A Queen

Roaming with my camera a couple days ago as the drizzle came down, I came upon an Eastern Yellow Jacket (Vespula maculifrons). This one though was larger than I’m used to seeing. Turns out it is a queen Yellow Jacket.

The size difference? The worker Yellow Jacket is about 1/2 inch long and the queen Yellow Jacket is about 3/4 inch long. Quite the difference when you’re used to seeing the smaller workers.

After getting several pictures, I quickly moved on. I was stung just once several weeks ago by a worker and didn’t want the opportunity of comparing that sting with the sting of a queen.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.