Who made this nice little hive?

[Digging in the Dirt 3]

When the leaves started to fall this year, my neighbor found that someone was busy this summer building a hive in his tree.  I told him that I would take a few pictures of the hive and post them out here to see if anyone knows what may have made it.  The hive is about 15 feet off the ground and is approximately 2 foot around (maybe a little smaller).

 

My neighbor is not sure whether to take it down or not.  The hive is basically 15 feet above the sidewalk in front of his house, but no one noticed any increased insect activity around the tree this summer.  He doesn't want to just automatically knock it down if there are beneficial insects still in the hive, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to leave it if the insects pose a danger to his kids or others.

 

Thanks for any help you can give me on this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dsmith74 16]

I'm guessing it was probably Dolichovespula maculata (bald-faced hornet) but I'm no expert. Pretty much all wasps and hornets are beneficial. Bald-faced hornets particularly like flying prey, including yellow jackets and they are welcome to them at my house.

 

They only pose a danger if someone were to mess with the hive, which at that location is unlikely. However, that nest is empty. As far as I know, wasps like that all abandon their hives at the conclusion of the colony cycle in the fall, at least here in MI. The newly-fertilized females hibernate elsewhere, and they start a new nest next year. 

 

Removing it will neither accomplish nor harm anything (unless he falls off the ladder while doing it). However, be aware a whack with a broom handle will not bring it down like on cartoons. They're firmly attached and quite well constructed. You can remove it intact by cutting the branches to which it is attached, otherwise you'll have to tear it apart. Myself, I can't imagine expending the effort to do either. 

[Margaret Thele 16]

Looks like a paper wasp nest to me - they chew up leaves and extrude a beautiful gray paper that often doesn't become evident until fall - but Yikes! don't knock the darn thing down in late summer when you might get confronted by an angry mob of wasps.

[Beaufort 1]

I know it's been a long time since this question as posted, but I agree with one of the replies that it's a bald-faced hornets' nest. I've got one at least this big that I picked up from the ground somewhere off Pontiac Trail. After I brought it into the house (it was autumn), a trickle of bald-faced hornets came out of it over the next couple of weeks.