A peek into the world of wasps

Wasps.

Waspie - a narrow corseted waist. 

Waspish - kind of quick to anger and irritation.  (My state quite often to be honest) 

WASP - White Anglo Saxon Protestant - considered to be one of the most powerful groups in the US.

I am wary of these paper wasps that are nesting outside our study window.  I treat them respectfully.  The nest has grown in size, in front of my very eyes.

They haven't troubled us so far, and we have left them alone. I see them going to the flowers in my balcony and feeding on the nectar in the Kopsia flowers.

And yet, so little do I know about these winged insects.  The MNS Wasp Walk on 26th April was a perfect Wasp 101 then.  Who better than Yuvan to tell us all about these insects.

I did not know - 

Wasps are powerful.

Pest controllers
Pollinators
Paralysers
Proficient architects designers
Progressive Provisioners  

Parasitoid Proliferators

Not necessarily stingers.

 

 

Our walk started at the rear of the TS library, where each window and every ledge had a story to be told.

 

There were solitary yellow mud daubers that made mud nests, with an egg a chamber.  The brilliant  metallic flashes of the Blue mud dauber, that can repurpose abandoned nests, cleaning them out before occupying them, 

 

Potterwasps with their small individual "pots" - there was one such in my mother's window frame, I remember - that she preserved for the longest time, until my father passed on, and it could not be protected.  The losses and the absences intertwined in my mind.

 

Her garden also has sand wasps whose company I kept through Covid lockdown. 
 

Anyways, back to the walk and the library walls.  

Blue Mud-dauber Wasp (Chalybion bengalense) - Photo by Hrishu

Yuvan explained that these Chalybion genus  wasps will use old wasp nests, softening them with water, and then they don't look so well built - as you can see - and they zombiefy spiders, lay eggs on them and seal the cell with lime from our building walls (the white cap you see).  Meanwhile the egg hatches, the larva will munch on the spiders, pupate and then when ready to emerge as an adult, will chew through that lime cap and emerge!!    It truly sounds like a Sci Fi story -  Alien with Sigourney Weaver - and here I thought there was some imagination at work, instead it is the story of wasps on a grander scale, where instead of the zombie spiders there are zombie humans.  

We came around the building and headed for the Premna tree which is another favourite of wasps - Yuvan mentioned how one morning they identified 40 species of wasps on a flowering Premna!  As we waited, for the sun to fall on the tree and wasp activity to increase, I looked at the other trees around.   The Rangoon Creeper was in full bloom as was the Neem with its delicate white flowers, the  Adenanthera pavonina was in pods that were still green, the Weeping Fig had fruits, making it look like a Maghizham, and the tamarind trees were heavy with ripening fruit that I eyed longingly. 

I saw a Black Pearl tree for the first time in bloom.  Those blue-black seeds standing out against the sky.

We wandered around the lily pond, watching the Stingless bees buzz around the lily that looked like it was lit from within.

As we returned to the Premna, the wasp action was heating up.  Yuvan also filled us in with so many incredible facts about these insects.

• All species of insects have a parasitoid wasp that attacks their eggs, larva and adults - and so wasps are the biggest natural "pesticide" or bio-control agents, if you will call it that.  If there were no wasps, there would be much more crop destruction.  Experiments have been done to introduce wasps as pest controllers and result have been encouraging.
• The paper wasps breakdown of celluose and plant fiber was the inspration for paper-making starting in China and there is some relation to the first attempts at ink as well. 
• I learnt about the work of Prof Raghavendra Gadagkar of the IISc, who has studied the paper wasps (similar to the ones outside my window) and eusocial behavior among insects.  Some esoteric concepts of how the Queen wasp becomes the queen wasp more by pheromone control rather than by aggression.  I looked up the professor and came across this great talk Inside the Wasp Nest: Understanding Insect Societies where he describes how ants, bees, wasps and termites live in complex societies, and how the Ropalidia marginata society is unique in the way they choose their queen, without a nest-wide aggression.  I was fascinated with the "common sense" experimental designs that he explains - from paint-tagging wasps to identify and differentiate (since they all look the same including the queen) to creating mesh barriers and removing the queen and putting her back.
• Yuvan mentioned JH Tumlinson, whom I looked up - he has worked on insect-plant interactions and the role of chemical signals in these interactions, especially with wasps.  He has studied how plants respond to herbivore damage and how insects exploit plant signals for finding hosts or defenses.  All pretty cool stuff.  Among his entomological findings were that plants attacked by feeding insects have the capability to synthesize and release volatile organic chemicals.  These chemicals  then attract small parasitoid wasps, that in turn locate and parasitize the caterpillars.  This "wasp calling" synamone chemical  of the plant is induced by compounds in the oral secretion of the caterpillars.
• Tumlinson passed away in 2022, but he has mentored many students in the area of wasps and Ted Turlings is one such, and he's working on the synamones emitted by maize that "call" the specific parasitoid wasp to rescue it from the caterpillars! (He's also a birdwatcher in his spare time, I like that!)

