Bald-faced hornets are an easily identifiable species of yellow jacket. Unlike most other yellow jacket species, the bald-faced hornet has black and white or ivory coloring on its face, thorax ...

Unlike yellow jackets, bald-faced hornets and paper wasps, bees do not die in the winter, and typically stay alive by staying inside their hive and feeding on honey created throughout the year.

The bald-faced hornet isn’t really a hornet. Instead, it’s a yellow jacket. And it just so happens to be the largest type of yellow jacket in the Pacific Northwest, even though it’s not yellow.

Yellowjackets are wasps (bald-faced hornets are also part of the yellowjacket family) that are mostly yellow with black banding. They are sensitive to threats and not afraid to use their stingers.