Can anyone identify what kind of Wasp (hornet?) this is?

Question

Our garden has been quite busy this year, including a nest of very docile paper wasps. They're so docile they'll let me walk right up (under 2 feet from the nest) and snap countless pictures of them with the flash on.

The question I have though is not about the paper wasps, but something similar I caught with my camera. So far I haven't had any luck discerning the species, but maybe someone here could share some of their insect-wisdom =)

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r59/Roke_Tanuki/Paper Wasps/DSC06980.jpg

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

doesn't look like a "yellowjacket" aka german wasp, to me

but probably close

need a better pic

Answer 2

It is just another common paper wasp.  They come in a few different colors.  Some are black and yellow.  Some are red.  And some are brown and yellow, like the one in your picture.  

Below are some good images of each color.  

It is not a yellow jacket.  They live in underground nests and are smaller than paper wasps.  Their markings are also different from paper wasps.

By the way... that last link of the picture of the Yellow Jackets also has pictures of brown and yellow paper wasps.

Answer 3

I believe this is a yellow jacket wasp

Answer 4

Beautiful animal isn't it?

That's a Paper Wasp.  Don't know the "exact" species, sorry. They build nests of chewed up plant matter into beautiful, paper-like, chambered nests.  Several of these wasps will tend a single nest.  They will not hurt you if you do not hurt them.

They are very beneficial and help control the population of spiders.  This one is hunting.  It's hunting for spiders.  Why?  It grabs a spider and paralyzes it with its stinger.  Then if flies the victim to the nest and lays it within a single chamber.  After several spiders have been put in the chamber, it lays a single egg and seals up the chamber.  The eggs hatches and the larvae feeds on the spiders and grows.  After metamorphosis, out emerges an adult wasp.  Then the whole cycle begins again.

Fascinating isn't it?