Many of you know that many people who do not keep bees, or have not been seen a colony of honeybees, automatically assume that anything that flies and might sting is a "bee." That's fine by me; it's a simplification we use in our language. We do the same thing with "cars" "cats" and "airplanes." But, the lack of distinction where colony-based insects are involved has led me to a number of instances in which I was asked to help remove/collect honeybees that were in fact wasps, hornets or bumblebees. So far a phone conversation has been sufficient to determine what type of insect is actually being observed. Usually, people are happy to have learned some of the differences.
I stumbled across the link below, which contains some basic information about honeybees, and common wasps and hornets, in one page. I thought I'd share it and ask if anyone knows of a similar summary, perhaps one that includes photos of the nests. You can, of course, also provide your own stories about mistaken swarm calls and how you have learned to avoid them (or wish you had).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and_bees
I stumbled across the link below, which contains some basic information about honeybees, and common wasps and hornets, in one page. I thought I'd share it and ask if anyone knows of a similar summary, perhaps one that includes photos of the nests. You can, of course, also provide your own stories about mistaken swarm calls and how you have learned to avoid them (or wish you had).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and_bees
