u/JayTheWolfDragon

Hello! I live in Dover. A couple weeks ago, I was sitting outside when an extremely large hornet flew in front of me, hovered for a moment, and then flew away. I then spent the next hour or so trying to verify if I had seen a murder hornet or not, and I believe I did. With this kind of stuff, false positives are better than false negatives, so I called Dept of Ag and let them know where I am and what exactly I saw. Today I was sitting outside again, and I saw it again. It stopped and hovered near something close to me. The buzz was so loud!! I got a really good look at it, and I can confidently say that I saw an Asian Giant Hornet/Murder Hornet. I know there have been no sightings of any in the US since 2024, but DE is on the coast, with a few major ports somewhat close by. When it stopped and hovered, I was able to observe a couple crucial details, those being: its head was yellow, it was at least two inches long (for reference it was about as big if not bigger than a hummingbird), its body was a particular reddish brown, and its stripes started and ended very clearly and cleanly, with even spacing. I have already contacted Dept of Ag, don’t worry. But has anyone else seen an Asian Giant Hornet?

Edit: I did not make the post asking if that is what I saw. In fact, the Dept of Ag wants you to report it even if you suspect you saw one. I made the post asking if anyone else has seen one. Please stop trying to correct me. I have seen European Hornets in person, I have seen Cicada Killers in person. This was not either of those. I already mentioned in my post I was very careful to verify what I saw. And it was, no doubt, a murder hornet.