Bug Squad

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.

Honey bees are still in trouble. University of California scientists hammered home that point tonight during the PBS NewsHour program on the colony collapse disorder (CCD) and the declining bee population.

Be careful when you're harvesting an artichoke. You might find a European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) hunting for a little protein, such as ants, flies and tiny bees to carry back to its nest.

Ten tenants. That's how many tenants are occupying our wooden bee block, aka "bee condo." It's "home, sweet home" for leafcutting bees (Megachile spp.).

Oh, to go through life being called a "short fat fly." Such is the case with a specific tachinid fly (family Tachinidae, genus Gymnosoma), which we spotted on a coreopsis (aka tickseed) growing along a Fort Bragg cliff. It's an odd-looking fly. Its abdomen resembles a ladybug or lady beetle.