All the fabulous flowers that are blooming now are also attracting all sort of pollinators including bees, wasps, and butterflies. I spent some time watching and taking pictures of several of them last week. Unfortunately, I’m have computer difficulties with getting pictures from my camera into the computer for editing, so none of them are ready yet. Instead, I decided to feature this fall pollinator, a fine-backed red paper wasp (Polistes carolina). Now that our weather has warmed up somewhat these guys are actually out and about, but they are mostly concentrating their efforts on building their nests and not yet worrying about gathering food. Once they get some nests built and some eggs laid, it will be time to gather food to feed the larvae once they hatch. Like other paper wasps, they make their nests from saliva and chewed plant material. This is molded into a cluster of single compartments, each of which will contain one egg. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these guys out as nests get finished and larvae start maturing.