EarthSky Community Photos

Submit your photo here. Comment or upvote on photo pages. Search via photographers' names. More improvements coming! To help, please donate.

Jane T
Hong Kong
11/02/2021
05:50 pm

Equipment Details:

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

Post-processing Details:

Colour and contrast adjustment

Image Details:

You might recognize this shot as being similar to Lorraine Boyd’s paper wasp nest shot (https://earthsky.org/earthsky-community-photos/entry/44072/) published recently on EarthSky. I captured this image high up in the trees in our housing estate gardens, and it was because of Lorraine’s shot that I recognized it as a wasp nest. I had no way of telling if the nest was live, but I think I spotted an insect fly past it, so I took some quick photos. Online research suggested paper wasps generally don’t attack unless they or their nests are disturbed, but they can be an aggressive stinging hazard. I contacted estate management, who said they’ll have the nest removed. If the nest is live, I’m unsure how this will affect the local ecosystem (wasps are pollinators), but my actions were in the interests of residents’ and workers’ safety.

Lorraine, warmest thanks for submitting your shot – it could well have saved people from physical harm. EarthSky, many, many thanks indeed for posting Lorraine’s shot, and for providing us with this global platform to share images and knowledge. This incident clearly shows that community sharing has practical value that extends across nations, and beyond EarthSky readers.