Bug Blog
Looking Back at 2013
Goodbye, 2013. Hello, 2014. If you're a beginning driver--or you remember being a beginning driver--your instructor may have admonished: "Look where you're going; not where you've been." But...
Up close and personal with a robber fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee fly mimicking a helicopter--or does a helicopter mimic a bee fly? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Jumping spider, a floral visitor. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Male Valley carpenter bee is really a teddy bear. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oh, to have the waist of a mud dauber wasp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A pollen-covered honey bee ready for take-off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Want to Trade a Butterfly for a Beer?
Arthur Shapiro is willing to trade a butterfly for a beer. And it’s all in the name of science. If you collect the first cabbage white butterfly of 2014 in the three-county area of Yolo,...
Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bumble Bee in Benicia
A journey to the Benicia (Calif.) Capitol State Historic Park, Solano County, on Christmas Day yielded the unexpected: a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, foraging in jade...
Black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, heading for jade blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Black-tailed bumble bee targeting jade. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bring 'em On!
It's what I've always wanted to see on Christmas Day. On Dec. 25, we rarely see any insects--probably because we aren't looking for them. But a butterfly? And a butterfly laying an...
Gulf Fritillary butterfly laying an egg on Christmas Day in west Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary spreading her wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Seeing Red: Holiday Red
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as "red pollen." Like people, pollen comes in many colors and all are beautiful. All. The floral source determines the color of the pollen. Just as nectar...
Honey bee with red pollen (from neighboring rock purslane) sipping nectar from lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee, packing red pollen, returning to a rock purslane blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)