Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
Primary Image
A honey bee and a lady beetle, aka lady bug, thrust deep inside a mustard blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

The Bee and The Ladybug

March 21st, 2018
A little drama in the mustard patch... A honey bee is foraging head-first in the mustard. She's collecting nectar and pollen. She does not see the lady beetle, aka ladybug, thrust head-first above her. The honey bee is dusted with yellow pollen. The ladybug, not so much. The bee moves closer.
View Article
Primary Image
A black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, heads for a nectarine tree in Vacaville, Calif. on March 18. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Bumbling Into Spring

March 20th, 2018
Might As Well Be Spring "I'm as restless as a willow in a windstormI'm as jumpy as puppet on a stringI'd say that I had spring feverBut I know it isn't spring."--Frank Sinatra Wait, it is spring! Today is the day we've all be waiting for--the first day of spring.
View Article
Primary Image
A honey bee foraging on mustard on Sunday, March 18 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Rolling in the Mustard

March 19th, 2018
A sure sign of spring: honey bees foraging on mustard. You'll see mustard growing as cover crops in the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley vineyards, but you'll also see it gracing the hillsides, roadways and area gardens. It's a time when the yellow pollen dusts the bees from head to thorax to abdomen.
View Article
Primary Image
A close-up of a male green sweet bee, Agapostemon texanus, nectaring on a coneflower, Rudbeckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Wearing o' the Green

March 15th, 2018
On St. Patrick's Day, we see green. We crave green. We wear green. And the penalty for not wearing green? You get pinched. Not so with green sweat bees. As their common name implies, they're green. A metallic green. But no pinching allowed! The green sweat bee, Agapostemon spp.
View Article