Residents encouraged to continue reporting hornet sightings to WSDA

Despite the eradication of a nest in late October, the Asian giant hornets continued to be found in east Blaine with the latest sighting on November 12.

There have been eight confirmed detections of the world’s largest hornet since Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) officials removed the first nest in the U.S. The nest was found to contain over 500 hornets, 200 of which were queens. 

Most recently, 14-year-old Childrey DeJong found a live hornet on November 12 on her family’s east Blaine driveway. The hornet is suspected to be male, according to the WSDA sighting report filed November 17.

Karla Salp, WSDA public engagement specialist, said the agency predicted there would be a few stragglers, even though the agency performed the eradication at dawn, when most hornets were expected to be in the nest. 

Other confirmed detections include a male captured alive by a citizen on November 1 near Burk Road; a male removed from a trap on October 30 near Sunshine Road and Loomis Trail; and three queens, one male and one worker found October 29 near the eradication site. The October 29 and November 1 hornet sightings were reported in a November 10 WSDA blog. 

“I don’t think we have a real expectation because this is all brand new,” said Salp, when asked if she expected hornets to appear in east Blaine as late as two weeks after eradication. “I think it’s hard to determine what to expect when this is a brand new situation.”

Canadian officials also continue the hunt for nests on their side of the border.

Paul van Westendorp, provincial apiculturist for B.C., said there have been six confirmed hornet sightings in the lower mainland since the region’s first hornet was discovered in White Rock on November 13, 2019. 

Van Westendorp said the land between confirmed sightings equates to roughly 350 square kilometers, and he has yet to hear of an attack on honeybees. “You’re talking about a needle in a haystack scenario,” he said.

WSDA is still puzzled as to why it hasn’t received calls about honeybee hive attacks, which are a known food source for the hornets during their ‘slaughter’ phase, or hornet reports near previous sightings in Birch Bay, Custer and within the city of Blaine, Salp said.

Whatcom County citizen scientists concluded nearly five months of trapping on Thanksgiving. Salp said WSDA would finish taking down its traps in the next week as any remaining new queens are expected to burrow in the ground or debris until emerging in April to forage and build new colonies. 

In total, WSDA hung 914 traps and the public placed 1,553 traps since July. Salp said WSDA is analyzing trap submissions and will make aggregated data available for people to view the number of insects caught in the traps, broken down to individual traps. The data is expected to be available in early 2021, she said. 

A possibility still remains for new hornet detections in 2020, said Salp, adding the first Asian giant hornet in the U.S. was reported December 8, 2019 within the city of Blaine.

“We are still accepting reports and we still want to know about every single Asian giant hornet people continue to see,” she said.

WSDA asks for people with sightings of Asian giant hornets, dead or alive, to submit a report forum to bit.ly/34akL4H, email hornets@agr.wa.gov or call 800/443-6684.