By David Rasbach / The Bellingham Herald
One of two radio trackers attached to captured live Asian giant hornets last week proved to be a dead end, the Washington State Department of Agriculture reported, but efforts to find a nest in Whatcom County continue.
“On Saturday our team was able to recover one of the radio trackers, unfortunately without an #AsianGiantHornet attached to it,” the Department of Agriculture reported in a Facebook post Monday, Aug. 16. “We continue to search for the second hornet/tracker. However, it is slow going due to the dense vegetation.”
The post went on to say that options of tracking the hornets, popularly known as “murder hornets,” from the air, rather than on foot. The department also said it was working with entomologists from British Columbia to monitor the hornets.
“Remember that at this point in the year it is much more useful to get a photo of suspected hornets and to observe what direction they fly off in rather than killing the hornets,” Monday’s post said. “Live hornets can help lead us back to a nest.”
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 east of Blaine last week.
On Thursday, Aug. 12, an agriculture team captured a live Asian Giant Hornet and they got another one Friday morning, Aug. 13, according to a department Facebook post.
“Both hornets were tagged, given a pre-flight strawberry jam meal, and released,” the post said, adding that the hornets left after several hours and the department tracked them Friday before the tracker without a hornet was found Saturday, Aug. 14.
The radio tags run for up to two weeks, according to the Department of Agriculture.
The original report was submitted, along with a photo of the Asian giant hornet attacking a paper wasp nest, by a Whatcom County resident on Wednesday, Aug. 11, and state entomologists reviewed and confirmed the report. The Asian Giant hornet was spotted approximately two miles from where the state Department of Agriculture eradicated the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States last October, according to the news release.
“This hornet is exhibiting the same behavior we saw last year — attacking paper wasp nests,” Department of Agriculture Managing Entomologist Sven Spichiger said in the release. “If you have paper wasp nests on your property and live in the area, keep an eye on them and report any Asian giant hornets you see. Note the direction they fly off to as well.”
A dead Asian giant hornet was located near Marysville in June.
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.
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.
The state Department of Agriculture is planning to set live traps in the area in the hopes of catching a live hornet, tagging it and tracking it back to its nest, the release said. Canadian officials will set additional traps across the border for the same purpose, as Wednesday’s hornet was spotted about a half-mile from the border.
“Public reports of Asian giant hornet sightings continue to be critical to locating the pest,” the Department of Agriculture release stated, adding that half of Washington’s confirmed reports and all of Canada’s confirmed reported came from public reports, as have both reports so far this summer.
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.
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