They set up more live traps, catching a total of four insects, and acquired new tracking tags .... On October 22, they affixed one of these tags to a female worker with floss and fed her strawberry jelly. Satiated, she took off.
[The scientists] followed in the general direction that the hornet flew, using radio-transmitters that issued audible pings when aimed at the tag. The noises directed them into thick woods and blackberry brambles.
Soon, they found the hive—not in the ground, as expected, but about eight feet up in an alder tree.
...
But [the scientists] soon learned of a snag. [T]he man who owned the land where the nest was found, wanted it and almost all the hornets back. Legally, the state had to oblige.
...
In March 2021, a listing on eBay appeared advertising “murder hornet” queens for sale from the “first ever nest found in Washington State.” When I saw it, I thought it was a scam, but it wasn’t: [The owner of the land] was seeking to make some money from the nest that appeared on his land
