Walking in the winter always brings surprises! Without leaves on the trees, secret nests are revealed.
This tiny mud nest (smaller than a dime) was perched on a low branch of a maple tree near the pond. It seems to be a Potter Wasp nest left over from earlier in the season. The Potter Wasp Eumeninae builds a nest of mud on a stem or twig, then hunts larvae of other insects to stock the pot. She lays a single egg in the pot and seals it. The egg hatches, feeds on what mom left in the pot, and grows through larval and pupal stages. The opening you see is the exit hole made by the young wasp emerging from the nest.
