- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the monarchs return to southern California and central Mexico to overwinter, the residents rejoice.
When the bumble bees emerge from their nests in the spring, we, too, rejoice.
They are like the swallows of Capistrano and the monarchs of Pacific Grove.
So, on Friday, April 29, a native bumble bee, the yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) buzzed into our pollinator garden and headed straight for the verbena.
It skipped the tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii), the California golden poppy, the honeysuckle, the catmint, the lantana, the butterfly bush and other flowers in bloom and singled out the verbena, species native to the Americas and Asia.
In some countries, verbena is considered a healthy alternative to what ails you. However, modern-day researchers claim there's no scientific evidence that it can cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer. It has long been associated with "divine and other supernatural forces," according to Wikipedia.
Says Wikipedia: "In the William Faulkner short story An Odor of Verbena, verbena is used symbolically and described as "the only scent that can be smelled above the scent of horses and courage," similar to the symbolic use of honeysuckle in The Sound and the Fury.
We're not sure what drew the bumble bee last Friday to the verbena (no horses or courage around here!), but it seems we're experiencing a dearth of bumble bees this year.
According to bumble bee expert Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, and co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardneers and Naturalists, there are six species of bumble bees that occur in Sacramento: Bombus crotchii; B. californicus, B. sonorus, B. melanopygus, B. vandykei, and B. vosnesenskii. "Of these, B. sonorus, used to be quite common but has essentially disappeared from the Sacramento Valley at least in recent years. We are not sure why this one has gone missing. Bombus vosnesenskii, the yellow-aced bumble bee is the most common species of this area, and of the entire state."
"The Western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis doesn't quite reach Sacramento County," Thorp says. "Its historic range is primarily in the Coast Ranges from Monterey County north and the Sierra from Tuolumne County north. It penetrates into the Delta region, Contra Costa County (Pittsburgh and Antioch) and comes as close to Sacramento as Colfax and Nevada City in the Sierra region."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
This "B" gets an "A" for good grooming.
We recently watched a honey bee land on the edge of a planter. "Hmm," we thought. "Why is she landing there? She should be foraging on the flowers in the pollinator garden."
We soon found out. After positioning herself on the planter, she proceeded to clean her tongue. With her legs. That's what bees do. She was removing the pollen and other particles on her proboscis so she could continue functioning well.
Meanwhile, back at the hive, her sisters were engaging in the usual: doing all the housekeeping, storing pollen, making honey, guarding the colony, tending the young, serving as undertakers, and other jobs. Their mother, the queen, was busily laying eggs. She can lay as many as 2000 eggs a day during peak season. The colony needs the replacements. Worker bees usually live only four to six weeks.
What about the males (drones)? They do no work in the hive. Their only job is to mate with a virgin queen. And then they die. (Or as Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, quips: "They die with a smile on their face."
And the worker bee cleaning her tongue on the edge of the planter? Soon, grooming is over and it's back to work. The colony needs her.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees aren't all that attracted to commercial roses, but this one was.
Honey bees are still attracted to it. So are assorted lady beetles, aphids, syrphid flies, tachinid flies, and occasionally we see a green bottle fly. Hey, flies are pollinators, too! And green bottle flies do look rather stunning on yellow roses when the light is just right.
This is our "Yellow Rose of Texas," bringing back memories of our Texas-born mother.
This year's Rose Weekend, sponsored by the UC Davis-based California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH), part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1 at the Foundation Plant Services (FPS), 455 Hopkins Road, off Hutchison Drive, west of the central campus.
Admission is free. The event is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. You can stop and smell the roses, buy your favorite roses (five-gallon plants for $25 each, with proceeds benefitting CCUH), tour the FPS eight-acre collection of roses, talk to the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners, and listen to two professionals who love roses and love talking about them. Rose breeder Jim Sproul speaks at 10 a.m. Saturday on "Breeding Novel Rose Varieties," followed at 11 by Jacques Ferare of Star Roses discussing "The Status of the Rose Market in the United States."
FPS tours are from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. each day. The UC Master Gardeners will be offering tips and advice for your roses from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Free mini-roses, while supplies last, will be given to visitors. See schedule and directions on the CCUH website as compiled by executive director David Fujino and manager Kate Lincoln.
Many folks attend the Rose Weekend to purchase roses for their mothers, as Mother's Day is coming up (and coming up roses) on Sunday, May 8.
For more information about this educational event and fund-raiser, contact Kate Lincoln of CCUH at (530) 752-6642 or email her at kmlincoln@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's what will happen on Thursday, April 28 during the annual "Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work" day at the University of California, Davis.
The UC Davis event, nicknamed TODS Day, coincides with the national workplace celebration, a day when employers spring open their doors to the offspring of their employees.
"Kids will have the opportunity to see how our UC Davis community functions, instructs, learns and grows," a spokesperson said.
Insects? Not to worry. Yes, there will be insects. The Department of Entomology and Nematology is planning special activities at its Bohart Museum of Entomology and at its bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo," is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. The half-acre bee garden is located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
"The haven will have activities for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day from 11:30 to 1:30," reports Christine Casey, staff director of the haven. "Learn how to safely catch and observe bees, learn about bee diversity, and have your lunch in our picnic area."
