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The Bald-Faced Hornet, or White-Faced Hornet, is not a true hornet at all. It is actually more closely related to another type of American wasp called the Yellow Jacket, than it is to true Hornets like the European or Japanese Hornet. The Bald-Faced Hornet lives throughout North American, from Canada down through the South Western United States, and are common in the Southeastern United States. They are best known for their large gray football shaped paper nest, which they build in the spring for raising their young.
Every year young queens, that were born and fertilized the previous year, start a new colony and raise their young. The Workers build the nest by chewing up wood that mixes with a starch in their saliva, which they then regurgitate and spread with their mandibles and legs to dry into paper. The workers also guard the nest, and bring nectar back to feed the larva. This continues through summer and into fall. But by winter all the wasps die, except for some young fertilized queens, which hibernate underground or in hollow trees. The nest is abandoned by winter, and will most likely not be reused. When spring arives the young queens emerge, and the cycle begins again.
Like other social wasps, Bald-Faced Hornets have a caste system made up of the following: