Archival Radio 1961-1972; Interview with Joe Capizzi on Hornets in Oregon

The crazy, lazy, hazy days of summer mean picnics, pretzels, and yellow jackets. And, believe it or not, the yellow jacket, or the wasp, as it's sometimes called prefers meatloaf. Well, this takes a bit of explaining, so let me tell about a picnic during the early part of the summer. It was along the banks of the Santiam River. The sun was shining and our picnic table was situated close by the sparkling river. While browsing through the Sunday paper, there wasn't even a hint of a mosquito, fly, bug, or yellow jacket. Finally, my wife suggested it was time to spread out the picnic lunch, and I said, I wondered if she was ever going to ask. Well, the response was to pitch in and do my share: tote the basket from the car, open the rather cantankerous jar lid, and "Oh, yes, did you remember the corkscrew?" Well, fortunately, I had remembered. The picnic was--well, if I were a food commentator, I'd be able to use a lot of appropriate, glowing terms to describe a delicious meal by the banks of the Santiam. Other creatures apparently agreed, among them the wasp, or, as we call it, the yellow jacket. Watching the yellow jackets swoop in, settle down, sample a morsel, and then, occasionally,

take off with part of our picnic, and fly away with it into the woods got me to wondering about their habits. Sometimes they'd sample the fruit on the table and some would choose the meat or cheese. Well, so far they hadn't bothered we picnickers, they just sampled our food. To keep them away from our plates, I placed an assortment of picnic scraps at the far end of the table; the choice was fried chicken, cantaloupe, cold meatloaf from a meatloaf sandwich, and cheese, both cheddar and Swiss. The object was to keep them away from those of us at the other end of the table. By the time the wine bottle was empty, I'd become interested in which food the yellowjackets liked best, so I added the empty wine bottle with the cork removed and a few drags remaining in the bottle. Well, this kind of research project wasn't planned to the extent that I had brought data sheets to be later run through the computer, instead, I'll merely call it "observations". A few of the yellow- jackets like the cantaloupe; they ate it or drank of its juices in place, never

carried any of it away. Some chose cheese and would nibble off a small bit and take it with them. Fried chicken was next on the list, but by far the preponderance swooped into the cold meatloaf. They'd jockey for position and start cutting away much like a chainsaw, and extract a piece about half their own size and take off for parts unknown. It was interesting to see how they managed this take off. It was sort of a hop from the end of the picnic table, and then down a short distance at about a 45 degree angle to gain speed, and then up, up, and away. In the meantime, a couple of yellowjackets had ventured into the open, empty wine bottle. There weren't any choices here, it was a white wine with French sounding name, all in a California bottle. I got to wondering about what kind of omnivorous insect this was. It likes both fruit and protein or meat products. So, later I asked Extension entomologist Joe Capizzi what yellowjackets eat and why. The young of the yellowjackets have to have protein and so the adult wasps

go out and collect spiders, and insects, and other kinds of animal life to feed their young. They themselves, though, feed on carbohydrates and only need flower nectar and sweets, and so they come to our picnic table to pick up watermelon or soda pop, and that sort of thing. What time of the year are they most likely to pick up the meats, as opposed to the fruit products? Early in the spring, when the first workers are out there. They're collecting protein for the young brood. As a season progresses they get less interested in that because a brood decreases as the season progresses. And, of course, less protein is necessary, and so at this time of year, in late fall, late summer and fall, they are only interested in nectar. The brood is decreasing. The workers are rather confused; they're either rather irritable and they don't even go back to their nest sometimes. They're just fading out at this time of year. Joe Capizzi also said that attractant traps had been developed and they're sometimes

available at your local garden store. They will tend to attract the yellowjackets away from the patio and other picnic areas, but he says they do cost quite a bit of money. Well, we had no stings from yellowjackets at this picnic along the banks of the Santiam River. Maybe feeding them something that they liked at the other end of the table helped. Oh, about those two who ventured into the empty wine bottle: I forgot to notice whether they left or stayed, but seems like I heard sort of a happy buzzing from the depths of the litter disposal barrel as I walked away, but for research purposes I suppose that this would be considered inconclusive. So, the final conclusions of this brief picnic experiment: yellowjackets prefer meatloaf. I'm Bill Smith with the Oregon State University Extension Service.