He said climate change is one reason for the survival of so many colonies:
So normally, a surviving queen will have to start a colony from scratch in the spring. With our climate becoming warmer, there might be multiple surviving queens producing more than 20,000 eggs each.
The Alabama Extension said this year is already outpacing 2006, when some 90 of these massive super nests were found in the state.
WFSA, the NBC station in Montgomery, said 15 have been found this year so far.
“Any place where it’s good shelter, where it doesn’t freeze, the colony probably won’t die off,” Clint Hester of Stark Exterminators told the station. “So you have the new ones, plus the old workers and double the size of the colony in just one year.”
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Stark warned people not to mess with the massive nests themselves, but to call in an expert.
And while Alabama seems to be where the nests are concentrated ― so far ― neighboring states are also concerned.
WSB, the ABC station in Atlanta, said Georgia officials are already watching out for these super nests, warning in particular of yellow jackets, an aggressive wasp that often forms nests in the ground.
“Yellow jackets will defend the nest to the death, fighting tooth and nail,” University of Georgia agricultural agent James Murphy, who is investigating the Alabama super nests, told the station. “And unlike bees, they can sting multiple times.”
A blue damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes) rests on a reed at the edge of a small lake near Briesen, Germany, on May 13, 2012. Dragonflies are evidently amongst the oldest flying insects with around 5000 known species worldwide. Only 80 dragonfly species can be found in Germany. (PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/GettyImages)
A Coccinellidae, more commonly known as a ladybug or ladybird beetle, rests on the petals of a rose in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, May 26, 2010. The name "ladybird" originated in the Middle Ages when the insects were known as the "beetle of Our Lady". (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Robber Fly (Mallophora)
Mexican Bush Katydid Nymph
Lightning Bug
Grasshopper
Weevil
Larinus onopordi
A ladybug clings to the edge of a Stone Crop Sedum leaf on Tuesday morning June 25, 2013, in Salina, Kan. (AP Photo/Salina Journal, Tom Dorsey)
A dragonfly is pictured at a garden in Kathmandu on June 27, 2012. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/GettyImages)
After emerging from winter hibernation, hundreds of ladybird beetles – often called ladybugs – cluster in the leaves under a shrub on the South Hill in Spokane, Wash. on Sunday, March 31, 2013. The ladybird beetle, Hippodamia convergens, is a gardener’s best friend, eating perhaps its weight in aphids daily. Strict carnivores, they eat no leafy vegetation. (AP/The Spokesman-Review, Colin Mulvany)
A dragonfly rests in a garden in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, July 11, 2013. Weather forecasts predict sunny weather for the next few days in Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, shows a Northern mole cricket he found as he collects bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectarium’s stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney)
A beetle sits on a wild daisy at 'Thurrock Thameside Nature Park' on June 6, 2013 in Thurrock, England. The 120 acres of grass, bramble and shrub that make up 'Thurrock Thameside Nature Park' sits on top of what was Europe's largest landfill site overlooking the Essex coastline in the Thames Estuary. Over the last 50 years six of London's borough's had been dumping their rubbish on the site, (originally a huge gravel pit), which in places is over 30 metres thick. The ￡2.5Million GBP restoration project run by Essex Wildlife Trust and the landfill company Cory Environmental worked to compact the rubbish before adding a thick layer of clay, known as a pie-crust, over the waste, before covering it in soil. The area which when finished will encompass 845 acres is run by the Essex Wildlife Trust and is home to an array of wildlife including, Shrill Carder Bee, Great Crested Newt, Brown Hare, Avocet, Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl and Kingfisher. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
A bumblebee gathers pollen on a flower on July 13, 2013 in the suburbs of Paris. (JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)
Bees gather nectar from lavender flowers on July 22, 2013 in Marseille, southern France. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images)
A grasshopper, a symbol of France's south-eastern area of Provence, is pictured on a tree on July 22, 2013 in Marseille. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images)
In this Monday, Sept. 24, 2012 photo, a Coneheaded katydid bites on the finger of Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager of the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium, as he and other employees collect bugs for their exhibits in Des Allemands, La. Some of the bugs are raised to exhibit later at the insectarium, while others are shipped to museums. Much of an insectarium’s stock dies in a year or less, so the replenishment missions for local species are essential. (AP Photo/Kerry Maloney)
