Resumo. Social wasps are known to be aggressive, and this trait causes some other animal species to associate with these insects. These associations appear to be common in nature, however, they are not easily located nor understood. Thus, the objective of this work is to add new data to studies of associations between birds and wasps, recorded from the cerrado and caatinga of the states of Bahia, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern Brazil, from 2018 to 2021. Nine colonies of social wasps were found, associated with Tolmomyias flaviventris (Wied, 1831)  and Tolmomyias sulphurescens (Spix, 1825) (Passeriformes: Rhynchocyclidae). The behavior of associating with wasp colonies is a form of defense of these birds against predators, and seems to be related to the breeding season of the birds, since predation on their nests is the main factor for reducing their reproductive success.