New York is home to only one true hornet species, the European hornet, but several large wasps commonly called “hornets” also live throughout the state. The bald-faced hornet is the most familiar example. Between these two species and the oversized wasps frequently mistaken for hornets, New Yorkers regularly encounter half a dozen or more large stinging insects that all get lumped under the same name. Here’s how to tell them apart.
European Hornet
The European hornet is the only species of true hornet established in New York. Workers measure about 1 inch long, while queens reach 1½ inches, making them noticeably larger than any yellowjacket. Their coloring is distinctive: a reddish-brown head and midsection, a yellow face, brown wings, and a yellow-and-black banded abdomen. The black bands have teardrop-shaped extensions that point toward the rear, a useful detail for confirming identification.
European hornets prefer to nest inside protected cavities, especially hollow trees, but they readily move into attics, garages, barns, wall voids, and window shutters. They favor entry points at least six feet above the ground. Their nests are made of light brown paper and house 200 to 400 workers at peak size, far smaller than a yellowjacket colony.
One unusual trait sets them apart from nearly every other wasp in the state: European hornets fly at night. They’re attracted to porch lights, floodlights, and lit windows, which is often how homeowners discover a colony nearby. During the day, workers hunt caterpillars, grasshoppers, and other insects to feed their developing larvae. In late summer, they shift toward sugary foods and may strip bark from tree branches to feed on sap. They will occasionally pick off individual honeybees, but they don’t destroy entire hives the way some Asian hornet species do. Away from their nest, European hornets are not particularly aggressive.
Bald-Faced Hornet
Despite its name, the bald-faced hornet is technically a yellowjacket, not a true hornet. It belongs to a different genus entirely. But it’s universally called a hornet, and in practical terms it behaves like one, so most New Yorkers know it by that name. It’s also one of the most commonly encountered stinging insects in the state.
Bald-faced hornets are black with white (not yellow) markings on the face and body. They’re larger than typical yellowjackets but smaller than European hornets. The easiest way to identify them is by their nest: a large, gray, football-shaped paper envelope suspended from a tree branch, shrub, or building overhang. These aerial nests can grow impressively large by late summer, housing around 800 workers.
Colonies are active from May through September. A single overwintered queen starts the nest in spring, raising the first small batch of workers herself. Once those workers mature, they take over construction and foraging while the queen focuses on laying eggs. By late summer, the colony reaches its peak population, and workers become noticeably more aggressive as they forage for sugary foods like overripe apples and figs. Males are produced near the end of the season solely to mate with new queens, and the entire colony dies off with the first hard frosts. No one reuses an old nest.
Wasps Commonly Mistaken for Hornets
New York has 90 species of wasps and 416 species of bees, so misidentifications are extremely common. A few species cause the most confusion.
The eastern cicada killer is among the largest wasps in the state, big enough to be mistaken for the invasive northern giant hornet. These solitary wasps dig burrows in sandy or well-drained soil, and despite their intimidating size, they are gentle and very unlikely to sting people. They spend their energy hunting cicadas, which they paralyze and drag into their burrows as food for their larvae.
Several yellowjacket species are also regularly called hornets, particularly the ground-nesting varieties. The most common in New York include:
- Eastern yellowjacket: nests close to the ground in stumps, leaf piles, and compost. Colonies reach 2,000 to 3,000 workers.
- German yellowjacket: nests inside wall voids, sheds, old cars, and sometimes underground. Colonies can exceed 5,000 workers, the largest of any yellowjacket in the state.
- Common yellowjacket: nests most often in the ground.
- Ground hornet yellowjacket: despite the name, another yellowjacket species that nests in the ground.
Yellowjackets are the insects most likely to sting you at a late-summer barbecue. When one is crushed, its body releases a chemical alarm signal that attracts other workers from the colony, which can escalate a single sting into many.
Paper wasps round out the list of common lookalikes. They build small, open-celled nests under eaves and overhangs. Paper wasps often warn intruders by flying into them without stinging, but they will sting if the nest is disturbed.
What About Giant Hornets?
The northern giant hornet, sometimes called the “murder hornet,” has not been found in New York. This invasive species from eastern Asia was detected in the Pacific Northwest, but New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets monitors for it and has reported no sightings. The two New York insects most likely to be confused with it are the European hornet and the eastern cicada killer, both of which approach the giant hornet’s size range but are far less dangerous.
If you spot a very large wasp in New York and wonder whether it could be a northern giant hornet, compare the coloring. European hornets have a reddish-brown midsection with teardrop-patterned abdominal bands. Cicada killers have a black abdomen with yellow bands and reddish, transparent wings. Neither matches the northern giant hornet’s orange-yellow head and uniformly dark thorax.
Seasonal Patterns to Expect
All hornet and yellowjacket colonies in New York follow the same basic annual cycle. Queens emerge from overwintering sites in early spring and start building nests alone. Through late spring and early summer, colonies are small and relatively easy to manage if they’re in a problem location. By August and September, colonies hit peak population and workers become far more noticeable as they shift from hunting insects to scavenging sugary foods. This late-summer period, roughly August through early October, is when most stinging encounters happen.
Every colony dies at the end of the season. Only newly mated queens survive the winter, tucked into sheltered spots like bark crevices or leaf litter. They start fresh the following spring. Old nests are never reused, so a papery gray ball in a bare winter tree is abandoned and harmless. If you’re trying to identify a nest during the active season, warm sunny days between May and September offer the best opportunity to watch insects coming and going from an entrance.