Would you like to have your very own lady beetle, aka lady bug? The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program will be giving them away at Briggs Hall during the 101st annual UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

But when it comes to UC Davis Picnic Day 101, the "101" doesn't mean inexperience. This is the 101st annual celebration, which means UC Davis has been doing this for a century.

It's an event billed as entertaining, educational and informative--and it is. Plus, it's just plain fun!

Longtime friends and family get to hug ya. Entomologists get to bug ya. Visitors will see plenty of insects and other arthropods from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at two sites: Briggs Hall on Kleiber Hall Drive and the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Crocker Lane.





Theme of the campuswide picnic is “The Heart of Our Community,” but over at the Bohart Museum, the theme is “The Good, the Bad and the Bugly.” The museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, will feature pollinators. The museum houses nearly 8 million specimens. It also houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches, a crowd favorite.

At Briggs Hall, a new event is the Pollinator Pavilion, where visitors can see and learn about bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Pollination ecologist/graduate student Margaret “Rei” Scampavia is coordinating the project. “We're going to have painted lady butterflies, monarchs, male blue orchard bees, and a live bumblebee colony,” she said. Other events at the Pollinator Pavilion will include puppet shows, a chance to practice pollinator observations, museum specimens, and information on how individuals can help support healthy pollinator populations.

This is a Tapinoma sessile, also known as the odorous house ant. "It is a very common species, but tends to be pushed aside by the introduced Argentine ant," says ant specialist/professor Phil Ward. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey will portray “Dr. Death,” showing methods used in forensic entomology in 122 Briggs. The Phil Ward lab will assemble a display on the incredible diversity of ants. The Sharon Lawler lab will display aquatic insects and answer any questions about them.

Visitors can sample six different varietals of honey at a honey tasting table in the Briggs courtyard. The flavors are coffee blossom, meadowfoam blossom, buckwheat, creamed clover, cotton and chestnut,  said Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist. A bee observation hive will be set up in across from the courtyard, where Niño and staff research associate Billy Synk will answer questions about bees.

Also at Briggs: graduate student Stacy Hishinuma and forest entomologist Steve Seybold, a chemical ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Davis, and an affiliate of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will display forest insects. Medical entomology graduate students will set up displays about diseases vectored by mosquitoes and other insects.  The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will provide an educational exhibit about mosquito abatement. Exhibits also will include such topics as fly fishing/fly-tying.

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) will be giving away lady beetles, aka ladybugs, in front of Briggs Hall. They will answer questions about insects and display many of their books.

The Graduate Student Entomology Association (GMSA) and the Entomology Club will be out in force, coordinating and staffing the many insect activities. If you like bugs, you can buy an entomology t-shirt or have a bug painted on your face. The Bohart Museum also will be selling t-shirts and other items in its gift shop, which is open year-around.

If you're going to the parade, which starts at 9:30 a.m., be sure to check out the Entomology Club's float. It will not be an "itsy bitsy spider." It will be one ritsy gigantic spider!   Following the parade, the float will be showcased in front of Briggs Hall.

What a day it promises to be...the good, the bad, and the bugly...

The flameskimmers are back!

We've been waiting for the new generation of flameskimmers, aka firecracker skimmers (Libellula saturata), to visit our yard after the long winter.

On Sunday, a male flameskimmer did.

It perched on a bamboo stake, soaked up some rays, took flight, and then returned to its perch. It glittered in the morning sun, a ruby helicopter of an insect. Finally, it clumsily took off, zigging and zagging over the cherry laurel hedge.

Meanwhile, a Western scrub jay nesting in the cherry laurels tracked its movements.

Says Wikipedia: "Due to its choice habitat of warm ponds, streams, or hot springs, flame skimmers are found mainly in the southwestern part of the United States. They also make their homes in public gardens or backyards."

"An immature flame skimmer (nymph) feeds mainly on aquatic insects. Its diet consists of mosquito larvae, aquatic fly larvae, mayfly larvae, freshwater shrimp, small fish, and tadpoles. The nymphs, which live in the mud at the bottom of warm streams or ponds, catch their prey by waiting patiently for it to pass by. Adult skimmers usually feed on moths, flies, ants, or any other soft-bodied insect while waiting perched on a small rock or twig or while flying through the air."

It's our fish pond that draws dragonflies to our yard. To accommodate them, we've posted a dozen bamboo stakes at different heights, from four feet to six feet. Finches and hummingbirds perch on them, too.

To be honest, however, the bamboo stakes are mainly for the dragonflies. (But don't tell that to the finches and hummers.)

Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen holding a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A friend gave you some old bee boxes.  So where do you start? What do you do?

Before you fill those boxes with bees, you should plan ahead, says Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen, whose career spanned 38 years before he retired last June. He continues to maintain an office in Briggs Hall, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology,  and is often asked these kinds of questions.  We thought we'd share some of the advice he recently gave to a prospective beekeeper.

“The most difficult problem that you are likely to face in California is where your apiaries are going to be located for use during certain times of the year," Mussen said. "There are very few places in California where you can let honey bee colonies just sit there and they will do fine.  If such spots exist, other beekeepers already have 'squatters' rights' on them and intrusions can lead to nasty activities.  The best way to be certain of at least some locations is to buy out an old-time beekeeper who is ready to leave the business.  By 'beekeepers' agreement' you get to use his or her bee yards.  You also are likely to pick up the old beekeeper's almond contracts.  You will need those, or new ones, to prosper."

