Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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A yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on rosemary at the Benicia Marina on New Year's Day, 2018. Note the orange pollen, derived from another floral species, probably California golden poppies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Foraging Bumble Bees: Check Out the Orange Pollen

January 2nd, 2018
Bring on the bumble bees! In yesterday's Bug Squad blog, we mentioned the unusual first-of-the-year bumble bee sightings at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park. We captured images of the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on jade, Crassula ovata, the morning of Jan.
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A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, forages on New Year's Day, 2017, on jade at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Celebrating the New Year with Bumble Bees in Benicia

January 1st, 2018
While folks from Alaska to Colorado to New York to Maine are shivering in freezing temperatures, here in sunny California--well, at least parts of the Golden State are sunny--bumble bees are foraging on winter blooms. Bumble bees? On the first day of the year? Yes.
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