Sometimes, I end up kind of sorry I asked.
If you’ve spent any time outside this month, you’ve probably noticed the wasps.
Everywhere.
In fact, if you haven’t been hounded by stinging insects, I’d like to know where you are so I can hang out with you there and get away from them.
Admittedly, when I see a buzzing yellow-and-black insect, I’m not always quick to note whether it’s a wasp or a bee. So when I called University of Illinois Extension naturalist Peggy Doty, I made the first mistake by asking her why the bees were so thick, when last spring, the harsh winter had people worried their population would be decimated.
“We lost a lot of honeybees,” Doty corrected me. “There are a lot of different pollinators that have the ability to sting.”
That said, Doty said she, too, has noticed the prevalence of wasps, though she can’t explain why they seem to be so active.
In fact, she said, after she evicted a swarm of yellow jackets from her garage, she heard a strange tapping sound.
When she investigated, she found the swarm was positioned right outside the garage door, bouncing off of it repeatedly.
“They were literally knocking to be let in,” she said.
I had a mental image of those old Tom and Jerry cartoons, where the swarm of bees forms the shape of a fist and knocks on the door.
“Peggy,” I told her, “that sounds like a horror movie.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m like, ‘OK, I’m not comfortable with that.’ For the first time in my life, I killed a bunch of bugs, and I feel horrible about that.”
Personally, I don’t feel so bad. From what I’ve seen, it seems like there are plenty more where those came from.
Weirder yet is that it seems like it’s not just limited to wasps. Doty said she raised and released dozens of butterflies from her yard this summer, and she doesn’t even plant her garden specifically to attract them. When my husband was out mowing the grass the other day, he came across two or three dozen dragonflies all congregating in our yard, which is blocks from the nearest water source.
So it seems this September has been the Month of the Bugs. I wonder what October will bring.