Roaming with my camera a couple days ago as the drizzle came down, I came upon an Eastern Yellow Jacket (Vespula maculifrons). This one though was larger than I’m used to seeing. Turns out it is a queen Yellow Jacket.

The size difference? The worker Yellow Jacket is about 1/2 inch long and the queen Yellow Jacket is about 3/4 inch long. Quite the difference when you’re used to seeing the smaller workers.

After getting several pictures, I quickly moved on. I was stung just once several weeks ago by a worker and didn’t want the opportunity of comparing that sting with the sting of a queen.

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