Bug Squad

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again. --Nursery Rhyme It was an itsy bitsy spider. But it wasn't climbing up a water spout.

Just call it "my old flame." Well, it's not mine, but it is a flame of sorts, a flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata) and it's firecracker red. We see this species frequenting our pollinator garden in Vacaville, which includes a fish pond, flower beds, and bamboo stakes for their perches.

Bee-hold, the eye of a bee-holder. When you have a "Bee Crossing" sign in your pollinator garden, odds are that bees will cross right in front of that sign. And it's not always a honey bee.

Ever seen a Gulf Fritillary butterfly laying an egg? The Gulf Frit (Agraulis vanillae), an orangish-reddish butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, lays its eggs on its host plant, Passiflora. When you see its silver-spangled underwings, you may think there are two different butterflies.

Sometimes they barely notice you. Such was the case of a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, spotted on our Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a bee worth? Priceless.