Back to the Premna then, where the action had begun.  Yuvan would point to various flitting creatures and reel off various names.  I managed to spot a few, but many moved too fast for me, and I was my usual plaintive self, asking where, where and being told oh it just flew off to the rear branch or it just moved out of sight.

 

But Hrishu and Girish got some great photos.  Girish is till giving me photos, but here are some of Hrishu's.

 

This photo by Hrishu of a Spider Wasp - they hunt spiders.  I did see this with my binoculars.

The Ammophila sand wasp which obliged us by staying still, so we all got a good look.  Generative AI informes me that - "Ammophila wasps are known for their unique nesting behavior, including provisioning their burrows with paralyzed caterpillars for their larvae."  (Yuvan mentioned it, but I had forgotten it in the information overload of the morning.). Hrishu's photo

 

Photo by Hrishu of Orange spotted flower wasp that I sadly missed. 

There were other bees, spiders  and moths that were spotted but I shall ignore them for the moment and end with the Robber fly that was pretty spectacularly perched.

 

I was very pleased as I managed to actually "see" and locate this Assasin fly on that far away branch, and was not at the receving end of Hrishu and Girish directional instruction to tell Elu where it was.  It is definitely easier with birds!  Hrishu's photo shows the powerfully built robber fly with a honey bee prey that it was probably sucking away from the inside.  It has probably injected the bee with saliva containing neurotoxic enzymes which has paralyzed the bee and will soon digest the insides also; the fly then sucks the liquefied bee's innards through the proboscis. Oops - there's another scifi story scenario.

 

Soon it was time to leave and even though I was sweating buckets in the humidity and stillness of the April morning, the wasps had kept me engrossed.

 

 I am sure more wasp posts will get blogged, as I document the paper wasps inspired by this session.  Thanks to MNS and Yuvan.

And thanks to Yuvan and the Palluyir team for this very handy book with great pictures and simple writing in English and Tamil.

 

 

MNS member Venky Ramaswamy said:

It was wonderful to meet Yuvan Aves for the very first time at the Wasp Walk yesterday! After a brief, we were then introduced to building of nests by wasps – on the walls, below the ceilings, underneath the sun-shades, and on the wooden frames of the windows, etc. I have destroyed many of these nests, many a times during my lifetime, with almost negligible knowledge. One of the key messages I picked up from today’s walk was the phenomenal contribution of the wasps to the society, and the need to appreciate their crucial roles, and learn to co-exist. Yuvan stood in front of a small tree, with bright green leaves, white flowers, and tiny fluorescent fruit bloom. It was Premna Serratifolia. During one of his wasp surveys on the campus, he observed forty different species of wasps, pollinating this tree. Every direction he was pointing, we
 
were zooming in our cameras and binoculars. Yuvan was full of information and we were overwhelmed by his vast, oops...wasp knowledge! Wealth of information about how plants communicate with wasps, presence of flower wasps indicate the quality of soil, and also act as an amazing pollinator, memory guilds of greater banded hornet and its reference in Agananuru – a classical Tamil poetic work of Sangam literature, and so on. The session almost came to an end, with a Vaa Ma Minnal punch, when we were pointed to watch an act of courtship behavior of paper wasps! It was an awesome learning experience. Best Wishes Yuvan. Thanks to Palluyir Trust Team, for the amazing book with extensive research on Wasps. Kudos!

There are clear photos of the wasps that I commonly see, as also wasp nests.  The book is available as a free download here.

