Bug Squad

Welcome to the Bug Squad blog! The Bug Squad blog was launched Aug. 6, 2008 and is a daily blog (Monday through Friday). It showcases entomologists and the work they do. The blog focuses on scientists in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, the UC Davis Bee Haven, and assorted campuswide events, including UC Davis Picnic Day, UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, and Bohart Museum open houses. The blog spotlights insects, including bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and praying mantises, as well as arachnids such as jumping spiders and crab spiders. Author and photographer is Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a longtime journalist and community scientist with two degrees from Washington State University. She is a member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE). Her blog posts and images have won international awards from ACE and ESA and appeared on journal and magazine covers. She shoots primarily with a Nikon Z-8 mirrorless camera, a Nikon D500 and Nikon 800, with assorted macro lenses.

Honey bee heads for a sunflower in a field off Pedrick Road, Dixon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Here Come the Sun(Flowers)

July 20, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

You can't drive by a sunflower field without smiling. Their golden heads turned toward the sun, their fringed petals aglow, sunflowers set an amicable scene in a world sometimes darkened by strife and sorrow. Take, for example, the sunflower fields along Pedrick Road in Dixon, Calif.

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Honey bee nectars a zinnia, unaware of a predator eyeing her every move. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's Peering Over the Petals?

July 19, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

There are many reasons why honey bees don't come home at night. One of them: a stealthy praying mantis. If you like to photograph flowers, odds are that some day you'll see more than one insect on a blossom.

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Beekeeper Brian Fishback shows Alyssa Fine the bee sculpture in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Honey of a Visit

July 18, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When youngsters meet Alyssa Fine, the first thing they ask is Do you ever get stung? They also ask if the bee population is still declining and if shes a beekeeper. Yes, yes, and yes. Alyssa Fine, 23, of Monongahela, Penn., is accustomed to answering questions.

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Honey bee nectaring on a zinnia in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Are Bees Finding the 'Zen' in Zinnias?

July 17, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Eye-catching zinnias grace the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted in the fall of 2009 next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.

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Female digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, heads for her nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Diggin' the Bees in Bodega

July 16, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

They can fool you. Just like replica designer bags, shoes and sunglasses meant to look like the real thing (think Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo and Prada), those digger bees on Bodega Head, overlooking Bodega Bay, look like bumble bees. Especially the females.

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