My neighbor Jean, called me over to her property this morning to ask what the heck was hanging in a tree over her garden. Her friend Louis had guessed it was a wasp nest and she was right. It was evidently a paper wasp nest.
Paper wasps are 3⁄4 to 1 inch (1.9 to 2.5 cm)-long wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct water-resistant nests made of gray or brown papery material.
Unlike yellow jackets and hornets, which can be very aggressive, polistine paper wasps will generally only attack if they themselves or their nest are threatened. Since their territoriality can lead to attacks on people, and because their stings are quite painful and can produce a potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction in some individuals, nests in human-inhabited areas may present an unacceptable hazard.
Most wasps are beneficial in their natural habitat, and are critically important in natural bio-control. Paper wasps feed on nectar, and other insects, including caterpillars, flies, and beetle larvae, and they are often considered to be beneficial by gardeners.
I'm pretty sure that, it being so late in the season, that the wasps that built this ting are now long gone. One can only marvel at the abilities of something so small as a mere insect.
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