"Next November the California State Beekeepers' Association is holding its annual convention in Sacramento the week before Thanksgiving.  That is THE GATHERING of beekeepers in this state.  It will provide your best opportunity to 'schmooze' with your peers and find out who might be ready to phase out of the business allowing you to phase in."

What about the using old bee boxes?

 "There are two things important to you," Mussen says,"that you have to watch for:

1. Combs containing 'scale' that formed following an American foulbrood disease problem.  If you don't know what I am talking about, find someone nearby who does and talk it over with them.
2. The outer dimensions of beehive boxes made by many manufacturers have identical outside dimensions.  However, inside the boxes, each manufacturer uses its own method of producing the 'bee space' between the top bars and bottom bars of frames.  When equipment form various companies are stacked together, some combs will touch and be glued together with propolis and some will have too large a gap which will be filled with beeswax comb sticking the combs together.  Working with such a stuck-together mess is time consuming and frustrating.  The bees will let you know that it bothers them, too!

"I believe that most beekeeping equipment manufacturers produce good products.  You might want to consider which company has a large outlet closest to where you will be headquartered.  You will be running to the supply company many more times than you can imagine."

"Your final decision is very important, because it impacts your beekeeping from just about the time you put your bees in the boxes.  Are you going to try to keep bees with no chemical intervention to prevent or reduce commonly-occurring problems like American foulbrood and Varroa mites?  Or are you going to first try 'soft' approaches, and then more rigorous approaches if the problem seems to persist?  Yes, there are a few commercial beekeepers who do not treat their colonies very often, if at all, but they are using mite-resistant lines of bees and they tend not to stay in the heart of the agricultural production areas all season.  Most of them pollinate almonds, then scoot off to try to produce a honey crop."

 Of course, new beekeepers are encouraged to read beekeeping books; subscribe to bee publications such as American Bee Journal and Bee Culture; join a local beekeepers' association, join state and regional associations; and get to know bees and beekeepers.  A regional beekeeping association, co-founded by Mussen, who is a five-term president, is the Western Apicultural Society.

Bees and other pollinators may have a tough time during the fourth year of California's severe drought, as they search for nectar and pollen. Expect to see many plants wither, wilt and die due to the "D" word, "Drought."

Gov. Jerry Brown's mandate that we cut our water use by at least 25 percent worries many a bee gardener.

But wait, the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery has scheduled a public plant sale for Saturday, April 11 starring low-water, drought-tolerant plants.

The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive.  They're offering a list of 35 Low-water Plants You've (Probably) Never Heard of. It's a good time to explore what they have to offer.

Going through the list, we see they have anemones, desert spoons, desert willows, gold tooth aloe, mouse-eared tickseed, buckwheats, and salvia (sages), among others. Many are bee favorites. (A good resource is California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners (Heyday Publications), a book written by scientists affiliated with the University of California, Gordon W. Frankie, Robbin W. Thorp, Rollin E. Coville, and Barbara Ertter)

The low-water plants that UC Davis Aboretum lists?

• Agave americana ‘Mediopicta Alba' white-striped century plant
• Carpenteria californica ‘Elizabeth' Elizabeth bush anemone
• Dasylirion wheeleri desert spoon
• Agave vilmoriniana octopus agave
• Chilopsis linearis desert willow
• Dudleya caespitosa coast dudleya
• Aloe × spinosissima gold tooth aloe
• Coreopsis auriculata ‘Nana' dwarf mouse-eared tickseed
• Eremophila maculata ‘Aurea' spotted emu bush
• Arctostaphylos pajaroensis ‘Paradise' paradise Manzanita
• Correa pulchella ‘Orange Flame' orange flame correa
• Eriogonum fasciculatum ‘Theodore Payne' dwarf California buckwheat
• Eriogonum umbellatum sulphur buckwheat
• Geranium × cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo' Biokovo geranium
• Leucophyllum frutescens Cenizo
• Festuca idahoensis ‘Clearwater Blue' Clearwater Idaho fescue
•  Grindelia camporum Great Valley gum plant
•  Othonna cheirfolia Barberry ragweed
•  Fremontodendron ‘San Gabriel'
• Horkelia californica California horkelia
• Pelargonium sidoides garnet geranium
• Gambelia speciosa ‘Firecracker' Island snapdragon
• Peritoma arborea bladderpod
• Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Lissvery' PBR silvery blue Russian sage
• Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles' hybrid Jerusalem sage
• Salvia clevelandii ‘Aromas' San Diego sage
• Stachys albotomentosa ‘Hidalgo' Hidalgo stachys
•  Prunus andersonii desert peach
•  Salvia ‘San Carlos Festival' San Carlos hybrid sage
•  Sternbergia lutea autumn crocus
• Russelia equisetiformis coral fountain
• Sedum stenopetalum worm-leaved stonecrop
• Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard' color guard yucca
• Salvia × jamensis ‘California Sunset' orange autumn sage
• Sophora secundiflora Texas mountain laurel

We're quite fond of the anemone--especially when there's a bee on it--and the gum plant--definitely when there's a bee on it.

In our yard we find that catmint (Nepeta), Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) take little water and attract many pollinators. The Tithonia, an annual, bloomed last year from April through October. It seemed happy even when the temperature hit 100 degrees.