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)
Primary Image
A very hungry Gulf Fritillary caterpillar working over the Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

No Butterflies Without Caterpillars

September 19, 2014
How can you hate a caterpillar and love a butterfly? You can't. Some gardeners so love their passionflower vine (Passiflora) that they squirm at the thought of a caterpillar munching it down to nothing. But that's what caterpillars do.
View Article
Primary Image
A honey bee sipping nectar from a hole drilled by a carpenter bee on a foxglove. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Short Cut

September 18, 2014
We all take shortcuts. We look for the shortest line at the supermarket, we use keyboard shortcuts, and we text how r u? So, why shouldn't honey bees use shortcuts? They do.
View Article
Primary Image
Backlit, the monarch resembles a stained glass window as it touches down on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bring Back the Monarchs!

September 17, 2014
When a monarch butterfly comes fluttering through your yard, grab your camera. Marvel at it beauty, celebrate its presence, and keep it in your memory. It may be become an endangered species the way things are going.
View Article
Primary Image
Art Shapiro saw 19 of this species, Pieris rapae, or cabbage white, today at his North Sacramento study site. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Close Call

September 16, 2014
Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, isn't feeling so well--to put it mildly--but he still went out on one of his butterfly monitoring expeditions today at his study site in North Sacramento.
View Article