California's almond pollination season typically starts in mid-February, around Valentine's Day, but along the Benicia waterfront, the almond trees sometimes blossom as early as Jan. 1. The climate is warm and temperate.
"Scientists now understand how certain animals can feed on picturesque, orange monarch butterflies, which are filled from head to abdomen with milkweed plant toxins. "In high enough concentrations, milkweed can kill a horse, or a human.
UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro of the Department of Evolution and Ecology didn't sponsor his annual "Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest" this year, but if he had, an eight-year-old Davis boy would have been the runner-up.
