Bug Blog
Why Influx of Caterpillars Linked to Hawks
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."--John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra Muir said it well. Muir (1938-1914), the naturalist...
Three's company! Three juvenile Cooper's hawks, as identified by Andrew Engilis, Jr. curator of the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology,cooling off in an urban birdbath in Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary gets ready to lay an egg. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars defoliating the passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oh, What a (Moth) Night!
Oh, what a (moth) night! Saturday, July 18 marked the beginning of National Moth Week and the Bohart Museum of Entomology obliged with an indoor and outdoor open house, its first-ever...
Moth Night at the Bohart Museum of Entomology was the first-ever evening open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Moth Night crowd at the Bohart Museum of Entomology awaiting moths. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Moth Man" John DeBenedictis of Davis explains the backlighting system to a youngster. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology student Wade Spencer (center, n black shirt) talks bugs to an enthusiastic crowd. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Entomologist Jeff Smith, a Bohart Museum associate, explains how to spread a moth's wings to Lauren Mitchell, a UC Davis student majoring in ecology, evolution and diversity. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Nansen sisters (from left) Emma, 12, Molly, 6, and Miriam, 15, of Davis display entomology buttons. They helped visitors create buttons. Their mother, Maria, is a volunteer at the Bohart, and their father, Christian, is a UC Davis entomologist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Plants Can Eavesdrop, Sense Danger
Plants can eavesdrop. They can sense danger. So says ecologist Richard 'Rick' Karban, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and author of the newly...
Ecologist Rick Karban has researched plant communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995.
So You Want to Be a Beekeeper...
So you want to be a beekeeper...but you don't know where to begin. You're in luck. Bee experts at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis,...
UC Davis Extension apiculturist Elina Niño (left) explaining bee biology. At right is staff research associate Bernardo Niño, her husband. They will teach two short courses in September. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bees, as seen through a bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Predators, One Prey
Sometimes you just can't win for losing. This morning a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) began drying its damp wings, preparing for flight. It had just...
A praying mantis snares a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A European paper wasp is an uninvited guest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The presence of the uninvited dinner guest does not go unnoticed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)