- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Xena the Warrior Princess, a 16-year-old tuxedo cat that we rescued from the pound, crossed the Rainbow Bridge today in a local veterinarian's office. We had her 16 years, or if cats have staff, we were her staff for 16 years. She allowed us to feed her, pet her, and love her.
A black outline of a butterfly adorned her left hind leg, the mark of a pollinator partner. She followed me from blossom to blossom as I captured images of bees, butterflies, dragonflies, sweat bees, spiders, praying mantids and every other little critter imaginable in our pollinator garden. She'd sit beneath my garden chair, just glad to be there, just glad to be alive.
That's what a Pollinator Partner does.
Xena the Warrior Princess was part warrior and part princess: a cunning predator and a purring princess. A predator that would delight in showing us her trophies, and a princess that loved to snuggle.
Then on Leap Year Day, Feb. 29, 2016, Xena the Warrior Princess suffered a debilitating stroke. Sixteen short years, and she's gone. She didn't want to go and we didn't want her to leave.
Rest in peace, Pollinator Partner.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The severe California drought--we're in the fourth year--is affecting us all, but it's also affecting insects, says Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
She writes about "Insects and Drought" in the current edition of the Bohart Museum Society newsletter.
"Californians tend to focus on their lawns and the price of water, but the state's wildlands and animals are also affected," she points out.
Here are some of her observations:
- Drought-stressed trees, such as conifers, "are vulnerable to attack by bark beetles. "The trees are unable to effectively defend themselveswith resin because their oleoresin system is 'powered' by their water-filled vascular system."
- Due to the mild winter (lack of cold temperatures and rain), "houseflies began breeding much earlier, giving their populations an early start" to build up their numbers.
- Due to the drought, wildlife such as skunks, possums, deer, raccoons and turkeys are heading into surburban areas, and bringing their fleas and other parasites. "This is one of the reasons why it's a good idea to keep wildlife away from your home," Kimsey points out.
- Praying mantids emerged earlier than usual this year, and in some areas, are having difficulty finding food. Many immature baby mantids in the foothills starved to death.
- Walnut twig beetles, which in conjunction with a fungus causes thousand cankers disease on native black walnuts, seem to be thriving....the trees "are dying at an accelerated rate due to a combination of water stress and the disease."
So, with the changing weather patterns come the changing insect populations. "Once the rains return, these patterns will change yet again, and again each insect group will react differently," Kimsey said. "Increasing rain, with mild winter temperatures, will have a different effect on insects than more rain and cold temperatures."
Bottom line: "Every year is a new entomological adventure," Kimsey points out. "The more we learn, the less we seem to know about these creatures."
Want to join the Bohart Museum Society and receive the newsletter? And receive other benefits? Check out the society information on the website.
The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis. It's open to the public Monday through Thursday (except from noon to 1 p.m.). It's also open on special weekend open houses. For general information, identification of insects, or to schedule a group tour, call the main number at (530) 752-0493. The main email is bmuseum[at]ucdavis.edu. The public education/outreach coordinator is Tabatha Yang (tabyang@ucdavis.edu)
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Some folks dislike photos of praying mantids snagging, killing and eating their prey. Well, often the "eating" part comes before the "killing" part.
Still, they have to kill to live. We all do.
Or someone does it for us.
We've been seeing lots of praying mantids in our bee garden, especially among the lavender (Lavandula), Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) and passionflower vine (Passiflora). Most of them are lying in wait. Others, with spiked forelegs gripping their prey, are eating.
They have to kill to live.
We encountered this one (below) camouflaged in the lavender patch. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, thinks it may be a native species; it looks like some she's seen by the Yolo Causeway.
Praying mantids, of course, are insects and belong to the class Insecta, and the order Mantodea.
BugGuide.Net describes them as "Relatively large, elongate insects up to several inches long. Typical features include triangular heads with large compound eyes set on either side and usually three ocelli in between; very flexible articulation between the head and prothorax providing great mobility and allowing a mantid to 'look over its shoulder''; raptorial forelegs used to capture prey." California has some 20 species in 12 genera.
The word, mantis, is Greek for "soothsayer, prophet." (Maybe it should be "sure slayer.")
And yes, they can be highly cannibalistic. When they emerge from an ootheca or egg case, they show their brotherly love and sisterly love by eating one another.
BugGuide.Net says that the larger mantids can prey on small birds, lizards, and amphibians. Indeed, they can. YouTube displays videos of mantids attacking and eating hummingbirds.
We spotted an ootheca last winter on our barnlike bird house. Birds don't inhabit it. It's easy to see why.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
--John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
Muir said it well.
Muir (1938-1914), the naturalist and conservationist known as "The Father of Our National Parks," was the driving force behind the establishment of our national parks, including Yosemite National Park.
But have you ever thought about what he said: ""When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe"?
In our yard, we are rearing Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) on their host plant, the passionflower vine. The Gulf Frit is a bright orangish-reddish butterfly with silver-spangled underwings. It's a member of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae.
We also consider it part of our family. The females and males mate, the females lay eggs on the passionflower vine, the eggs become caterpillars and the caterpillars become adults. That is, if the Western scrub jays and the praying mantids and the European paper wasps let them.
Lately, the caterpillars seem to be multiplying faster than the proverbial rabbits. The Western scrub jays are missing. They no longer sit on the fence and cherry-pick their prey. Why are they MIA? Three resident juvenile Cooper's hawks (as identified by Andrew Engilis, Jr., curator of the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology) possess an appetite for jays (among other prey). The result: too many caterpillars on our passionflower vine. The 'cats are defoliating the plant faster than we expected. In short, it's a veritable population crisis on our passionflower vine.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
We love the caterpillars. We love the butterflies. We love the praying mantids. And we are trying our best to love, or at least like, the wasps after hearing researcher Amy Toth of Iowa State University speak fondly of them at UC Davis. Read the 10 things we should like about wasps. Note that she's trying to popularize the hashtag, #wasplove.
Meanwhile, what about those hawks? It's hawk heaven here. We love seeing them cooling their toes, splashing around in our front-yard birdbath, and communicating with their siblings. It's a sign of the times. California's severe drought means an influx of critters, large and small, heading for urban birdbaths. In addition to hawks, our birdbath draws squirrels, doves, finches, woodpeckers, scrub jays, sparrows, crows, honey bees and even a passing wild turkey with a neck long enough to reach the water.
Lately, it's a hawk birdbath. The jays are gone. The caterpillars are thriving.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
But have you ever seen them frying flies over a kitchen stove?
You will when you take a look at an Oklahoma photographer's work.
An interesting article in The Daily Mail Online from the UK plainly shows what Scott Cromwell did with praying mantids. He created scenes of the insects doing such things as not only frying flies on a stove, but taking the baby (mantis) for a stroll, soaking in a bathtub (a claw bathtub at that!) and reading the Daily Mantis news while answering nature's call.
Cromwell, a 40-year-old television repairman, said he buys assorted species of praying mantids online and he purchases many of the miniature props (miniature dollhouse props) on eBay.
The article, showcasing several of his photographs, has drawn widespread reactions, from "amazing creatures" (mantids) to "horrid man" (Cromwell).
A true shutterbug? Or shudder bug? Or someone expressing creativity and innovation?
Most of us who photograph insects never pass on an opportunity to capture images of a praying mantis in its natural habitat. They are amazing. They pounce quickly. They show no fear. They stare at you as if you're their next meal.
Still, I'd rather see a praying mantis in nature's dew than in a bubble bath.