#wasp fear

hi!!!! this is a rly bad pic but I can't ID these wasps or hornets. were moving soon ans they're blocking some storage on my porch. I was wondering if you could help and say if they're dangerous or not? I live north Houston. thnx!!!!!

If by “dangerous” you mean can they sting, then yes, they can sting, especially if you approach their nest or attempt to remove it yourself. Social species protecting their nest will be the most aggressive. These are paper wasps, so they’re less aggressive than some species, but still will sting to protect their nest, and individuals can sting multiple times.

If you need to get past them to move things, I would recommend doing it at night, especially if it’s a chilly night when they are least active. Probably wear long sleeves and pants and a hood if you can, just in case. Try to stay as far away from the nest as possible, move slowly, and be aware of what the wasps are doing. If they fly out and start inspecting you, it’s probably time to move away and go inside. Don’t swing your arms or bat at them or squish them, that will make it worse.

Educate yourself so you can calmly explain to people why native wasps are vital to the ecosystem (pollination, food for predators, pest control, etc) and most are non-aggressive and some don’t even sting!

In terms of the Asian giant hornet, basically, unless you’re an ecologist or biologist or a honeybee keeper in Washington state, don’t worry about them. You won’t encounter them and even if you did, they’re unlikely to sting you, and even then, you’d likely be fine unless you were stung ten or more times and/or had an allergy.

Here’s the post I made about this some days ago.

Also a great and informative article about it here.

If you don’t want to read the whole article: basically they found one nest on Vancouver Island (Canada) in September of 2019 after a few sightings of Asian giant hornets around the area starting in August of 2019. The nest was found and destroyed.

In January of 2020, one dead giant hornet was found in Blaine, Washington, which is about 50 miles from where the original nest was found. There was also a sighting of a second live hornet but since it flew away, that couldn’t be confirmed. The one dead individual was not related to the individuals found in the nest on Vancouver Island.

Invasive species are a concern, but these hornets are occasionally found in countries they don’t belong, usually after hitching a ride in a shipment from their native range. They usually are killed and do not manage to establish any sort of population.

It is helpful, in the Washington area, for the general population to be aware of the problem so that they can report any sightings and make sure no wasps are able to establish themselves there.

The danger in the media blowing this out of proportion is that people panic and start reporting sightings of Asian giant hornets that turn out to be just normal, native bees and wasps. It’s hard for scientists to track the invasives if they’re getting nonsense tips left and right. Not to mention people will be killing native wasps and bees out of fear, which is never good.