Dear All,
   In calm warm conditions Yellowjackets are still around. They
finished the Cranberry Cocktail and are not fans of slightly sweetened
Black Currant juice.
   Today at noon my dish of canned Mandrin Orange slices was a great
hit. It was in a pyrex dish about 11 cm diameter and 5 cm high (internal
dimensions) with nearly vertical walls. After feeding they could not fly
out of the dish. When lifted out of the dish using a spoon (because I
wanted some also) they would eventually take off and manage to slowly
gain altitude at about a 45 degree angle.
   I have had the impression all along that departing wasps flew off
with abdomenal end noticeably lower but when traffic is high there are
distractions. Today with only a dozen or so feeding and only few taking
off at any one time it was clear that all flew away tail end down. {Do
they transfer some food to the Queen ?}
   After seeing the attraction of Mandrin Orange juice this noon I
tried a simple test this afternoon; Black Currant juice with and without
white sugar added. No need for statistical analysis; there was feeding
only at the sugar added puddle and they were packed like sardines.
   Adding BC juice and sugar to the dish was not an effective trap.
None loaded so full that it was unable to fly out. A dish with walls at
a higher angle on a clean table might work.
Dave, Kentville
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Thanks for this, Dave. Most interesting.
- - - Peter Payzant
> On Sep 8, 2020, at 16:24, David Webster <dwebster(a)glinx.com> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> In calm warm conditions Yellowjackets are still around...