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum, says the Bohart will be open to TODS participants in the afternoon from 2 to 5. Education interns from EDU 142, an environmental education class, will provide insect life cycle activities. Visitors can hold and photograph the critters in the pettzing zoo, including walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and rose-haired tarantulas.
Most activities/events do not require prior enrollment. For a list of the events that do or don't, check the website. See also the 2016 Davis Schedule of Events.
Among the many things to do:
- Make pottery and grind acorns with the Anthropology department.
- Experience what it's like to work in agriculture and plant some vegetables to bring home.
- Enjoy a reprise of the famous Picnic Day Chemistry Show.
- Meet the UC Davis dairy cows.
- Listen and dance to Band-Uh and explore the “Instrument Zoo.”
- Explore Chinese culture with Chinese crafts and food at the Confucius Institute.
- Visit feathered friends at the Raptor Center.
- Taste honey and see how wine is made at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Science Center.
- Enjoy a “Walk in the Woods with Chemistry.”
- Check out the famous double-decker buses and see UC Davis keeps them running.
- Get a peek at animal skins, nests, eggs, and skeletons collected by scientists/explorers from creatures around the world at the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
- Discover plants from the world's deserts and tropical forests, some which are carnivorous!
- Sound the police siren and spray the fire hose at the police and fire atations.
- See what it's like to be an Aggie football player and experience the stadium from inside-out.
- Check out the tiny world of plants and animals through the eyes of a microscope .
- Explore the backstage of the Mondavi Center for Performing Arts.
- Explore the artifacts, bones, stones and pottery at the Archaeology Lab.
Educational. Informative. Entertaining. And there's an added bonus: It's an opportunity for youngsters to envision their own future.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Washington will be one of nine speakers from various disciplines at the TEDxUCDavis Conference (Igniting X) to begin at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 1 in Jackson Hall of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis. The program also will feature "two mesmerizing performances, and a number of interactive activities and exhibits!" according to the website.
TED bills itself as a nonprofit devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading." This one is about ideas not only worth spreading but creating a call to action. To quote from their website: "It is a daunting task discovering new ideas. However, it is a different realm of challenges kindling ideas that not only resonate with our minds, but also create a call to action. This year, TEDxUCDavis strives to eliminate the fear of being different. We welcome everyone to the territory of unconventional thinking, where ideas are meant to revitalize, encourage, and inspire. In passing the torch of ideas, join us to ignite discussions exploring areas including technology, health, art, business, social change, and much more. Discover a richer understanding of what it means to be alive during the TEDxUCDavis Conference on May 1st." Tickets are $35 for general admission; and $17 for students and children under 18. (The event is not eligible for the UC Davis free student tickets, or staff, student and subscriber discounts.)
In addition to Washington, the speakers are
- Michael C. Webb
Director of Recruiting at Novogradac & Company LLP - Ellen Davis
Communication Major at UC Davis - David Lang
Professor and chair of the Economics Department at California State University, Sacramento - Kevin Riutzel
Student at Touro University, Nevada - Mindy Romero
Founder and director of the California Civic Engagement Project at the UC Davis Center for Regional Change - Rylan Schaeffer
Computer Science Engineering and Statistics double major, UC Davis - Fong Tran
Program Advisor/Coordinator for the UC Davis Cross Cultural Center - William Tavernetti
Lecturer at UC Davis Department of Mathematics
Performances will be presented by:
- Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan (BTD) dedicated to art of taiko
- Birdstrike Theatre, improv comedy team at UC Davis
About Ralph Washington, Jr.: He is studying for his doctorate with major professors Steve Nadler and Brian Johnson, who respectively specialize in systematics and evolutionary biology of nematodes and the evolution, behavior, genetics, and health of honey bees
If you attended the 2016 UC Davis Picnic Day and wandered over to Briggs Hall, you saw Washington holding forth as The Bug Doctor where he urged visitors to hold and photograph stick insects and to ask questions about insects in general.
If you attended the 2015 Linnaean Games at the Entomological Society of America meeting last November in Minneapolis, you saw Washington captaining the UC Davis Linnaean Games team--Brendon Boudinot, Jessica Gillung and Ziad Khouri--which went on to win the national championship. See YouTube video at https://youtu.be/_hA05K0NET4. The Linnaean Games is a college-bowl type competition in which teams answer questions about insects and entomologists.
And if you attend the 2016 Linnaean Games at the Entomological Society of America meeting in September in Orlando, Fla., you'll see the UC Davis team on stage defending its championship.
Although only in the second year of his doctoral program, Washington is already an incredible scientist and leader. He is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, chair of the UC Davis Graduate Student Association, co-chair of the UC Council of Student Body Presidents, and one of the leaders of the UC Davis Black Graduate and Professional Students Association.
"Through these endeavors, Ralph has had the convenient opportunity to pursue his commitments to both science and social justice," the TEDxUCDavis organizers noted. "He will continue doing so during his future career as a research professor, by presenting science to low-income children."
It's good to see TEDxUCDavis focus on what matters, and in so doing, motivate, inspire and encourage others to do pursue their education, chase their dreams and reach their goals.
