@debrac In this case she was the only one constructing the hive (I observed her flying back and forth between this chair and her hive.) Since she was the only one around, I reasoned it was her that also laid the eggs, and workers don't do that :) Wikipedia mentions you can tell the difference between male and female yellow jackets by the number of segments in their antennae; females have 12 segments whereas males have 13.
Great shot! Reminds me of the time that I accidentally bumped my head in a wasp's nest. My youngest daughter is still shocked about my vocabulary at that time. The gut who removed the nest for me showed me where the wasps got the building material and actually you could hear them scrape of the pulp.
Fav...great shot.