Bug Squad

Most people avoid a hornet's nest. Not environmental artist Ann Savageau; the retired UC Davis Department of Design professor creates art from hornet nest paper. "I began using hornet nest paper back in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Insects as art! The shapes, the colors...Bees, beetles, butterflies... Capture images of the bees, create sculptures from beetle galleries, and depict insect motifs on clothing... Don't miss the unique exhibition, It's Bugged: Insects' Role in Design, set Jan.

A major citrus pest may experience a Bah, Humbug! kind of year.

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.

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.