Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/02/how-to-tell-the-difference-bet.html
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In this video, you’ll learn how to identify them so you eat them without worry
Why the hell would i want to eat any of these insects? 
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I hate asshole with wings when they decide to nest in the backyard. Happily I have learned that waiting till it gets dark and a pot of boiling water is super effective.
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We get yellow ackets every summer. They are carnivorous and always on the lookout for a bbq to spoil.
Got a couple of these and it has worked wonders. If you put it out early enough in the spring you’ll get the queen before the nest can be established.
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Have one. Probably should get a fresh bait pod for it this weekend. They are always around and as long as I don’t have to run the lawn mower over the nest I am pretty live and let live as I don’t cook/eat outside a lot.
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Wasps are useful if you want to buy fish at a farmer market. If you see wasps around it, the fish is fresh.
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If there’s fly maggots, probably less fresh.
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Indeed, indeed.
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Bees are fascinating; particularly when their life cycle and mating ritual is explained (and acted) by Isabella Rossellini: https://youtu.be/kJi6aIooeqQ
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Question - where do you find/buy the attractant?
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For protein.
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I’ll stick to regular food
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Next story idea - how to tell the difference between Robins, Crows, and Cardinals! This is making me wonder if most people have really bad eyesight, or if this is a symptom of spending very little time outdoors. Can staring at screens all day long make everything (and everyone) viewed offline seem similar, even though they are not the same? Do kids who mix up bumblebees and wasps also confuse Holsteins and Dalmatians?
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I get mine at the local hardware store.
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Instructions say you can also just put a small piece of lunch meat or hotdog in the bottom as attractant but the liquid stuff they sell supposedly lasts longer.
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Shouldn’t that be “I regret ‘nomthing’”?
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I mmhhmhphh phhmhmmm
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In spring and early summer, when they are less aggressive*, they are almost exclusively after protein and will hunt other insects and take them back to the nest. As the nest matures (typically underground) they’ll start looking for fats too, and occasionally sugars, which will send them after your bbq. And when the Queen kicks everyone else out of the hive to die in the fall, they become superaggressive and suicidal, but are typically only after sugars.
* Relatively speaking. I handle most bees, hornets and wasps without any sort of protection, but not yellowjackets!
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