As summer draws to a close, people are trying to make the most of these last few weeks of warm weather.
This time of year, that means some uninvited guests at your barbecue — wasps.
“The wasps are crazy this year, so many of them everywhere, everywhere. You sit down, having a drink — boom,” said Gerard Richardson.
Along the boardwalk at Woodbine Beach, the critters buzz around trash cans and graze picnic tables for their next meal.
“My two-year-old daughter was playing in our backyard and she got stung right on the face,” said Katherine Malekos. “It does seem like they’re around a lot more this year and, yeah, it’s pretty brutal.”
Entomologist Sandy Smith doesn’t view this wasp season as worse than previous years, but it may be a little earlier to arrive due to the hot, dry summer.
“The heat this summer sort of accelerated things,” Smith said. “It was sort of slow in the spring, then this really hot spell causes their normal prey in caterpillars, etc., to develop faster, so they’ve disappeared earlier.”
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As a result, yellow jackets and paper wasps — among other varieties — are looking for whatever food they can find.
“Well, there’s a lot more wasps right at the end of August and into September,” said Toronto resident Andrew Stewart. “They’re doing their job, right? They’re eating all the rotten fruit and rotten insects and things like that.”
According to Smith, by this time of year most of a wasp’s food source is gone.
That leads them to turn to people’s hamburgers and hotdogs for a meat source, and sugary drinks for a nectar alternative.
“Try not to go nuts and start swatting at them, that just makes them a little more nervous,” Smith said. “Especially the yellowjackets, they’ll sting at any provocation. Try to remain calm and cover up your food.”
She said as soon as the first frost arrives, these wasps will no longer be bugging people.
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