Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Pipeline swallowtail on Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

For the Love of Butterflies

August 24, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
A passion for butterflies coupled with a yearning to protect their habitat is what drives 98-year-old Louise Hallberg, founder of the nine-acre Hallberg Butterfly Gardens in Sebastopol.
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A honey bee prepares to visit another primose. Note the stringy mass of pollen hanging from her hind legs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why She's Packing Pollen That Way

August 21, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you've ever seen honey bees foraging on primrose, you may have seen something unusual. What's with the pollen hanging below their hind legs as they buzz from primrose to primrose? There's a reason for that.
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A frame from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An App for Bee Health

August 20, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So you want to know about bee health? Yes, there's an app for that--and you're welcome to download it for free. Our good neighbor to the north of us, Alberta Agriculture, has just developed Phase 1 of its Bee Health.
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A honey bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Learn How to Make Mead at UC Davis

August 19, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Like to learn how to make mead? You know, transform honey into honey wine? The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute and the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology are offering a beginners' introduction to mead making on Friday and Saturday, Nov.
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A camouflaged katydid, its body resembling a leaf, feeds on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Katy Did, Katy Didn't!

August 18, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
I've always rather liked katydids. Anyone who is called "Kate" or "Katy" in their childhood usually winds up with "Katydid" as a nickname. And they repeatedly hear "Katy did. Katy didn't" (the sound the insect makes).
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