I spent some time this week in my mother-in-law’s garden photographing wasps, bees and other insects but am finding it challenging to identify them. These wasps were unconcerned about me being close to them. As a result, I was able to get some good photographs of these fascinating insects.

I’m working on identifying conclusively the insects pictured below. The photographs were taken near the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Any assistance on the identification of the following would be greatly appreciated!

Update: Thanks to Rob Cannings from the Royal BC Museum for help identifying these wasps. For those interested in identifying species in your own backyard, the University of Alberta has a good key to northeastern species here.