These hornets as about 10x more common this year than last but still overall 'uncommon'. This one landed on Fall-blooming, invasive English Ivy and I assumed it was there for pollen or nectar. (Notwithstanding that the flowers are yet to open). And maybe it was. But I was pleased and surprised to see its snack turn up in the photo. Second image shows details of face fairly well.
Here is a nice comparison of 3 species faces . In order they are Dolichovespula maculata+Vespula consobrina+Dolichovespula adulterina - Female. Of course my submission matches none of these which makes it a drone, as can also be seen from a comparison of the 3rd image with .

Continuing to obsess, BG Info states "Sexual dimorphism: Males have long antennae with 13 segments; females (queens and workers, 12)". For the heck of it I have attempted to count segments in the last 2 images. Now I clearly am in over my head here, but as seen, there seem to be 12 Segments on both antennae (one is rotated), although the antennae get a little blurry near the base.