Although they look like small bird houses, the 5 little nest boxes on the perimeter of the Arboretum Outreach Center gardens are actually trap nest boxes for the spring queens of hornets and yellowjackets. Research Entomologists Drs. Nancy Breisch and Al Greene will be checking the boxes daily during April and May when these social insects start their nests. Spring queens are not a stinging threat (unless you try to handle them!) and any found will be collected. This research adds to work done when the building was still a working Apiary and demonstrates a means of monitoring and controlling the Asian Giant Hornet (unfortunately called “Murder Hornets” by the mass media) that has recently invaded Washington State and poses a serious threat to the beekeeping industry.
