Bug Blog
Learn About Native Bees and the Flowers They Visit
It's just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 16-22. Native bee enthusiast Celeste Ets-Hokin of the Bay Area is on a three-fold mission: She wants to protect North America's premier...
A screen shot of the "Wild Bee Gardens" app.
This is the app icon. It's of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heading toward a California poppy.
Don't You Just Love Those Dragonflies?
Don't you just love those dragonflies? We watch them circle our fish pond, grab flying insects in mid-air, and then touch down on a bamboo stake in our yard to eat them. Some dragonflies stay for...
Red flame skimmer or firecracker skimmer (Libellula saturata). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Variegated meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Red-veined meadowhawk (Sympetrium madidum). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Plume Moth Fit to a 'T'
In some respects, the pterophorid plume moth is fit to a 'T.' "The T-square shape is classic," says butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University...
The plume moth is tiny. It's shown here on the finger of native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The plume moth at rest resembles a wind turbine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bee and the Ginkgo Tree
I've always liked the ginkgo tree, despite the fact that honey bees don't like it. It's a non-flowering plant so there's no reward for the bees. In other words, a bee has no reason to visit it. No...
A honey bee lands on a ginkgo tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A beautiful ginkgo specimen at the corner of West Street and Buck Avenue, Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Rats!
Rats! How many times have you encountered a "honey bee" on the Internet, in a book, magazine, newspaper or other publication, and found a syrphid fly misidentified as a honey bee? It's truly...
A drone fly, Eristalis tenax, on a Shasta daisy at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A drone fly,Eristalis tenax, on yarrow at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a drone fly, Eristalis tenax. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)