Bug Squad

If you've seen a lot of buckeye butterflies this season, you're not alone. It's a big year for buckeyes, says noted butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. He counts between "30 and 85 a day" in West Sacramento and North Sacramento.

The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted last fall next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, is more than just a haven for honey bees.

The news is startling, but not totally unexpected. Thousand cankers disease, which infects and kills black walnut trees, has spread from the western United States to the eastern United States. Officials announced Aug. 5 that the disease has been detected in Knox County in east Tennessee.

Tame that tiger. Wilton beekeeper Brian Fishback, president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers' Association, stopped Friday at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, and a friendly Western tiger swallowtail greeted him. At least, it seemed quite friendly.

Varroa mites, those blood-sucking little parasites that are major pests of honey bee colonies, can decimate and destroy a colony if left unchecked. One way that beekeepers monitor their hives for mite infestation is "the sugar shake.