Bug Blog
Purple Coneflower Never Looked So Good
You never know what you'll see on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).Honey bees. Check. Sweat bees. Check. Hummingbirds. Check. But sometimes these rough-and-tumble blossoms are graced with...
Western tiger swallowtail on a purple coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Western tiger swallowtail spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lying in Wait
They're ambush predators. Here you are, a bee, touching down on a flower and little do you know there's a patient and persistent crab spider lying in wait. Sometimes they're camouflaged,...
Crab spider on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Crab spider on a gold coin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Crab spider on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
That's One Beautiful Butterfly
First the lantana, and then the passion flower vine. The Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) flutter daily around our backyard. They stop for a little nectar from lantana (family...
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Another view of the Gulf Fritillary. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view (underside) of Gulf Fritillary about to lay an egg on a passion flower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Feeling the Blues
You've probably seen a blue moon, which happens every two to three years. That's when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month. You've also probably seen blueprints, blue books and...
A blue honey bee on a coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Blue bee scaling the coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sunny-Side Up
You can tell it's summer along Yolo County roads by the acres and acres of sunflower fields. Looking like real-life Van Gogh paintings (Van Gogh painted them in vases, Mother Nature paints them in...
Honey bees and a sunflower bee forage on a sunflower head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee boxes line a sunflower field. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A spectacular sunflower field. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)