Unlike yellow-jackets, hornets seem indifferent to iced tea. I discovered this on one of the first warm days this year: one of those spring days that came before an inevitable temperature-drop (and snow.) I was walking home from work when I saw a hornet. I watched her for a while, wondering where she’d land, as I had no photos of hornets in my gallery at all. I was rather surprised and amused when she decided (in hornet logic) to land on my arm. I moved as calmly as I could, so as to not scare her away, but despite my efforts, I was unable to get shots of her on my arm. Hornets, like yellow-jackets, don’t really like to stand still. There’s too much to do, it seems, to many things to step on and investigate. I’d tried to get pictures of this hornet investigating my arm, but she kept ambling just out of camera range. I was close to home when this particular hornet landed on me, and so it was easy to simply stand close enough to the front door for her to step from my arm onto the security/storm door. I’d already opened it, and once she was safely on metal, I snapped what photos I could find. This is one of them. I got four good shots, I think, though good is such subjective term. Well…good in this case means that you can see that this is a hornet. I’m rather proud of this photo, as it’s my first hornet shot; and because I saw this one in my neighborhood, I’m sure that there’s going to be a nest nearby. I’ll keep a lookout for it. Hornets build some of the most amazing pieces of architectural art I’ve ever seen; their free-form papier-mâché nests are rivaled only by the extravagant, ceramic tubes rendered by mud-dauber wasps; unfortunately, mud daubers aren’t that common in Chicago, and those that dwell here aren’t in the habit of making those enormous, fanciful pipe-structures that look like pan-flutes on steroids. It doesn’t matter, however; if there are hornets’ nests in the area, I’m sure to find them, and as I have some experience dealing with such people, I’ll photograph them (and do whatever I can to make sure that those two-legged primate-derived sorts of people don’t discover them. Hornets are great pollinators, after all, and judging by the nice amber colors of this lady, they’re quite nice to look at, even if they’re not cooperating very much. Unlike yellow-jackets (who usually linger around) if there is so much as a rumor that iced tea exists in the vicinity, hornets seem inordinately interested in being somewhere else. I discovered this, after heading into the house, dipping a wad of paper-towel into a bit of iced tea (Arizona brand, “Sweet tea”) and carrying it outside in a saucer. I believe in paying my models, but the model in question was gone; being a hornet, she obviously had somewhere important to go… As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.