Bug Squad

It's mid-February and early morning in Vallejo, Calif. Westringia is blooming along a walking path near the Glen Cove Marina. Suddenly out of no where, there's a flash of yellow and black. A black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, buzzes by our camera and heads for the Westringia. Good choice.

(Editor's Note: Joanna Chiu will be featured on Capital Public Radio's "Insight with Beth Ruyak" from 9 to 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 7. See http://www.capradio.

Who lives in a honey bee hive? Eleven-year-old Lexi Haddon Mendes of the Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacaville, who has been keeping bees for five years, can tell you.

If you're a graduate student engaged in pollinator-related research at a California university, it might pay to present your research poster at the third annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, set Sunday, May 7 in the UC Davis Conference Center.

Do you know how to keep your bees healthy or do you want to learn more about bees? Registration for the third annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, "Keeping Bees Healthy," set Sunday, May 7 in the UC Davis Conference Center, gets underway on Wednesday, March 1.