Bug Squad

If you've never been up close and personal with a praying mantis, here's your chance. At the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 1 to 4 p.m., at the University of California, Davis, you'll see not one, but two, praying mantids. And very much alive.

Photos of honey bees can sometimes exude a dreamy, even ethereal quality, but in real life, bees are in trouble. That's why Marla Spivak's TED talk should be required viewing.

It happened so quickly. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) fluttered to the lantana for a sip of nectar when the unexpected happened. A praying mantis, lying in wait, leaped high and grabbed it by its wings. Unable to fly, the monarch struggled to right itself.

Love is where you find it. And sometimes you find it in a bean field. Take the UC Dry Bean Field Day on Sept. 5 at UC Davis.

A miss is as good as a mile...or a smile. The Buckeye (Junonia coenia) is a striking butterfly patterned with eyespots and white bars. We saw one today nectaring on sedum, but with chunks of a wing missing. Perhaps a bird or a praying mantis tried to grab it. It narrowly escaped predation.