Yellow Jackets
Vespula vulgaris
or meat bees
 
 
 

image - I. Lindsey

Often called "meat bees" because foraging workers often become serious pests as they search for food - usually food that is eaten or discarded by people. They are attracted to protein (meat) and sugar (soda) sources, so are found around trash. (So, if we humans would be more careful where we put our trash, meat bees wouldn't be such a problem.)

Yellow Jackets in this area are 5/8 to 1 inch long and are black and yellow. They have a painful sting and bite. 

NEST
Yellow Jackets will nest anywhere: meadows, gardens, hedges, and forest edges. They usually nest in the ground or at ground level in fallen logs, tree stumps or rodent tunnels. In urban settings they can also be found under stairs, in fence posts, brick walls and discarded mattresses, carpets, boxes etc. Their nests are made similar to the paper wasps, building paper cylinders from chewed organic materials and using their sticky saliva to glue it together in organized cells.

Web links for more information on wasps: