In real life, the black widow spider is about 1.5 inches long. You'd never know that if you looked in the backyard of UC Davis entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey.
It promises to be a "honey of a day" and a "honey of a picnic" at the 101st annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 18. Lots of activities are planned campuswide, but let's focus on the bees, pollination and honey tasting.
In Journalism 101, students learn that news stories need the Four Ws--who, what, when, where and why" and the H--"how come." But when it comes to UC Davis Picnic Day 101, the "101" doesn't mean inexperience.
The flameskimmers are back! We've been waiting for the new generation of flameskimmers, aka firecracker skimmers (Libellula saturata), to visit our yard after the long winter. On Sunday, a male flameskimmer did.
So you're thinking of become a commercial beekeeper and renting your colonies to almond growers. California currently grows some 900,000 acres of almonds, and each acre requires two colonies for pollination. A friend gave you some old bee boxes.
