Citizen scientist trapping, monitoring to begin for hornets

If anyone hears a buzz around town, scientists would like for it to be reported.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) is calling all citizen scientists to participate in its hornet trapping and paper wasp monitoring programs for northern giant hornets, colloquially known as “murder hornets.”

The public can participate in WSDA’s annual trapping efforts by hanging and monitoring plastic bottle traps filled with an orange juice and rice cooking wine mixture. Citizen scientists will need to log the traps with WSDA and monitor the traps weekly. The trapping program started July 1 and runs through November. For more information, visit bit.ly/3XGCqei.

WSDA officials will monitor 1,100 of their own traps in northwest Whatcom County, with the majority of traps being set in the Blaine and Birch Bay areas.

The public can also participate in WSDA’s paper wasp nest program that requires participants to watch and record observations of at least one paper wasp nest each week through October. WSDA started the paper wasp program in 2022 after east Blaine residents, and WSDA staff saw a pattern of the hornets preying on paper wasps the previous year. For more information, visit bit.ly/435Xwni.

The state scientists are deploying the programs just as the worker hornets are expected to emerge – if there are any left in Whatcom County. Scientists found the first northern giant hornet in the U.S. in Blaine in fall 2019 and subsequently eradicated the first nest in east Blaine in October 2020. In 2021, scientists eradicated three nests in east Blaine, all within two square miles of each other near where the first nest was eradicated. As of June 30, WSDA said no hornets have been detected in the U.S. since 2021.

WSDA needs three years without detections for the area to be considered eradicated. For Washington, that could mean by the end of next summer.

No hornets were detected in B.C. in 2022 and only one decayed hornet was found in 2021, less than one mile from an eradicated east Blaine nest. The only nest found in Canada was eradicated in Nanaimo in fall 2019.

Northern giant hornets became famous for their ability to decapitate an entire honeybee colony in a matter of hours. The orange-and-black apex predator can grow up to 2 inches and have been reported by WSDA scientists and east Blaine residents to sound similar to a hummingbird. The invasive hornets originate from Asia.

People who suspect they’ve sighted a northern giant hornet can report their sightings on WSDA’s Hornet Watch Report Form at bit.ly/3pxT56X. Those submitting leads should include their name, contact information, the location and date of sighting, and a photo if possible.