Bug Squad

It's the look you'll never forget. Disheveled and depressed. Desolate and defeated. Weary and worn. Is that really Bruce Hammock, the distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center? It is.

Want to learn the basics of beekeeping from a team of experts, including scientists from the University of California, Davis, at a two-day conference set Feb.

Everything's coming up bees! A number of eminent bee scientists will be speaking soon at UC Davis. They include David Tarby, Gene Robinson and Dennis vanEngelsdorp. David Tarpy, Wednesday, Feb.

It's not spring yet, but don't tell that to the pollinators at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park. We traveled to the state park on Monday, Jan. 25 to see if we could find a bumble bee foraging on the jade blossoms. Or more specifically, the black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus.

It's getting to look a lot like...February. When you see honey bees foraging on the early blooming oxalis, that's a sure sign that February is approaching. And that means it's time for some mead, music and a bee-influenced dinner.