5 Nasty Bees and Wasps That May Be Waiting to Sting You in Idaho

It may have been there when we moved in, but we don’t remember spotting it until the dead of winter. At the time, it seemed relatively harmless. But now that temperatures have warmed up and stinging insects are active again? We’re feeling a little uneasy about what we found in the garage of our new apartment. 

What was it? We’re still trying to piece it together, but thanks to a crowd of self-proclaimed Facebook entomologists, we have a better idea. “It” is a little grey blob of mud or clay affixed to the wall of our garage. It had a single hole at the bottom of it. We assumed that it was some sort of insect nest. It didn’t irk us at the time, because we figured that whatever was living in it the previous summer couldn’t have survived the frigid windchills we experienced this past winter. We weren’t going to worry ourselves about it unless we noticed its appearance changing.

…and then it did. Earlier this week, we discovered the number of holes in the blob had grown to five. Whatever was living in the nest before we moved to this apartment complex was back! We had a sinking feeling that it was some sort of stinging insect, which is a bad omen for our family. One of us has a bee allergy. Luckily that person rarely enters the garage, but we still wanted to know what decided to build its home in there. 

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So naturally, we did what anyone would do. Took a picture of it, posted it on Facebook and asked “WHAT IS THIS?!” The majority of people told us that it did belong to one of the creatures on the United States Forest Service’s list of “Common Idaho Bees & Wasps.” 

Which one was it? How much of a threat is it? We did a little digging to learn about almost ALL of the creatures on that list AND what their nests look like. What we learned MIGHT be beneficial to you if you find some sort of nest at your home this year!