Bug Squad

The scrub jays are just doing their job. But they're doing it too well. The gulf frittillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) are mating and depositing their eggs on our passion flower vines--as we want them to do--but complete metamorphosis always seems to be incomplete.

Visitors to Bodega Head, Sonoma County, will see lupine, California golden poppies, wild radish, mustard, seaside daises and scores of other flowers in bloom. And if they're lucky--a metallic blue digger wasp from the Sphecidae family of thread-waisted wasps.

Occasionally we see a honey bee on the violet trumpet vine (Clytostoma calystegiodies) but the hummingbirds seem to like it better. The delicate purple-veined blossoms burst out in late spring or summer. It's a UC Davis Arboretum All-Star.

So many flowers. So many pollinators. So many floral visitors. On every field trip, we see something new and different, such as the male long-horned bee, Melissodes communis (below) on salvia and the female sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua expurgata, on a Mexican hat flower.

If you're craving to find out more about insects--specifically how to FIND them--then you'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomologys open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, June 9. It's free and open to the public.