There has been an large orange insect flying harassing my bee hives and the bees at the communal feeder. I think it's a European Hornet, but I'm not entirely sure. I have a short video of it on my blog (http://backyardapiary.com/9w). Have any of you seen something like around your hives?
Yeah, it's a cicada (sp) hornet. Their favorite food is to chase down, sting to paralyze, and feed on cicadas (again, spelling). I had one harassing my nuc last week. He wasn't feeling that great after I clocked him with a board! :-D
From the video, they look like European hornets. We had several hanging out last year, but I have not seen any this year. I would swat them to the ground and step ion them if I could. Just don't let them sting you. Here is a good site that has pics of both the European hornet and the Cicada killer side by side to compare. http://www.showmejoe.com/thriller/control.htm (http://www.showmejoe.com/thriller/control.htm)
Looks like a European Hornet to me. The occasional grab by a few won't do much harm and I haven't been seeing as many this year as last. Last year there were days when I killed 15-20 at the hives in the course of an afternoon, and they still didn't seem to have a significant impact on my hives. Some of my hives did not pay attention to them and others reacted with a strong protest/defense. Some that I missed with my hat hit and stomp method appeared to recognize me as a threat and would fly away from the hives when I would step toward them on their next visit. I had a jar feeder about 30 feet from my hives last summer and they would get in the opening early in the morning before the honey bees were flying and wait for their next meal to arrive. I thought that was pretty clever on their part.
this is not what you want
hive wiped out by hornets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSf3Kshq1M#)
Thanks for the link to the comparison site. It's definitely not a cicada killer. The abdomen definitely matches that of a European hornet. Now I need to find their nest.
If we had giant hornets in the US, I'd want a few hives of Japanese honey bees.
japanese honey bees kill a giant hornet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m40W1s0Wc&NR=1#)
Oh, well.............it's dead now!