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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Earwig inside a blue orchard bee condo, which has larger holes than one for leafcutting bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Home Invasion!

August 4, 2011
When you install bee condos--those wooden blocks with holes drilled in them to attract nesting native bees--sometimes you get the unexpected. Like earwigs! Home invasion! Home invasion! We installed two bee condos, each about the size of a brick, in our yard.
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This colorful butterfly is the work of 3-year-old Nicholas Razo of Dixon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's a Fair Without Bugs?

August 3, 2011
What's a picnic without bugs? What's a county fair without bugs? If you meander through McCormack Hall at the Solano County Fair, Vallejo, you'll see plenty of insects.
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Flame skimmer munches on a female sweat bee of the genus Halictus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

No Sweat

August 1, 2011
Gotta love those dragonflies in the family Libellulidae. The Thunderbirds of the insect world, they perform amazing aerial maneuvers as they skim over water, catching mosquitoes, knats, flies and other undesirables on the wing. But oh--occasionally they nail a pollinator.
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Honey bee on honey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey!

July 30, 2011
Honey! That very word summons a smile. A public celebration--appropriately titled Honey!--will take place Friday, Oct. 21 in the UC Davis Conference Center. Save the date! The event, sponsored by the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, will include tastings and a honey-focused lunch.
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