There was a second wasp walk on the 3rd of May, where Arvind and Jomi kept another bunch of members enthralled, and Sagarika's pictures are here.

 

She says:

 

On a sultry May morning, 18 of us nature enthusiasts gathered at the library gate for a wasp walk led by two young naturalists, Aravind and Jomi. Aravind opened the walk by highlighting the stark contrast in how we view two vital pollinators - bees are cherished, wasps on the other hand, are often feared and despised.

During the walk, we learned about the true democratic aspects of wasp societies, their nest- building behaviour, their stings and more. Karna and Tarun, two young participants, asked insightful questions throughout, keeping everyone engaged and Aravind on his toes.

We explored the remarkable diversity of wasp nests—each unique in location and material. Highlights included the nests of cluster wasps, tube-maker and ridged-nest potter wasps (the latter using a cement-like substance), and a blue mud dauber nest tucked inside an old lock’s keyhole. As we searched for sand wasps, some of us spotted a striking velvet ant (which, despite its name, is actually a type of wasp), clearly the highlight of the day.

We also enjoyed observing Ammophila, which, due to its size, was easy to spot and photograph. Several Vespidae wasps zipped overhead, becoming more active as the sun grew stronger.

Fascinating facts flowed throughout the walk—like how some plants release chemicals to attract wasps for pollination, even without insect threats, and how parasitoid wasps earn their name as they ultimately end up killing their hosts- good for pest/insect control I thought.

The wasp walk was both fun and enlightening, highlighting the vital role of wasps in the ecosystem and helping us appreciate these misunderstood creatures.

Now, if the Velvet ant is a wasp, then why call it an ant?  It is confusing as it is, and mimicry in the natural world is rife, but we humans can atleast name them appropriately can't we?  Just saying.

Assam Day 8 and 9 - Pobitora, adjutant storks and the civet cat

Pobitora - has been in the news lately.  Denotified as a sanctuary by the Assam govt, a decision then thankfully stayed by the Supreme Court.  I remember the sanctuary from our 2020 MNS trip, and realised I had not updated my trip notes here.

January 18th 2020 

Continued from here.

Beginning with Lesser Adjutants

We departed in the morning for Pobitara, a 200 km westwards drive, staying to the south of the river.
Around 10 in the morning, and the Innovas all suddenly pulled up to the side of the road.  Tubelight me, always last to see things - wondering what all the excitement was about, and then I saw them - Adjutant stork nests.  A silk cotton tree full of them!!  These are probably the most morose-looking birds I have seen.  Wetlands birds have a serious look generally, but these ones are in another league - they really looked grumpy and very unhappy with their state of affairs.

The Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) is less of a scavenger than the Greater. And found around wetlands, and November to January is there breeding season in Assam.  A rather messy mass of sticks formed the nest.  In many we saw little scrawny, unkempt heads poking out.  Since we were watching from below, it was difficult to see them, as the nests looked deep. (I came back and read that they could be as much as a metre deep, oh my goodness!). There were 10 nests - a few had been abandoned, done with.

Of course this called for a tea break, and we stopped at a place called Sugandhi, which took forever to produce the said tea.  The only advantage of this stop was that I saw a Nepali bridegroom and had a Skype call with some Chennai friends!

We moved along, making good time, and were at Jagi Road, (Whats with Assam calling places “road”, remember Barpeta Road?) just probably half hour from our destination when we ran into the Jonbeel mela crowds and road blocks.  It was the last day of the Bihu mela, which operates on a barter system, and is a BIG event for the indigenous communities.  We saw one side of the bund was allocated to parking - taxis, lorries, people carriers of all sorts, and on the other side was the fair.  So we were sternly told to do a U turn and use another route, as the road was blocked.  I was quite intrigued and wanted to return to see this mela - only to be told it would be disbanded that evening.

Detoured and all, and we crossed a river, with scores of brick kilns on either side, so I suppose the clay of that area makes for good bricks.  We came to the huge “Jheel”, which is outside Pobitara, and was full of birds!  

