Murder hornet? Cicada killer?

This thing was sniffing 1 1/2" all day. I meant to take a picture in the daylight, but
got sidetracked because I was hunting outta my new barn and only had an hour
of daylight left. They walk past so i sit when i only have a short time and it's
sheltered.
It was caught in 2nd story hayloft window.

Neither, European Hornet aka Vespa crabo.

Murder Hornet is the Asian version aka Vespa mandarins.

Cicada killer is in a completely different wasp family

Thank you sir... Excellent to know.
On that note, what do they do? What do they eat?
Do they belong in the snowbelt of NWPA?
It seems there is more and more vermin that i dont remember
while growing up.

their colony will over winter so watch out, because there are 300 plus strong next spring.

They eat fruit, other bees (yellow jackets, hornets, and honeybees) they will eat the sapwood from some trees (whiteoak, and lilac), will not attack unless you disturb the nest, stings are very painful for a day but do not bruise or itch afterwards. got nailed 7 times by them when I unknowingly disturbed a nest in a lumber pile in an old barn. was not a good day. They have always been in wv as far back as I can remember. They usually nest either in hollow trees or old buildings, usually do not overwinter in our area.

I have a bunch of those in my yard that have recently showed up. They have been hanging out while ive been busting firewood. I dont remember ever seeing them before and not several at the same time. I guess that wet wood attracted them. Maybe they will go find the yellowjacket nests i know are nearby and eat them if thats what they do. Ive got a couple with rat shot that got annoyingly close to me.

We have had them all fall. Lilac trees are full of them. They are active at night and attracted to light also.

So...my orchard is a magnet...that's splendid.
I can handle everything except the honeybee killings.
Ive never seen so few bees in my life...i tried to lure a colony
into my top-bar hive this spring, but no takers.