Bug Squad

What's that? A honey bee and a male yellowjacket on the same blossom? That's exactly what we saw Nov. 14 at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.

"Reducing the Usage of Bee-Killing Pesticides in My Community." That's the topic--and a good one it is--of the 2013 4-H Honey Bee Essay Contest, sponsored by The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees.

It's quite an honor to be singled out to deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar, hosted annually by the UC Davis Department of Entomology. This year's recipient is Marc Tatar, an authority on the aging of insects.

So, you're looking for that perfect, one-of-a-kind holiday gift. One that will not only be memorable but a conversation piece.

It's a strange little insect. A reader likens it to "a cricket on steroids." A Van Nuys resident says she always wondered what they were. "I've lived in this house for 17 years, and a few times a year I see this strange insect in my backyard. It is always either dead or dying.