Paper wasp with nest

These are the brutes that eat the monarch butterfly caterpillars.
See here what to do about it and all about paper wasps. From the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust website.

I was puzzled as to why wasps suddenly abandoned their diet of Monarch caterpillars towards the end of summer, and learned that wasps actually change their dietary requirements around this time – from protein to nectar.
“The growth phase of the nest cycle is over and the wasps do not need to gather much protein to feed growing wasp larvae,” I was told by a wasp expert. “Much of the wasp activity you see in the autumn relates to mating rituals and tends to involve dancing males.” He said that Vespula wasp nests are also in a declining phase at that time of year, but will carry on a little longer than Polistes.
He also advised that there was not much point in trying to control wasps in the autumn or spring.
- See more at: http://www.monarch.org.nz/monarch/forum/topic/wasps-killing-caterpillers/#sthash.bo1Q38bx.dpuf


I knocked this wasp down with a fly swat and put it in a plastic bag and squirted fly spray in. I found the nest under the top railing on the fence.

In the past I have found nests on the patio roof beams, end of a garage and other wooden structures.