We reached Maibong Eco Resort, which is off in a little lane, and has rooms on either side of the lane.  Devika and I took a room in the main building - these rooms were compact with easier access to the food and reception - better for her as she wouldn’t need to walk much, given her hurt toe.  The rooms on the other side were more spacious and around a central open garden space.  To one side, the resort had created a “hide” where they promised sightings of the hornbill, for a mere sum of Rs 500 - I thought this was a bit rich, and as it turned out those staying that side got to see the hornbills even without going to the hide.

We had a hot lunch of puris and dal, overlooking a little pond - all very scenic.  The manager told us that the pond saws some interesting bird action in the mornings.  

And then we set off for Pobitora.  Mainly grasslands and good rhino territory, I for one was appalled at the extent of cattle inside the sanctuary.  Being close to Guwahati, this sanctuary is well visited, so why this neglect?  It is also relatively new and small - 38sqkm.  There has been some translocation of rhinos from here to Manas, due to overpopulation.

In the new context of COVID, it doesn’t seem like a great idea having cattle and rhinos and water buffaloes in such close proximity to each other one would think.

Anyway, there was all sorts of grass, short tall, in water, dry.  We saw yellow-footed pigeons, starlings, a tree full of ber was a great sight, a parakeet looked annoyed at having its peace disturbed by the noisy jeep.  I apologised.

Yellow-footed green pigeons

A bar-filled tree

A parakeet - staring at us rather annoyed.

As the sun descended in the sky, we stopped close to one of the jheels.  On one side water buffalo and cattle, on the far horizon an eagle on a tree, to the left were a pair of Greater Adjutants.  In between some wild boar and egrets.  And a lone black stork.

The incidence of the civet cat 

Back to Maibong then, and a nice hot bath.  We were told to come to the reception at 7pm - civet cats would show up!  This we were all very intrigued by.  So we passed time until then, on the grass patch in front of the rooms on the other side - I learnt about the latest squash players from Nayantara and Nethra, and then the manager came and told us it was time for the civet show.

Then we all went to the reception area, and were told to be very quiet, no flash photography, no movements, and the lights were dimmed.  Chairs were adjusted, so second row also had a view. We waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Some wild variety of banana was thrown onto the tin roof.  We spoke in hushed voices.  We were told not to take our eyes off. 

Waiting for the civet

After a while, there was a scuffle, a black shadow passed on the tin roof and one piece of banana was gone!  The manager looked pleased with a I-told-you-so look.  MNS members looked bemused.  Did you see it?  I saw the tail I think, it went up the pipe, no it went down the roof.  It was at the edge.  No see it too banana from here.  Clearly very few had actually seen anything - such was the disparity between sighting accounts.  

There was still much banana left.  It will be back we were told.  More waiting.  Pritam looked unamused and disbelieving.  Backbenchers made their way out…only the believers were left behind.  And were rewarded with five more visits by the scurrying shadow, whose presence was marked by the disappearing bananas.

And so ended the amusing episode of the palm civet of Maibong.  It was clearly there, living under the roof - because the souvenir shop had a strange smell about it.  I thought it was some native fragrance.  Pritam calmly said it was civet pee and poop!

19 January – Day 9

Our last day in Assam!

By common consent, we decided to leave for Guwahati slowly, lingering at Maibong, doing birding on the lake front.  Only Kumar and family went off to Guwahati early to do some sightseeing.

The pond revealed water hens, a kingfisher, a flameback, and then there was the curious case of the flycatcher that only Bhuvanya and I could see, and poor Sudar could not spot, much to the ire of his wife.  Try as we may we could not get him to look at the “right” tree at the far end of the pond.  And when it finally flew in disgust is when he saw it, and then was most annoyed that we were pointing to the wrong tree!

This was during morning tea.

7am with some light and we set off for some walking and birding.  It was a foggy morning, and the members were struggling along the bund at different speeds.  Ducks and cormorants in the water, doves, starlings and bee eaters in the wires above.  On the other side of the road, farmers were busy with paddy cultivation.  At some point, stomachs began to growl, and so we headed back for breakfast, bath and packing.  

I went to the souvenir shop and picked up some t shirts, tea and caps for family and friends, and hurried to pack them and load the bags in the car.  We finally left closer to noon.

