Bug Blog
The Buzz on California Agriculture Day
The bees weren't all that buzzed at the 2014 California Agriculture Day, celebrated today (March 19) on the west lawn of the California State Capitol. The California State Beekeepers' Association...
Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of UC ANR, "talks bees" with Bill Lewis, president of the California State Beekeepers' Association. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Say "Honey!" From left are Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of UC Davis; Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of UC ANR; Bill Lewis, president of the California State Beekeepers' Association; and Marti Ikehara of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers' Association. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California grown! From left are CSBA treasurer Carlen Jupe, Sacramento, CSBA member Bill Cervenka of Bill Cervenka Apiaries, Half Moon Bay; CSBA president Bill Lewis of Lake View Terrace; California Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross; Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of UC Davis; and SABA member Marti Ikehara of Sacramento. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why Honey Bees Forage in California Poppies
When you see honey bees foraging on the California poppy, the state flower, they're not there for the nectar. They're there for the pollen. "California poppies provide only pollen--no nectar,"...
Two honey bees foraging on a California poppy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee with a pollen load. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wearing of the Green--and the Yellow
St. Patrick's Day is the "wearing of the green," but it's also the "wearing of the yellow." Wild mustard, that is. If you drive through the hills of Napa, around St. Patrick's Day, or from...
Bee hives nestled in a field of green and yellow (mustard) along Highway 12, Napa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee foraging in mustard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Do Honey Bees Impact the Native Bees?
The European honey bee, also known as the Western honey bee, has been in the United States for s-o-o-o long that we think it's a native. It's not. European colonists brought the honey bee (Apis...
A honey bee and a yellow-faced bumble bee sharing a purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two's company: A honey bee and a yellow-faced bumble bee forage on Scabiosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
'Teddy Bear' Bees
Along about this time of year, the calls come pouring into the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Bohart Museum of Entomology. "I just saw a golden bumble bee. I think it's a...
Male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, is blond with green eyes. This is on a germander bush, Teucrium fruitcans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Female Valley carpenter bee is solid black. This is on a rock purslane, Calandrinia grandiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)