Lately I've had these large yellow jacket looking bees flying around. These things are probably 2-3 inches long & have fat bodies. Their buzz is pretty loud & scary! The strange thing is that they are out at night flying around my outdoor lights. They seem aggressive...almost as if they are trying to "dive bomb" me. Any ideas?

Yellow jackets are bees, and don't fly at night because bees need the sun so they can tell directions.

Here's a site that talks about low-flying Scollid wasps, most prevalent in August. Or Cicada killer. Does this sound like it?

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/current_ipm/01PestNews/01News14/ornament.html

Here's pictures:

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/was...olitary/solitary.htm



Whatever they are, they are most likely responding to the light near you if you are out at night, not you, unless you are threatening their nest.

FWIW, there are moths that resemble huge wasps....

the 1s here fly during the daytime, tho.

Thanks for the replies & links. None of the pictures matched my "wasp". I see them at night, but they are also out during the day (I guess I should have mentioned that). I'm going see my neighbors this afternoon....maybe they may know what it is.

How 'bout a cicada killer wasp? Pretty alarming in size -- but they have a different agenda (per the name). The females create a nest in dirt (in the lawn or in a filled in hole in a stone stair near my garden), hence their inclusion in digger-type bee category.

(Google to get a photo --)

Haven't seen them here in northern NJ this year, though I do hear the cicadas. (Not that I miss the sense of getting divebombed as I tend the garden...)

Deb

I have just spoken with my neighbor & he says they are "Japanese Hornets". I looked this up on the internet & thank God he is wrong. (I hope we never import these like we did the Japanese Beetle!) What I have are European Hornets. I'm enclosing a couple of links that helped me ID this huge Hornet. Thanks for all of your replies!

http://www.aacutepestcontrol.com/europeanhornets.htm

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/eurohornet.htm

I hope I pasted these links properly.

Wow!

Have you ever tried a yellow jacket trap, I know they work well, and need cleaned out after the yellow jackets are caught. I use orange juice and three small pieces of fresh meat.
Try this and maybe you will get rid of them.

Yellow Jackets are not Bees, they are Wasps, http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC2510.htm
and they do not fly at night. I've not found what you describe, yet.

Oh Lord in Heaven!!! I've been trying to find out what these hateful things are for a year (since we moved to N. Tenn.) It flabbergasted me that they flew at night. I can't even go out on the deck as they're there and fly inside as soon as I open the door. I read the info on the links and I'm glad, as my husband thought he'd found the nest at the bottom of a lilac bush. Now I know we'll have to keep looking. Those things are MONSTROUS.

Here's some more info:

http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm


http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets3.htm
......info from the above link......
If one considers the low mass of hornets prey, such as flies, spiders and wasps, it is clear that this amounts to a tremendous numbers of insects. Hornets catch only living animals of prey, under no circumstances do they forage for carrion. At night hornets catch many nocturnal insects, of which bats are the only other predator.
Hornets are the top predators of the insect world comparable with the birds of prey in the bird world. They are the eagles of the insects. Gardeners should be glad to have a hornet nest nearby!
***


Robin

Maybe I should be glad to have them, but I'm not. They're agressive as heck, will attack in a swarm if you get too near their nest, and I just want them far, far away. If you could see that huge stinger you'd know what I mean.

I have to agree with you Linda. These things are very aggressive! I want them as far away as possible. What makes them even worse is that they are out all day and all night!

By the way, Bekah . . . my 14 year old nephew was stung in the eyeball by one of those European hornets last week. Eye swelled shut immediately, then his face started to swell. His mom took him to the ER to have the stinger pulled out . . . I just get chills thinking about it. Nephew wasn't smacking at it or anything, it just flew into his face. They still haven't found a nest.

That is awful Linda! The way those things fly straight at you, it's easy to see how that could happen. Still haven't found my nest yet either. To be quite honest, I'm almost afraid to find it!