It was a honey of a ride. My inaugural Bug Squad blog on Aug. 6, 2008 dealt with a swarm of bees that "hitched" a ride on Aug. 1 from El Cerrito to UC Davis on a commuter van. "At 7 a.m., a group of UC Davis employees approached their commuter van in an El Cerrito parking lot.
Seen any European wool carder bees lately? European wool carder bees (so named because the female collects or cards plant hairs for their nests) are on the move. The bees, about the size of honey bees, are mostly black and yellow.
The bee and the butterfly. Or, Apis mellifera and Colias eurytheme. One's a beneficial insect. That would "bee" the honey bee. The other is a yellow and white butterfly, striking in appearance, but in its larval stage, it's a major pest of alfalfa.
They marveled at the tadpole shrimp. They crafted tadpole shrimp-themed hats and puppets using paper plates and googly eyes. And they asked questions. Lots of questions.
