Bug Squad

Honey isn't always amber-colored. It can range from white to dark brown, depending on the flowers the bees visit. Back in 1971, a group of UC Davis bee specialists wrote a booklet, Fundamentals of California Beekeeping, published by the "University of California College of Agriculture.

When the Entomological Society of America's 56th annual meeting takes place Nov. 16-19 in Reno, UC Davis entomologists will be out in force. And they'll be highly honored.

You may not know it, but you've eaten insects. Oh, yes, you have. The other day I meandered over to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis campus, and a sign told me that. There it was--plain as day (as if a day can be plain).

It's Tuesday, Nov. 11, Veterans' Day. I walked into our bee friendly garden hoping to find a honey bee. One buzzed erratically over the purple sage and rock purslane and disappeared. The rest are nestled in a hive somewhere, trying to ward off the cold.

Chances are if you walked up to a group of people and asked "Have you seen a Megachile today?" they'd stare at you blankly. What's a Megachile? It's a native bee, also known as a leafcutter bee. When most people think about bees, they think about honey bees, which are native to Europe.