Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii,heads for an almond blossom in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Beauty of a Day: Bumble Bees in Benicia

January 27, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If there's anything better than seeing honey bees foraging on almond blossoms, it's this: Bumble bees foraging on almond blossoms. Make that the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, in Benicia.

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Inside this glassine envelope is the first-of-the-year cabbage white butterfly, ready to fly. It's a male collected in Suisun City.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest: We Have a Winner!

January 25, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The 2019 Beer for a Butterfly contest is over. And the winner isdrum roll Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology.

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Have you seen a cabbage white butterfly yet this year? This image, taken last summer in Vacaville, shows a cabbage white butterfly trying to share a blossom with a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

No Rapae Today! Maybe Tomorrow?

January 24, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

No winner yet. The annual Beer for a Butterfly" or "Suds for a Bug" contest has not produced a winner. But somewhere out there, is a cabbage white butterfly taking its first flight.

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This was the scene at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the 2018 UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ready for UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day?

January 23, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Are you ready for the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 16 when 13 museums and collections will be open on the University of California, Davis, campus? The event, free, family friendly and educational, is always held on Presidents' Day weekend.

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Benicia resident Gordon Hough captured this image of a bee nectaring on a Pyrus calleryana (Bradford pear or another cultivar) at the Benicia State Recreation Area on Monday, Jan. 21, as identified by Daniel Potter, UC Davis professor of plant sciences.

Bug Squad: Article

'A' is for Almonds and 'B' is for Bees and Bradford Pear Blossoms

January 22, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

No, it's not Valentine's Day, yet. Yes, the almonds are blooming. No, it's not spring. But it looks like spring in Benicia. The almonds are blooming in the Benicia (Calif.) State Recreation Area. Some are on the road at the entrance to the park. Other trees are also blooming.

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