1.02.12 On 10.23.11 I posted a picture of a Baldfaced Hornet's nest dangling from a high branch. In the last two weeks, I've seen Bluejays perched atop the swaying globe, pounding and pulling at the outer paper covering. A few mornings ago, the nest was no longer hanging. I found the paper covering tangled in goldenrod stems; the remaining comb, with the nest's opening still attached, was on the ground. Each comb is made up of uniform-sized cells, measuring 1 cm in diameter. There were two layers of comb, separated by cone-shaped "risers" about an inch tall, constructed of the paper used for the outside. A few remaining covered cells contain nearly-developed hornets, now frozen. The queen of these nests mates just in late fall and burrows into the ground where it will spend the winter, emerging in spring to make a golf-ball sized nest, lay eggs and raise the few youngsters that will become workers to assist in enlarging the nest and raising subsequent members of the colony.