Bug Squad

Male squash bees know just where to sleep--inside a squash blossom. If you're growing squash and you head out to your garden just after sunrise, you'll probably see the males fast asleep, waiting for visiting females to arrive.

If it looks like a bee, sips nectar like a bee, and buzzes away like a bee, that doesn't mean it's a bee. Last weekend we visited a Fort Bragg nursery specializing in succulents, and these "little white bees" were all over the red flowering thyme (Thymus serphyllum). "Little white bees.

Not all bumble bees are primarily black. Take the Bombus flavifrons. We spotted a male Bombus flavifrons nectaring on Centaurea montana, aka perennial cornflower or mountain cornflower, recently in Mill Valley.

Forceps, please! Have you ever stopped to admire a blossom and seen forceps protruding? Earwig! We were walking near Mrak Hall, UC Davis, on a hot summery afternoon and spotted a tell-tale sign: abdominal forceps, aka pinchers or pincers. Earwig! We unfolded the blossom and an earwig crawled out.

Honey bee foragers collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis. Propolis? What's propolis? It's that sticky plant resin or "goo" that the bees use to seal small spaces in the hive. It's also known as "bee glue.