Anti CAA march in Guwahati

Our final Assamese lunch

Stopped at Guwahati for a massive lunch, saw an anti CAA protest, reached the airport, bumped into a cousin of mine, and then it was a long ride back via Kolkata to Chennai airport.  Met by Vish at the airport, and home after dropping off Pritam and Shuba.

And so ended my Assam odyssey…..though I did end up with a rasping cough, thankfully it was in pre-covid days, or rather when the virus was still rampant only in China, or so I believed.  

My mother was convinced that I had picked up the Covid virus from Assam, and it might well be the case, I would never know.

Assam Day 6 & 7 - The wonderland that is Kaziranga

16th January 2020

Continued from here.

Kaziranga!  A dream visit for me, for the last fifteen years, and I was actually here.  Wishing Sekar was here, and of course Raji, my dear friend, how I missed her on the trip.  

It is a UNESCO world heritage site.

“Criterion (ix): River fluctuations by the Brahmaputra river system result in spectacular examples of riverine and fluvial processes. River bank erosion, sedimentation and formation of new lands as well as new water-bodies, plus succession between grasslands and woodlands represents outstanding examples of significant and ongoing, dynamic ecological and biological processes. Wet alluvial grasslands occupy nearly two-thirds of the park area and are maintained by annual flooding and burning. These natural processes create complexes of habitats which are also responsible for a diverse range of predator/prey relationships.

Criterion (x): Kaziranga was inscribed for being the world’s major stronghold of the Indian one-horned rhino, having the single largest population of this species, currently estimated at over 2,000 animals. The property also provides habitat for a number of globally threatened species including tiger, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo, gaur, eastern swamp deer, Sambar deer, hog deer, capped langur, hoolock gibbon and sloth bear. The park has recorded one of the highest density of tiger in the country and has been declared a Tiger Reserve since 2007. The park’s location at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian flyway means that the park’s wetlands play a crucial role for the conservation of globally threatened migratory bird species. The Endangered Ganges dolphin is also found in some of the closed oxbow lakes.”

Highway 37 cuts through and the Karbi Anglong hills are the highlands needed during the high monsoon floods as highlands for the animals from the Bramhaputra flood plains.  Now this migration land is cut by the highway.

A lot happened on the road even before we entered the sanctuary gates.  

We started our Kaziranga exploration at the eastern gate - Agaratoli.  These Owlets were at the gate, as we registered to enter the Gates.

A grey-headed fishing eagle surveyed the plains,  sitting harmoniously with the parakeets!

.

Wild buffaloes eyed us.

I would never tire of the river, the grasslands and the swamp deer.

The rhinos were there everywhere.

What a lovely sight of the northern lapwing.

The news of Kaziranga was that a “lesser white fronted goose had been spotted!  And Gudung knew exactly where to take us   - to see this “foreigner”, who was hanging around with the bar-headed geese, who didn’t seem to mind its presence, and all continued to forage in an amicable fashion.  Its white face and barred chest made it stand out among the bar-headed geese.

The LWFG (Anser erythropus)was most unbothered at this paparazzi status, as the shutter bugs clicked away. What was it doing here?  In 1968, an Englishman McKenzie had recorded it in Kaziranga in a different range.  The bird is a native of Scandinavia and Siberia.  It was a vagrant.  And endangered vagrant.  

Gudung was excited at having showed us this rare sighting.

He took us to the house of his mentor Manoj Gogoi. These are the experiences on MNS trips that are amazing, humbling and something that has opened my mind time and again.

He narrated the story of his meeting with a man from BNHS and then growing and rescuing snakes and birds, and now working in tandem with the forest dept.  Recounting stories of Kaziranga then and now, over a feast of local delicacies.

 

A quick lunch stop at Dubori, wash, battery charge and it was off to the western range with Gudung.  Bagori.

Hornbill sightings

A satisfied soul inside a tired body, as we headed back.  Dinner and chatter - always fun - sitting with Yuvan trying to make a list - jaggery ginger candy from Mr NS.  A throat thats feeling super raspy and painful.

So much to learn still, so little do I know.  

17th January 2020. Off to the Bura Pahad range - Hoolock Gibbon morning it was.

On the road, even before entering the Bura Pahad range, we stopped by some fig trees as Gudung spotted the gibbons, and this was my first sight!  What lovely eyebrows!

