Asian giant hornets have taken up residence in Washington state and British Columbia in increasing numbers.

A rural area east of Blaine, Wash., near the Canadian border has become the focus of efforts to find and destroy Asian giant hornet nests.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture eradicated a nest in a hollowed-out alder tree there Saturday and was making plans Tuesday to take out another nest in the same area.

The nests are the third and fourth found in North America. The state agriculture department eradicated the other two in the same rural area, one in August and the other last October.

Department spokeswoman Amber Betts said the eradication Saturday morning including injecting foam into the nest and vacuuming out hornets.

The nest was about 7 feet above the ground. Department staff netted some escaping hornets, she said.

Asian giant hornets have also been seen to the north in British Columbia, but no nests have been found there. The hornets were first detected on both sides of the border in late 2019.

The hornets’ prey includes honey bees. In northwest Washington, the hornets have been particularly attracted to paper wasps, according to entomologists, who hope to exploit that tendency to trap more hornets.

Last year, live hornets were found in other parts of Whatcom County, but this year they have only been sighted east of Blaine.