Be careful when feeding Kookaburra's, Ravens, Magpies Currawongs and Butcher Birds etc meat scraps.
Found today that I have a nest of European Wasps nearby and they are feeding on a stale meat pie I left out for my larger birds. These are very aggresive wasps when disturbed so don't go out and shoo them or try and spray them.
European Wasps are becoming quite common along the east coast of Australia, easily identified, advise your local council when you find the nest and they will come and remove free-of-charge. Don't by any means attempt to erradicate them yourself as these wasps will attack if threatened.
A friend at work said European Wasps also feed on dog food left outside in dishes too, so be vigilant and don't give them a free feed.
They are around the same size (mature) as the domestic honey bee but have very bright and easily recognised black and yellow stripes and yellow antennae, immature closely resemble our common honey bee.
Said friend at work was stung trying to shoo them from the dogs food bowl and he said although he only was stung once it was very painful and worse than a bee sting, so be warned.
I was stung by a european wasp the other day for the first time. I didn't find it anywhere near as bad as a bee sting.
Well, I don't know why people panic and some even call them "killer wasps" I grew up in Europe , as a child you got stung a few times.
Bees are worse because they leave their sting behind and wasps don't.
Wasps are only dangerous to people who are allergic to the poison they inject. As children there were a few rules drummed into us:
Always check your drink before you drink it. Same goes for sweet food, like cake or things like that.
Don't hit them or chase them away, that will make them angry and more likely to sting you.
So, as kids we always closed our eyes and tried not to move. They might even sit on you and decide to fly off soon enough.
My grandmother always had a bottle filled with sugary water on the table, wasps would crawl in and not find the way out. Sadly they also drowned.
M-L
I'm so pleased this topic has come up.
European wasps are also a huge problem in the Adelaide Hills, largely because the authorities ignored the problem when it first arose some years ago but also because most folks don't seem to worry about invasive pests until, in the case of the European wasps, they start affecting our lifestyles. Even then they fail to take the sort of precautions that Araminta outlined above.
At my place they've invaded the bird baths & are sometimes attracted to our food if Ms Woko & I are eating outdoors. I've followed the hallowed strategy of following their line of flight & placing food (meat is the most commonly recommended in my experience) or water to attract them. Once they're attracted to the new food or water again watch their line of flight & repeat with the food or water until the hole is located. This method has failed miserably for me but others say it's been successful for them. The only hole/ nest location I've made was accidental & nowhere near the line of flight but it's destruction was very deliberate by the local council contractor. So if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong or the wasps are doing right I'll be eternally grateful.
As for European wasp disturbance & painful bites I've had no experience of this nature so far - touch wood & anything else that might be wasp repelling. This in spite of my frequent emptying, cleaning & replenishment of the bird bath when lots of European wasps are about. They've made no efforts to harass me whatsoever - so far.
It seems that European wasp logic has been stood on its head in my neck of the woods. Nevertheless, I'm wary & have no intention of tickling any of them under their chins.
A word of warning. In frustration at not being able to curb the European wasps I bought from Bunnings two European wasp traps with sachets of toxic powder. The traps resulted in one dead European wasp & a myriad of other creatures deceased, including native wasps. You have my permission to call me stupid.
I live near Bathurst, we have no european wasps here, though years ago I saw one in town. About 15 years ago there were a lot of them at Mt Wilson in the blue mts but now I don't see them there anymore. The fact that they are a problem in some parts of Australia seems to show there is some native wildlife that keeps them in check in some areas but not others, after all they have been in NSW for a long time now, easily time to colonise the whole state. I wonder if ants such as meat ants invade the wasp nests in the ground.
Every time someone chucks or bins an "empty" soft drink can or a beef-smeared macca box, they are providing nourishment for european wasps. Maybe packaging design and methods of garbage disosal need to be revised.
Heaps of them around Melbourne
In fact in Melb we have two species. The European Wasp (Vespula germanica) and the related English Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) as well...