There was something so contented and peaceful about the way the gibbon took a fruit at a time, and ate with deliberation and “mindfulness”?  

One of Kaziranga’s signature primate, India’s only ape. As I watched the male’s long arm go out and pick a fruit, I learnt that they can brachiate at high speeds - close to 50kmph, and in one swing, something like 6m!  

They live in small family groups and are monogamous we heard their calls within the forest later as well.  Their calls - haunting and amazing and a lifetime experience as it echoes through the forests.  

For a creature that never comes down to the forest floor, the need for a contiguous canopy is so crucial.  How would it cross a road, if the canopy was broken for more than 6m?

“Populations of western hoolock gibbons have declined by almost 90% over the last 30 years, and it is now considered to be one of the most endangered 25 primate species in the world. In India, it is listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972. Enhancing protection for the species, the Government of Assam upgraded the status of the Hoollongapar Reserve Forest in the Jorhat District of Assam to a Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1997, making this the first Protected Area ever named after a primate species.”  (WWF)

A skirmish and movement in the tree and we thought it was another family, but no it was a Giant Malayan Squirrel also feeding and going up and down the tree.  What a tail!  And it did one spectacular jump from one tree to the next.  (Ratufa bicolor).  I thought the malabar squirrel is more good looking, but this one is just large and dramatic.  (Suresh's photo)

Lovely drive in the forest.  Beautiful trees, lianas, a water monitor lizard and whistling ducks in flight.  A group of black capped monkeys above.

A patch of water, and we saw more bar-headed geese.  There were egrets, cormorants, OBS all cheek by jowl, minding their own business.  

A watchtower close to the river.  We got off the vehicles and took a walk along the river Diphlu.  The stories that silting would tell.  Many feet deep.  There were a couple of ruddy shelducks on the bank. that caught the sun so beautifully, they were like burnished copper..

The squelchy mud revealed tiger pug marks!  It was a long and hot walk, and we came back quite hungry.  Dried fruits and kakhra to the rescue in our backpacks - and  Suresh discovered a love for kakhra hitherto unknown.  Pritam had some interesting fruit bars - mango and guava…I preferred the guava I remember.

As we drove back and out of the sanctuary, we saw swamp deer - unique to Kaziranga.  Eastern swamp deer.    Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi.  Dolhorina in Assamese

 

 Even better was the sunbathing otters we saw!  What a delightful sight that was.  We were the lone jeep on that path - and in a blink of an eye, they were all off the bank and into the water.  Showing how easy it us to disturb wildlife, how sensitive to human activity.  Shantharam got a great picture, I remember.

An adjutant flew overhead, stiff and stern.  And suddenly there was a rhino eyeballing us from behind the grass.  And vultures overhead!

Back for lunch and a short rest

Afternoon ride was to Kohora - the gate closest to us.  We were in the last jeep.  Sudar and his camera seemed to be magnets for the unexpected.  A whole host of wagtails later, we saw a fishing eagle and most importantly a night jar.  Spotted by Sudar.  Even our jeep driver was awestruck at the spotting!

We went over this bridge I don’t think was meant for jeeps - it protested loudly. But the driver was cheery and confident.

And that evening, we waited for the tiger, whom the guides and driver felt were in the vicinity.  I didn't mind.  It was such a beautiful magic spot.

Instead we saw a baby elephants in the swamp - it waddled across, stumbling and moving quite clumsily and endearingly - the mother gently nudging him/her with her trunk.

As we watched, the rains stuck to a path they make.  We saw a rhino midden as well.

Another beautiful Kaziranga sunset.

That evening, we went into the markets.  I picked up two wooden rhinos as souvenirs.  It was good fun to hang around with Bhuvanya as she looked for some kind of local Assamese knife, which she didn’t find, but she found a kutty little dish made from some alloy, which was a big hit with the other ladies - so much so that we had to return and buy some more!  So many things I came to know - that Bhuvanya loves to paint, is a cheerful chatterbox and has a wonderful joie de vivre. 

We would depart for Pobitara the next day.  

Kaziranga - I could go back again and again.  (I did go back, with Sekar, and I would be happy to revisit.)  The flood plains, the grasslands, the vastness, the magnificent rhinos and elephants in such plenty, the gibbons, langurs, squirrels and all those birds.