Hornet Defense League

Protect · Educate · Research · Engage

Defending honeybees from the yellow-legged hornet

An invasive hornet that hunts honeybees is spreading across South Carolina and Georgia, and the South Carolina Lowcountry is the epicenter. We help communities spot it, report it, and protect their hives.

How to report a sighting Get involved

Our Mission

The mission of the Hornet Defense League is to protect honeybees and native pollinators from the invasive Yellow-Legged Hornet (Vespa velutina) through public education, increased awareness, community engagement in citizen science, and collaborative, open-source field research.

Our efforts focus on implementing and evaluating existing hornet trapping, tracking, and mitigation techniques while developing innovative approaches informed by hands-on field research and behavioral observations. Our goal is to advance practical, cost-effective, and time-efficient strategies that protect honeybee colonies, reduce predation on honeybees and native pollinators, and limit the population growth and spread of this invasive species.

By bringing together individuals, community groups, beekeepers, researchers, and volunteers, we strive to create a coordinated, science-based approach to protecting pollinators and preserving our ecosystems.

A honeybee gathering pollen on a bright yellow black-eyed Susan
A honeybee foraging on a black-eyed Susan. This is what we are protecting.

Why the hornets are a problem

The yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina) is native to Southeast Asia. It has already spread through much of Europe, and in August 2023 it was confirmed in the United States for the first time, near Savannah, Georgia. [1]

It hunts honeybees

Hornets wait in the air outside a hive and pick off returning foragers in mid-flight. This hunting behavior is called hawking. [7] Even when they are not catching bees, their presence at the entrance keeps the colony from going out to forage, so the hive slowly weakens and starves. A handful of hornets can empty an apiary in days. [2]

Our bees have no defense

Asian honeybees evolved ways to fight back against this hornet. The European honeybees kept by American beekeepers did not, which leaves them especially exposed. [2]

It is not just a beekeeper problem

One hornet colony eats a huge number of insects in a single season, including native pollinators. Fewer pollinators means poorer harvests for crops that depend on them, which affects farmers, gardeners, and food prices for everyone. [3] [4]

It is spreading

The South Carolina Lowcountry is the epicenter. South Carolina recorded its first hornet in November 2023. By late 2025 nests had turned up outside the Lowcountry in York County, and in October 2026 the first nests were found in Anderson and Kershaw Counties. [6] [7]

In Georgia, where the hornet was first found, crews destroyed 5 nests in 2023 and 47 in 2024, and finds have kept climbing since. [5] North Carolina is asking residents to report sightings too.

A yellow-legged hornet, black with an orange-tipped abdomen, hawking at a hive entrance beside a honeybee
A yellow-legged hornet hawking at a hive entrance.

South Carolina by the numbers

  • 643 nests found statewide
  • 569 of those nests were in Beaufort County
  • Over 80% of nests discovered in South Carolina have been reported by citizens

Nest counts as of October 27, 2026. Source: Hornet Herald. [7]

What hawking looks like

If you see a hornet doing this in front of a hive, take a photo and report it.

A yellow-legged hornet in flight, facing the camera, just above a hive entrance covered in wire mesh with honeybees behind it
A hornet hawking above a screened hive entrance.
A yellow-legged hornet with an orange face flying low in front of a hive entrance crowded with honeybees
A hornet hawking in front of a crowded hive entrance.
A yellow-legged hornet in flight above a tight cluster of honeybees at a hive entrance
A hornet hawking over bees clustered at the entrance.
Two yellow-legged hornets, dark with yellow leg tips, in flight beside a hive entrance covered in wire mesh
Two hornets hawking beside a hive entrance.

Photos provided by the Hornet Defense League.

We have done this before

The northern giant hornet (once nicknamed the "murder hornet") was found in Washington State in 2019. Thanks largely to public reports, state crews tracked down and destroyed four nests, and in December 2024 Washington and USDA declared it eradicated from the United States. Early reporting works. [8]

How to identify and report

Yellow-legged hornet

  • Black thorax (middle section)
  • Mostly dark abdomen with a yellow-orange tip
  • Legs with bright yellow ends
  • Orange-yellow face
  • Workers about 3/4 inch, queens up to about 1 1/4 inches
  • Large, round nests, often high in trees

European hornet look-alike

Bigger, with a reddish-brown and black thorax and a mostly yellow abdomen. Nests hidden in hollow trees or walls.

Cicada killer look-alike

Very large (up to 2 inches) solitary wasp that digs burrows in the ground. Rarely stings people.

Baldfaced hornet look-alike

Black and white, not yellow. Builds round, exposed nests and is the most common false alarm.

Identification details from Penn State Extension and USDA APHIS. [9] [3]

A large, round yellow-legged hornet nest built around a pine branch, held up beside a person's hand for scale
A yellow-legged hornet nest. Nests can grow to the size of a beach ball. Never try to remove one yourself.

Think you saw one? Snap a photo and report it.

Officials need a photo to confirm a sighting. Note the location, and do not disturb nests. State responders will handle removal.

What beekeepers can do

  • Watch your entrances, especially late summer into fall, for hornets hawking at the entrance. Beekeepers found both South Carolina's York County nest and Georgia's first nest. [10] [1]
  • Report right away with a photo using the links above.
  • Consider entrance protection such as mesh entrance guards or tube-style entrance traps that let bees through but slow hornets down. [2] [11]
  • Help find nests. Noting which way hornets fly after leaving your apiary helps state crews track nests down. [6]
  • Leave nests to the professionals. Regular bee suits are not enough protection against hornet stings. [2]

Get involved

You do not need to be a beekeeper to help. Here are three ways to pitch in.

Build a trap

Baited traps are used to detect hornets in an area. [7] You can build one at home and check it regularly.

We are adding step-by-step building and bait instructions to this page. Until then, email us and we will help you get started.

Ask about traps

Look for nests

Over 80% of nests discovered in South Carolina have been reported by citizens.

In spring, check sheltered spots such as under rooflines and eaves for small starter nests, about the size of a ping pong ball to a tennis ball. Later in the year colonies move into much larger nests, often high in trees. [7] Never disturb a nest. Take a photo and report it.

Report a nest

Early Spring Queen Trapping

In spring, each queen comes out of overwintering and starts a new nest on her own. [7] A queen trapped then cannot go on to build one.

Take part in the Early Spring Queen Trapping event. Details and the flyer will be posted here. To join in, email us.

Email us to take part

Resources and sources

Everything on this page comes from these official and expert sources. Visit them for the latest numbers and guidance.

The Hornet Defense League is an independent nonprofit. We link to these agencies and universities as public resources and are not affiliated with or endorsed by them.

  1. Georgia Department of Agriculture: Yellow-Legged Hornet (includes the eradication map)
  2. University of Georgia Bee Program: Yellow-Legged Hornet
  3. USDA APHIS: Yellow-Legged Hornet
  4. Asian Hornet Alert (UK), whose public awareness work inspired this site
  5. Georgia Department of Agriculture: Yellow-Legged Ledger, December 2024
  6. Clemson Department of Plant Industry: Yellow-Legged Hornet
  7. Clemson Hornet Herald updates
  8. Washington State Department of Agriculture: Hornets
  9. Penn State Extension: Yellow-Legged Hornet
  10. Clemson News: Yellow-legged hornet nest located in York County
  11. Entomology Today: An entrance trap to protect hives from yellow-legged hornets

Contact

Want to volunteer, host a talk, partner with us, or ask a question? We would love to hear from you.

Hornetdefenseleague@gmail.com

To report a hornet sighting, please use your state's reporting form so officials see it right away.