Bug Blog
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)
Sorry, This Rooftop Is Occupied
Up on the rooftopReindeer pause,Out jumps good ol' Santa Claus... With all the rooftop beekeeping underway throughout the world, Santa may have some serious issues to consider tonight. The...
The San Francisco Chronicle engages in rooftop beekeeping and maintains two colonies and a fruit and vegetable garden. Journalists Deb Wandell and Meredith May are the beekeepers. Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and Queen Turner, head of the beekeeping Section, Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana, inspected the hives last June. From left are Turner, Wandell and Mussen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
San Francisco Chronicle journalists/beekeepers Journalists Meredith May (left) and Deb Wandell inspect a frame of honey on the Chronicle's rooftop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)