Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) recently captured and attempted to track two Asian giant hornets. The state agency is working to find one hornet after the tracker fell off the second.
State entomologists captured a live hornet August 12 and August 13 in east Blaine, according to a WSDA Facebook post. In attempt to track the hornets back to their nest on August 13, scientists placed radio tags on the two hornets, fed them strawberry jam for energy before flying and then released the hornets. The hornets stayed in the area for a couple of hours before they flew away.
On August 14, the scientists found one of the radio tags that wasn’t attached to a hornet. By the morning of August 16, scientists were still searching for the second radio tag but were being slowed because of dense vegetation.
WSDA is hoping to also track the radio tag from air, instead of by foot as entomologists did to find the first east Blaine nest last year. Once activated, WSDA says the radio tags last for two weeks.
On August 11, the first live Asian giant hornet confirmed in North America this year was spotted preying on paper wasps under the eaves of a house near H Street Road in east Blaine.
The orange-and-black invasive species can grow up to 2 inches.
To report a hornet sighting, visit agr.wa.gov/hornets, email hornets@agr.wa.gov or call 1-800/443-6684.
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