Bug Squad

For at least three days, he visited our yard. He swooped over our fish pond and swimming pool and returned each time to perch on a tomato stake in the vegetable garden. We nicknamed him "Big Red." Big Red? Actually, a flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata), native to western North America.

If you head over to the California State Fair, which opened July 14 and continues through July 31, be sure to check out the Insect Pavilion at "The Farm." It's a treasure house of not only insects, but spiders and assorted other critters.

Blue damselflies should be on "Dancing with Stars." Because, in many respects, they ARE the stars--the stars of the insect world. They're slender, delicate and beautiful dancers that look like blue-stick diamonds.

Two's company, three's a crowd? Yes, when a spotted cucumber beetle tries to share a sunflower with two honey bees. That was the scene Sunday in a sunflower field along Pedrick Road, Dixon, Solano County. The spotted cucumber beetle is a pest. Honey bees are beneficial.

It's often mistaken for the honey bee. But it's not a honey bee (Apis mellifera). It's a different species of bee. Specifically, it's a long-horn sunflower bee. We spotted this sunflower bee July 11 in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.