Bug Squad

Youngsters like to joke about what a honey bee says when she returns to the hive: "Honey, I'm home!" Honey...what is it? The National Honey Board defines honey as "the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees.

Hear the buzz? That's the sound of a honey bee's wings moving at about 11,400 times per minute. As a field bee, the worker bee lives only several weeks during the peak nectaring season. She can fly four to five miles a day, at a speed of about 15 miles per hour.

Mason wasps are strikingly beautiful. The black and yellow patterns are intriguing, but even more intriguing are the mud nests they build. Makes sense that these wasps are called mason or potter wasps, named for what they do. Their human counterparts work with stone, brick, and concrete.

The warmth of the sun and the lure of nectar beckoned the hover flies or flower flies to our bee friendly garden. We saw this one nectaring the rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) last weekend.

Ever wonder how a honey bee sees? Its compound eyes are comprised of hundreds of single eyes (ommatidia), each with its own lens. It can distinguish colors, but can't see red, which it interprets as black.