It's going to be a honey of a festival.

Truly.

And Amina Harris would love it if you're interested in participating in this event or volunteering.

Harris directs the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, which is sponsoring the inaugural California Honey Festival on Saturday, May 6 in downtown Woodland. It's free and open to the public.

The event, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. , will stretch four blocks on Main Street and side streets. It promises to be both educational and entertaining. Think honey. Think mead. Think bees. Think beekeeping. Think live music (along with the live bees.) Think fun.

The many booths will include six from UC Davis: Department of Entomology and Nematology; Bohart Museum of Entomology; the department's bee garden, the  Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven;  Art-Science Fusion Program; graduate students (research posters); and the California Master Beekeeper Program, managed by the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis.

Beekeepers will compete for prizes and bragging rights in the Wildflower Honey Contest (submissions are due March 15). See http://californiahoneyfestival.com/honey-contest/

“The California Honey Festival's mission is to promote honey, honey bees and their products, and beekeeping through this unique educational platform, to the broader public,” said Harris. “The scope of the event includes a culinary stage, a garden stage, a speakers' forum in the Woodland Opera House, kids' zone, live entertainment and loads of vendors and food. In addition, restaurants in Woodland will have honey centric menus and drinks enhanced with honey. Mead anyone? We have a Mead Speakeasy with five meaderies already signed up.”

National sponsors include the National Honey Board, the American Beekeeping Federation.

Margaret Lombard, chief executive officer of the National Honey Board, based in Firestone, Colo., will be among those speaking on the Beekeeper Stage, one of five stages at the festival.

Among the other speakers:

• Billy Synk, director of Pollination Programs for Project Apis m., Paso Robles, and former manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility;
• Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist based in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
• Vicki Wojcik, research director of Pollinator Partnership, San Francisco
• Gene Brandi of Gene Brandi Apiaries, Los Banos (he is active in the California State Beekeepers' Association, the American Beekeeping Federation and the National Honey Board)

On the culinary stage will be Marie Simmons of Eugene, Ore., an award-winning cookbook author, food writer and story teller; Frank Golbeck, CEO of Golden Coast Mead, San Diego; Toby Barajas, executive chef at Savory Café on Main Street, Woodland; and Casey Willard, executive chef for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Capay Valley.

Sharing the Gardening Stage will be Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture; UC Davis Arboretum; and Chris Casey, program representative for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, located on Bee Biology Road.

Among the entertainers, as of Feb. 24: Mike Blanchard and the Californios, City of Trees Brass Band, Boca do Rio, Joe Craven and the Sometimers, Jared Johnson, Hannah Mayree, and the Gold Souls.

Education platforms will feature the Honey Flavor and Aroma Wheel, a project of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center; a bee demonstration hive; and posters on pollinators (do you know who your pollinators are and where they are?), the life cycle of bees, and bee threats, including pesticides, pests and pathogens.

Vendors will include beekeepers, bee clubs, honey packers, beekeeping supplies, crafts people, food vendors, Harris said. She is seeking volunteers to help with the festival; she may be reached at aharris@ucdavis.edu or (530) 754-9301. In addition, there's still time to fill out a vendor application form; sign up for educational and entertainment activities, and become a (much-loved) sponsor.

Already the festival is shaping up to be "the place to bee" on Saturday, May 6. And the next day--Sunday, May 7--is the third annual UC Davis Bee Symposium at the UC Davis Conference Center. It's about "Keeping Bees Healthy." (See website.)

What are the odds?

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, greeted a visitor on Feb. 14 in his office in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.

This visitor didn't talk, though. She buzzed.

And she buzzed right over to his window.

Well, hello, black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus!

"Guess all one needs to do is sit and wait," he wrote in an email to bumble bee enthusiasts. "Eventually a gyne will find her way into one's office.  This one was buzzing against my window just a few minutes ago trying to get back outside." 

She came to the right place.

Thorp, a noted expert on bumble bees, is the co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalist (Heyday). He also teaches at The Bee Course, an annual workshop hosted by the American Museum of Natural History at the Southwestern Research Station, Portal, Ariz. (The Bee Course is meant for "conservation biologists, pollination ecologists and other biologists who want to gain greater knowledge of the systematics and biology of bees," according to the website. This year's course is Aug. 21-31.)

The black-tailed bumble bee, native to North America, is one of only 250 species worldwide in the genus Bombus. 

What's next with Thorp's bumble bee?

A nest box in an almond tree near the Laidlaw facility--feed her some honey, make her feel at home, "then let her fly out, hopefully to return and establish a nest."

Insect photographer and naturalist Allan Jones of Davis discovered and photographed three Bombus melanopygus foraging on manzanita on Jan. 27 in the UC Davis Arboretum. In doing so, he won the science-based, friendly competition among a small group of bumble bee enthusiasts in Yolo and Solano counties searching for the first bumble bee of the year.

But Allan Jones went looking for his bumble bee; Thorp's bumble bee came to him...

It's a story that no one is letting him forget.

Noted medical entomologist Robert "Bob" Washino, emeritus professor of entomology and a veteran academic administrator at UC Davis, was hanging out in his back yard in Davis last spring when an aedine mosquito bit him.

He wondered whether it might be associated with the Zika virus so he headed over to the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis and handed the specimen to fellow mosquito researcher Tom Zavortink.

