Bug Squad

Ever watched a bumble bee ballet? Bumble bees may look clumsy in flight, but they get the job done. We recently marveled at the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on lacy phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolia, on the UC Davis campus. This is a native bumble bee and a native plant.

It sucks sap, it secretes honeydew, and it draws ants. And curious photographers. Last weekend we spotted cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, infesting the twigs and branches of our Nandina (Nandina domestica), planted 22 years ago.

Ishai Zeldner, a beekeeper turned businessman, would have been proud. Zeldner, who died in 2018 at age 71, would have been proud to see the family business he founded, Z Specialty Food, develop into a 20,000 square-foot facility at 1221 Harter Way, Woodland. It was his dream.

If you've recently visited the pollinator gardens at The Hive, a family business owned by Z Specialty Food, 1221 Harter Way, Woodland, you've seen the spectacular Pride of Madeira, Echium candicans. Now another "pride" awaits.

Quick question: "Kleptopharmacophagy, a newly described behavior recently observed in milkweed butterflies, is characterized by adult butterflies feeding on milkweed caterpillars.