1,500 ‘Murder Hornets’ found in eradicated Whatcom nest, but experts expecting more nests
The Washington State Department of Agriculture found nearly 1,500 Asian Giant Hornets — commonly known as “Murder Hornets” — Wednesday, Aug. 25, when it eradicated what was the first nest of the invasive species found this year in Whatcom County.
The nest was found at the base of a dead alder tree in a rural area of the county east of Blaine. It was located approximately two miles from the nest that the Department of Agriculture eradicated last October, one-quarter miles from where a resident reported a live sighting of an Asian Giant Hornet on Aug. 11 and one-quarter mile south of the Canadian border.
“While we are glad to have found and eradicated this nest so early in the season, this detection proves how important public reporting continues to be,” Washington State Department of Agriculture Managing Entomologist Sven Spichiger said in a news release Thursday, Aug. 26. “We expect there are more nests out there and, like this one, we hope to find them before they can produce new queens. Your report may be the one that leads us to a nest.”
Department of Agriculture staff began Wednesday’s eradication by vacuuming 113 worker hornets from the nest, according to the release. The team then removed bark from the decaying tree at the entrance to the nest, revealing that the hornets had excavated the interior of the alder tree to make room for nine layers of comb.
The portion of the tree that contained the nest was taken to the Washington State University Extension in Bellingham for analysis, according to the release.
Staff also caught 67 additional workers in the area with nets and found approximately 1,500 hornets in various stages of development within the nest.
Chasing ‘Murder Hornets’
The first live Asian giant hornet sighted in 2021 in Washington state was found attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area of northern Whatcom County Aug. 11. Later that same week, the Department of Agriculture trapped and tagged three live hornets.
“Both hornets were tagged, given a pre-flight strawberry jam meal, and released,” a department Facebook post said.
Though one of the hornets was able to slip its tracker and another was never located, the Department of Agriculture announced Aug. 20 that the third hornet had led the team to the nest.
Up to 2 inches long, the Asian giant hornet, or Vespa mandarinia, is the world’s largest hornet species. They are identifiable by their large yellow/orange heads. The hornets are known for their painful stings.
They will attack people and pets when threatened. People should be extremely cautious near them, state agriculture officials have said, and those who have allergic reactions to bee or wasp stings should never approach an Asian giant hornet, according to earlier reporting in The Bellingham Herald.
The invasive hornets are feared for the threat they pose to honeybees and, by extension, the valuable crops in Washington state that the bees pollinate, including blueberry and other cane crops in the region that includes Whatcom County.
They also prey on local pollinators such as wasps, posing a threat to the local ecosystem, state entomologists have said.
A dead Asian giant hornet was located near Marysville in mid-June.
The Department of Agriculture will continue to trap Asian giant hornets through the end of November, according to Thursday’s release, adding that instructions on how to build traps can be found on the agency’s website.
Spot a ‘Murder Hornet’?
Washington state residents can report possible sightings of an Asian giant hornet to the state Department of Agriculture online at agr.wa.gov/hornets, via email at hornets@agr.wa.gov, or by calling 1-800-443-6684.
Take a photo or keep a specimen if you can. They’re needed for confirmation.
Citizen science trapping instructions also are on the website.
More on the department’s Asian giant hornet effort can be found at facebook.com/groups/hornets.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 8:55 AM.