"The truth of the matter is that I was concerned that the mosquito biting me was either aegypti or albopictus associated with the Zika virus that is raising commotion all over the U.S. and the world," Washino related. "For that reason, I took the specimen to the museum and asked Tom Z. to identify the specimen, and of course, he excused himself from the meeting he was involved in, and examined the mosquito. When he completed the examination, he looked up at me and just smiled."

The mosquito: Aedes washinoi. Bob Washino's namesake.

"I loved the irony of it all," said his close friend Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis.  "Bob Washino being bitten by Aedes washinoi in the Washino yard! Truly awesome."

Aedes washinoi is one of five mosquitoes named for former University of California faculty:

1. Anopheles hermsi:  for William B. Herms (1876-1949), UC Berkeley
2. Anopheles freeborni, for Stanley Freeborn (1891-1960), first UC Davis chancellor (1958-59)
3. Culex boharti: for Richard Bohart (1913-2007) UC Davis, for whom the Bohart Museum of Entomology is named
4. Culex reevesi for William Reeves, (1916-2004), UC Berkeley
5. Aedes washinoi for Robert Washino, UC Davis

"Incidentally, both reevesi and boharti are rather 'shy' mosquitoes--in contrast to the personality of their namesake," Washino quipped. "They are not associated with any known disease transmission, at least for now. Breeding sites of these two species are not commonly found except in rather far-off, rural sites along the foothill or coastal areas. Adult females are not known to feed on man but prefer cold blooded animals, such as frogs.  In contrast, both freeborni and hermsi have been strongly associated with human malaria transmission in the western U.S. at least in the past. So far washinoi is not connected to any known disease transmission, but is a pesty, fierce biter of humans and seems to be expanding its distribution in California--there is no justice in naming mosquitoes!" he said.

UC Davis medical entomologists Bruce Eldridge (now emeritus) and Gregory Lanzaro named the mosquito in his honor in 1992.

Born and reared in Sacramento, Washino never strayed far from his roots, except for two years in France as a medical entomologist with the Army Medical Service Corps, 1956-1958, during the Korean War. His parents, natives of Japan, grew hops on their farm in the Sacramento Valley. Later his father became a successful Sacramento florist shop and hotel owner.

Washino said a career in biomedical sciences always intrigued him, “but there was no one event that led me to a career in medical entomology. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.” He received his bachelor of science degree in 1954 from UC Berkeley; his master's degree in entomology from UC Davis in 1956; and his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1967. 

His career at UC Davis spanned 30 years, from 1964-1994. That included multiple terms as chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) and he also served as an associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and as a special assistant. He is a past president of both the American Mosquito Control Association and the California Mosquito and Vector Control Association, and co-author of Mosquitoes of California with Richard Bohart. He is a fellow of the Entomological Society of America.

A global authority on the ecology of mosquitoes and mosquito control agents, Washino received grants from the National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Agriculture, World Health Organization, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other agencies.

More locally, he was appointed by the City of Davis to the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District's Board of Trustees in 1973 and served 38 years, longer than any other trustee. He was elected president five times. For research and teaching purposes, he generously gifted his entire collection of books and journals, reprints, unpublished master of science and doctorate theses (from UC Davis, UCLA, UC Riverside) and an estimated 1000 2x2 slides to the library.  The building that houses the library, laboratory and lab staff bears his name, the Washino Laboratory.

One of the many highlights of his career: Washino received the prestigious Harry Hoogstraal Medal from the American Committee of Medical Entomology at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), held in December 2005 in Washington, D.C.

In 2010, Washino coordinated an all-day mosquito symposium at the American Mosquito Control Association's five-day conference in Anaheim, Orange County.  He gathered together 17 U.S. and worldwide speakers, including experts from London, Japan, Australia, Portugal and Germany.

And  then, six years later...what are the odds?  His namesake,  Aedes washinoi, bit him in his own back yard.

"I think Lynn really enjoyed the irony of that incident," Washino said, smiling, "and we all had a big laugh at my expense."

Related Link:
Medical Entomologist Robert Washino Retires from Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito District Board

Robert Washino Wins Harry Hoogstraal Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Entomology

Robert Washino: Fellow of Entomological Society of America

They saw bugs. They saw bones. They saw honey bees. They saw hawks.

Those were just a few of the offering at the sixth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, held Saturday, Feb. 18. More than 3000 visitors checked out the offerings.

The free family-friendly, science-based event, held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., showcased 12 museums collections, said Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

"It was a real community effort and we were happy to see the people coming to campus to learn about science and the collections," Yang said. Despite the threat of rain, it never occurred.

The Bohart Museum alone drew nearly 1700 people during its four-hour open house, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

All 12 collections were within walking distance on campus except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the California Raptor Center on Old Davis Road.

The following were open--some from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and others staggered from noon to 4 p.m.:

Anthropology Museum, Young Hall
Arboretum and Public Garden, headquartered on LaRue Road
Bohart Museum of Entomology, Academic Surge Building
Botanical Conservatory, greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive
California Raptor Center, Old Davis Road
Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Lab Building
Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road
Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Academic Surge Building
Nematode Collection, Sciences Lab Building
Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building
Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building
Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building

Committee members are already gearing up for the seventh annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. The event traditionally takes place in February.

Meanwhile, many of the same collections will be open during the much larger 103rd annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 22.  The family friendly event is "free for all to come and experience the richness of diversity and achievement at UC Davis and the surrounding community in the areas of research, teaching, service and campus life," according to the Picnic Day website. "More than 200 events will take place throughout campus and will include exhibits, shows, competitions, demonstrations, entertainment, animal and athletic events, Student Organization Fair, Children's Discovery Fair, parade and much more."