I spotted these on the trail as I returned from a walk this morning. According to Bugguide, they are Eastern Yellow Jackets Vespula maculifrons. They were feeding on something moist and fleshy I could not identify. It has been exceptionally dry here in eastern Iowa since mid-August. Yellow Jackets are found near anything with moisture.
They didn’t mind that I got within a few centimeters to record some video of their activity. Sort of gruesome. But, as Melanie says “Everyone has to eat.”
Our View From Iowa 
Hi Jim, great pics! Yellowjacket wasps are common here. My neighbour had a big nest inside one of the outside walls of his house. Despite my warning not to, he sealed the hole they were getting in. A few days later a swarm appeared in one of his spare rooms, and were they ever p**sed off. Luckily the doors were closed to the rest of his house. He is still trying to get rid of them. Yesterday the smoke cleared for the first time in well over a month and we saw the mountains and blue sky. It sure looked good! I hope you and Melanie are well. Bob
Hi Bob. It is good to hear from you. We are both well. Heading to Tacoma Washington in a few days via train to see our son.
The Yellow Jackets in the room would be a nasty problem. Maybe he needs a bug bomb.
Good that the smoke cleared. I hope we won’t be in a lot of smoke as we visit our son.
Hi to Lisa.
Whatever they’re eating, it looks so much like chicken I imagined one of them saying to the other, “Try it. You’ll like it. It tastes like chicken….”
I can hear them.
I wonder if this was a cherry tomato? A strawberry? Something sweet, but small. They feed on apple drops in orchards around here. I never like to have a nest of them in the yard. I’ve had a few over the years. One year there was one in the raspberry patch, but a skunk (bear or coon?) dug it up one night and ate it. Yep, everyone has to eat. 😉
Nice photos! Were they maybe after moisture? Mine in E.Tennessee like walking on water! (in the bird bath) 😉
https://washekoda.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/bee-on-water-01.jpg
I think they were after water. It had been very dry. Your photo was great. I didn’t know it could do that.
Only dry here this past month, there is ‘red flag’ in S.W. Minn. ! BTW I moved here 10yrs ago from Ames! 😉
Hey to an Iowan.
I just found out from TZ > https://notes-in-nature.org/2017/11/10/western-yellow-jacket/ < That 'yellow jackets' are scavengers of meat!
It looked like a piece of meat they were feeding on in my photo.