Types of Wasps in Oregon

Written by Jacob Lander, owner and ODA-licensed applicator · Updated October 2026

What kinds of wasps live in Oregon? The four you’ll meet around an Oregon home are yellowjackets, bald-faced hornets, paper wasps and mud daubers. Yellowjackets do most of the stinging. They nest in the ground or inside walls, and they get worse in late summer. Paper wasps hang open, umbrella-shaped nests under eaves. Mud daubers are black or blue-black with a thread-thin waist, and they rarely sting. Murder hornets have never been confirmed in Oregon.

We pull wasp nests off Oregon homes from Portland to Medford every summer and fall. Most people don’t need a field guide. They need to know two things: what is this, and is it going to hurt someone?

This guide answers both. It covers the wasps you’ll actually see in Oregon, when they’re worst, where they build, and which nests you can handle yourself.

Types of wasps in Oregon

Yellowjackets

Yellowjackets are the small, bright yellow-and-black wasps that crash your barbecue. Oregon has several kinds. Most build paper nests underground, often in an old mole or gopher hole. Others nest inside wall voids or under patios and foundations.

They defend the nest hard and can sting over and over. Most stings happen when someone steps on the entrance or runs a lawn mower over it. If you see yellow-and-black wasps flying in and out of a hole in the lawn, mulch or a wall, that’s a yellowjacket nest.

Late summer is their worst stretch. The colony is raising new queens, food gets scarce, and workers go after soda, beer, fruit and meat.

Bald-faced hornets

Bald-faced hornets are black and white, not yellow, and bigger than a yellowjacket. Despite the name, they’re a kind of yellowjacket, not a true hornet. They build gray paper nests shaped like a ball, as big as a football or bigger, in trees, shrubs and under eaves.

Leave these alone. Our technicians have been stung through bee suits by bald-faced hornets, and they will spray venom toward your face. Don’t try to knock one of these nests down.

See Also: Oregon Hornet Control

Aerial yellowjackets

Aerial yellowjackets look like regular yellowjackets, but they build their paper nests above ground, often in trees and shrubs. They defend those nests just as hard.

Paper wasps

Paper wasps have long legs that dangle when they fly. Their nests are open and shaped like an upside-down umbrella, with the cells showing. You’ll find them under eaves, on south-facing walls, in dry electrical boxes, and inside a grill you haven’t used in a while. Many of the paper wasps on Oregon homes are European paper wasps, an import that now lives here.

They’re less aggressive than yellowjackets, and they eat a lot of flies and caterpillars. Still, a nest over a door gets people stung.

Mud daubers

Mud daubers are the long, skinny black wasps. Some are shiny blue-black, and some are black with yellow marks. They build mud nests made of little tubes under eaves, over doorways, in garages and on outdoor furniture. They pack the tubes with spiders to feed their young.

You’re very unlikely to get stung by one. They’re more of a mess than a danger.

What is the black wasp I keep seeing in Oregon?

Most black wasps around Oregon homes are one of two things:

• A mud dauber, if it’s long and thin, shiny black or blue-black, and building mud tubes. It’s harmless unless you grab it.
• A bald-faced hornet, if it’s black and white, thick-bodied, and flying in and out of a gray paper ball. Back away.

Not sure which one you have? Call us at 541-636-0146 before you get close.

Are there murder hornets in Oregon?

No. Northern giant hornets, the ones nicknamed murder hornets, were only confirmed in Whatcom County, Washington, near the Canadian border. Washington and the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared them wiped out of the United States in December 2024. A big wasp on an Oregon porch is far more likely to be a yellowjacket queen in spring or a bald-faced hornet.

When are wasps worst in Oregon?

• March and April: queens that made it through winter wake up and start small nests alone.
• May through July: nests grow fast as the first workers hatch.
• August and September: yellowjacket nests reach full size, food gets scarce, and workers get aggressive. This is peak sting season.
• September and October: nests die off. Only new queens survive the winter, and they don’t reuse old nests.

Our own records show the same pattern. Over the last two years, 65% of our wasp and yellowjacket jobs across Oregon fell in July, August and September, and we did almost none from December through February.

That’s how a nest the size of a golf ball in May becomes the size of a football by September.

Where do wasps build nests on Oregon homes?

• In the ground: yellowjackets, often in old mole or gopher holes, in lawns, mulch beds and under rocks.
• Inside walls: yellowjackets, through a gap in siding, a vent or a weep hole.
• Under eaves and on south-facing walls: paper wasps and mud daubers.
• In trees and shrubs: bald-faced hornets and aerial yellowjackets.
• In things you don’t use often: grills, electrical boxes, mailboxes, play sets and outdoor furniture.

Should I remove a wasp nest myself?

Sometimes. A paper wasp nest smaller than a golf ball, early in spring? Knock it down after dark, when the wasps are home and slow. Wear long sleeves.

Don’t do it yourself if:

• It’s a yellowjacket nest in the ground or in a wall. Plugging the hole can send them through your drywall and into the house.
• It’s a bald-faced hornet nest of any size.
• Anyone in the house is allergic to stings.
• The nest is high up and you’d be on a ladder. A sting on a ladder is how people get hurt.

If someone has trouble breathing, or their face or throat swells after a sting, call 911.

How Bug Zapper handles wasp nests

We find every active nest on the property, including the hidden ones in eaves, attics, walls and the ground. Our technicians remove them with professional gear, then treat the spots wasps like to rebuild.

On a plan, if wasps come back, so do we, at no extra cost. That’s our 1-year Pest-Free Promise.

Found a nest at a Portland-area home? Here’s how our Portland wasp control works. Anywhere else in Oregon, see wasp control.

Yellowjackets in the yard? Hornets in the eaves? We should talk. Call 541-636-0146 or get a free quote.

See Also: Oregon Bee Relocation

For more on problems with bees, check out our video on Swarming Behavior, which is very common in the late Spring through Summer:

Sources

• Oregon State University Extension, Solve Pest Problems: Yellowjackets and wasps
• Douglas County Master Gardeners (OSU Extension): Yellowjackets
• Cascadia Daily News, Dec. 18, 2024: Northern giant hornet eradicated from U.S.
• Bug Zapper service records, October 2024–September 2026 (one-time wasp and yellowjacket jobs, all of Oregon)