recent notoriety (see bountiful nuisance). That was the Western Yellowjacket and it nests in the ground.