Bug Squad

Like a moth to a flame... Except this moth headed not for a flame, but to a porch light. Our porch light. And what a find. It was a sea-green mottled moth that looked a lot like lichen.

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.