Bug Blog
An Early Bloomer
You've heard of late bloomers. How about early bloomers? A trip to the Benica (Calif.) State Recreational Park on Sunday yielded quite a surprise: a solo blossom on a bare almond...
A solo almond blossom blooming Jan. 5, 2014 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It will be a few weeks until we see scenes like this. This photo was taken Feb. 11, 2013. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Taste of Honey--and Mead....and That's Not All...
It's not just the taste of honey. It's the taste of honey AND mead--coupled with a gourmet dinner on the UC Davis campus. The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is sponsoring the Mid-Winter...
Bee on honey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why Keep Bees?
Why become a beekeeper? Why keep bees? Beekeeper Brian Fishback of Wilton is quick to answer that. “Bees,” he says, “teach us core family values. Bees have to take care of each...
Brian Fishback shows his daughter, Emily, a bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Fishbacks at the 2013 Dixon May Fair where they had just dropped off a bee observation hive: Brian, daughter Emily, now 3; daughter Jane, now 18 months, and wife Darla. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Viva La Pansies!
Pansies aren't bee plants. But don't tell that to the bees. True, bees are partial to the lavenders, the mints, the salvias, thyme, basil, borage, oregano, sunflowers and the like, but it's winter...
Honey bee foraging on a pansy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee heads toward a drooping pansy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee ready for take-off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee keeps a wary eye on the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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)