Bug Squad

The skipper wasn't skipping. In fact, it wasn't doing much of anything. The fiery skipper butterfly (Hylephila phyleus), tangled in a spider web, struggled furiously to free itself. Not going to happen. The sticky substance stuck to her like super glue. It's a scene you don't often see.

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, is on a mission. He and fellow members of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation are trying to save Franklin's bumble bee from extinction.

A good time to photograph the European wool carder bee is in the early morning when it's warming its muscles to prepare for flight. It lies perfectly still. That's what it did in our yard last weekend. It warmed itself on the sunny side of a leaf. Not unlike the sunny side of a street...

When beekepers from all over the Western states converge on the Western Apicultural Society (WAS) meeting in Hawaii next week, they won't be there to bask in the sun.

Often you'll hear kindergarten students asking one another: "What's your favorite color?" Beekeepers do that, too--in a joking sort of way.