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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A blue honey bee on a coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Feeling the Blues

July 9, 2013
You've probably seen a blue moon, which happens every two to three years. That's when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month. You've also probably seen blueprints, blue books and blue-plate specials. You've sung the blues and you've been blue.
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Honey bees and a sunflower bee forage on a sunflower head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sunny-Side Up

July 8, 2013
You can tell it's summer along Yolo County roads by the acres and acres of sunflower fields. Looking like real-life Van Gogh paintings (Van Gogh painted them in vases, Mother Nature paints them in rows), the sunflower fields are nothing short of spectacular.
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Honey bee is covered with pollen from a blanket flower, Gaillardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Pollen: Precious Gold

July 5, 2013
The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) has nothing on honey bees. Sometimes foraging honey bees are covered with their own kind of gold--pollen--or protein for their colonies.
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Honey bee packing red pollen from a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue!

July 4, 2013
It's the Fourth of July--a time to celebrate our nation's Independence Day. Hurrah for the red, white and blue! That also covers red, white and blue pollen collected by our honey bees. If you look closely, you'll see their "patriotic" colors.
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A male cuckoo bee, Triepeolus concavus, on a blanket flower (Gaillardia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why This Is Bee Is Cuckoo

July 3, 2013
When you visit the half-acre Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, you might just see a cuckoo bee.
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