Greg, your comment about a native predator of European wasps is most interesting. When I discovered the nest at my place I noticed meat ants attacking the European wasps which crawled rather than flew from the hole in the ground.
Currently, there are only one or two European wasps around the bird bath. I've put this down to the cooler weather now that autumn is here.
Two species, zosterops!!! As if one wasn't enough!
GregL, you mention you live near Bathurst and haven't noticed any European Wasps, well, I live at Mount Piddington so it's only a matter of time. Probably like the Indian Mynah bird, they are on the way, not to mention the QLD Cane Toad which is spreading rapidly.
A resident two streets away had BMCC come and remove a European Wasp nest last month so they are established here, think I am getting close to the nest, whether it's at ground level or in a tree is another matter, patience will be rewarded...
Google has some interesting pages covering this pest too and a most of them have good advice and sound tips.
Has anyone seen European wasps living in intact dry sclerophyll type bushland? I never see them in Sydney and have never seen them in bushland but obviously they are spreading through some parts of Australia. Are they like sparrows and mainly confined to suburban or semi-rural areas?
Greg, the European Wasp nest I came across was in a hole directly in the ground on my revegetated/bush care patch over 50 km from Adelaide's GPO. The plantings essentially constitute dry sclerophyll bush. At present we're rural.
Woko, don't you also get sparrows?
I've seen them in disturbed bush on the outer fringes of Melbourne, but not in intact woodlands.
Yes, there are sparrows here, Greg. Thousands once infested this neighbourhood but until the new neighbours arrived numbers were down to a handful, if that. I think the oats being fed the neighbours' horses is also encouraging the sparrows so we now have about 5 or 6 but there were as many as a dozen or more. I've also noticed a decline in observations of Brown Goshawks & Collared Sparrowhawks so that may be a factor, too.
Despite being commensal with humans sparrows seem to be able to find their way to pretty isolated patches of human settlement via dispersal
after all they are regularly recorded -and shot- along the Nullarbor attempting to enter Western Australian territory
Zosterops, I thought it was starlings that were being shot as part of border protection. Are sparrows on the menu, too?
'In Australia, it (the House Sparrow) has become established in all states except WA. House sparrows are often found in traps set for starlings at the border of South Australia and WA near the coast. These birds are attempting to extend their range west'.
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/birds/sparrows
Eurasian Tree Sparrows have appeared in WA as stowaways on board ships from Asia. Interestingly Tree Sparrows have also been recorded in Australian territory on the Ashmore Reef off the coast of WA as natural vagrants from Indonesia, perhaps a foretaste of future range expansion.
Thanks, zosterops.
I wonder how sparrows survive the nullarbor, I wouldn't have thought there was enough food. Perhaps they survive on rubbish thrown from car windows. Is there a mcdonalds on the nullarbor yet?
Not that I know of, Greg, but I'm sure Ronald is thanking you for the information. Watch the Nullabor space.
Gee this subject on European Wasps went off topic? Sparrows?
Have seen the wasps hanging around the house, usually only one or two which suggests the nest is close by.
As a tester, I threw out half a roast beef sandwich for the birds and sure enough, the wasps arrived within 10 minutes, they must have an acute sense of smell. Hard to follow them back to the nest.
Noticed the occasional dead Honey Bee too, hope the European Wasps are not killing them.
Spoke to the council about them and they said they will only come and attend once I have confirmed the nest location, removal is free-of-charge.
Apparently these wasps nest in a variety of ways, from a hole in the ground, to rotten logs, house voids and tree trunks, maybe a hard one to detect but I am not giving up...
It's difficult to believe we got from European wasps to Sparrows & back again but perhaps that demonstrates the interconnectedness of everything!
No European wasps at my place now, probably because of the cold weather. It'll be interesting to see what happens if we get a warm spell.
Raven, let me know if you manage to track down the nest. I'll be most interested to learn how you did it. I've tried, tried & tried again & haven't succeeded. So far.