Bug Squad

It's National Pollinator Week! Do you know where your pollinators are? Or better yet, do you know how to attract them and protect them? Pollinator Partnership has announced that June 19-25 has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S.

When a story is worth its weight in gold, and a photo is worth its weight in silver and bronze...according to the judges...

The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, stocks a "Got Milkweed?" t-shirt in its gift shop. In real life, insects "get" milkweed.

Erected in 1852, this historic building was ostensibly intended for Benicia City Hall. Offered as the state capitol and promptly accepted, it had that honor from February 4, 1853 to February 25, 1854. Deeded to the state in 1951, it was one of the four locations of the 'Capitol on Wheels.

The conversation usually starts like this: "I saw this huge, huge bumble bee with yellow on its back. It was buzzing like crazy." Often it's not a bumble bee, but the Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, that's been foraging on the blooms of the passionflower vine (Passiflora).