- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
As the guests dined on seafood, yellowjackets dined on bits of protein left behind.
The half-filled glasses were there to draw the yellowjackets away from the picnic tables. Don't know what was in the plastic glasses, but whatever it was, it did not kill them. It just slowed them down. A little. They jumped in, swam around, and climbed out.
Yellowjackets (genera Vespula) are pests.
"Defensive behavior increases as the season progresses and colony populations become larger while food becomes scarcer," wrote authors Eric Mussen of Uc Davis and Michael Rust of UC Riverside in the newly updated UC IPM Pest Note, Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasps.
"In fall, foraging yellowjackets are primarily scavengers, and they start to show up at picnics and barbecues, around garbage cans, at dishes of dog or cat food placed outside, and where ripe or overripe fruit are accessible. At certain times and places, the number of scavenger wasps can be quite large."
Yes, indeed. Uninvited guests are likely to join your picnic.
The ones we observed were Vespula pensylvanica, commonly referred to as "meat bees" because they like meat, including the hamburgers, hot dogs and other protein you serve at your picnic and at other outdoor outings. They also like sugary drinks.
An excerpt from the Pest Note:
"Usually stinging behavior is encountered at nesting sites, but sometimes scavenging yellowjackets will sting if someone tries to swat them away from a potential food source. When scavenging at picnics or other outdoor meals, wasps will crawl into soda cans and can sting your lips or the inside of your mouth or throat."
Want to know more about yellowjackets and other social wasps? Access or download the Pest Note.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Complete metamorphosis. Complete awe.
In our yard, the Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) are laying eggs on our passionflower vine (Passiflora). They deposit the eggs on top of the leaves, beneath the leaves, or on the tendrils.
An egg hatches, and a caterpillar--a very hungry caterpillar--emerges. It eats as if there is no tomorrow, and for some, there IS no tomorrow. Predators, including birds, spiders, praying mantids and European paper wasps, await them.
Humans also kill them with pesticides because the caterpillars do what they're supposed to do--eat the leaves. Skeletonized plants in the garden? Horrors, what would our neighbors say?
But, if all goes well, and the caterpillars thrive, the next stage is the chrysalis.
Finally, the adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis to start the life cycle all over again.
Sometimes when you look at the tiny yellow Gulf Frit egg, it's difficult to imagine that one day it will become a reddish-orange butterfly fluttering around the garden, sipping nectar from lantana (genus Lantana), Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) and other plants.
Interested in butterflies? When you get a chance, you should explore Art Shapiro's Butterfly World. Shapiro, a distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, monitors the butterfly population in the Central Valley. He's also written a book, Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions.
And those amazing Gulf Frits? They're making a comeback in the Sacramento area.
And none too soon.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
At last! From an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly.
And it's a girl!
For several days we've been protecting a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) chryalis on our passionflower vine (Passiflora) from predators.
It works like this: Adult female butterflies lay their eggs on the plant, and predators prey upon the eggs, caterpillars and chrysalides. Result: eggs gone, caterpillars gone, and chrysalides smashed open and the contents (our future butterflies) removed.
So we clipped a white cotton dishtowel around the chrysalis to prevent predation from jumping spiders, orb weavers, ants, praying mantids, European paper wasps and assorted scrub jays.
Sunday morning it happened.
A female butterfly emerged from a chrysalis. She remained close to the chrysalis before moving outside the apiary wire (the wire is stapled to a fence to support the clingy passionflower vine).
Not two minutes later, as "our girl" was drying her wings, getting ready for her first flight, a suitor approached her.
The rest, as they say, is history.
And more Gulf Fritillary butterflies.
We hope.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So patient, so passionate.
The praying mantis looked hungry last Thursday when it perched on a coneflower in the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.
Where's breakfast? Where's lunch? Where's dinner?
Nowhere to be found.
A few honey bees and sweat bees buzzed around the predator, but didn't land.
The praying mantis changed positions, much like a fisherman who feels "skunked" in one place will try his luck at another site.
It crawled up, down and around the flower.
Nothing.
Half an hour later, it slid beneath the coneflower, out of the hot sun. An umbrella for shade, a place to rest, a place to prey...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's an app for that. More specifically, there's a concerto for that.
And it all deals with the Häagen-Dazs premier ice cream brand supporting bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.
This is one business that's very concerned about the worldwide declining bee population. One-third of the food we eat is pollinated by bees. Häagen-Dazs ice cream is dependent upon bees--some 50 percent of its flavors are bee-dependent.
Häagen-Dazs is a longtime and generous supporter of UC Davis bee research. Background: in 2009 the brand launched the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly and educational garden planted next to the Laidlaw facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. It's a year-around food source for the Laidlaw bees and other pollinators. It provides an educational opportunity for visitors; they learn about the plight of the bees, and what they can plant in their own gardens to feed the bees.
Häagen-Dazs also funded the Häagen-Dazs Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis. It went to Michelle Flenniken, an insect virus researcher based at UC San Francisco. She's now a research assistant professor at Montana State University.
So, first a bee garden and then a fellowship for a scientist to study bee diseases. And now...drum roll...the Häagen-Dazs Concerto Timer app.
Häagen-Dazs officials today announced the introduction of the Häagen-Dazs Concerto Timer app, described as "the first iOS mobile app to integrate detailed 3D Kinect technology and video data that delivers a cutting edge augmented reality experience."
According to a press release, “The Concerto Timer app features two-minute-long music concertos that help consumers understand the exact amount of time needed to prepare their Häagen-Dazs ice cream in order to get the full, rich consistency and allow all the flavors to fully bloom. Allowing the ice cream to soften slightly – also called tempering – for two minutes enhances the texture and exposes fans to the craftsmanship of premium ingredients that is characteristic of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, gelato, sorbet and frozen yogurt."
So, basically, you download the free app, open your freezer and remove the Häagen-Dazs product, set it on your counter, and point your I-Phone at the lid of the cartoon. Voila! Two minutes of concerto music! Just the right amount of time to have your ice cream soften.
Now here's the good news for the bees: for every download, Häagen-Dazs will donate $5 to UC Davis bee research, up to $75,000.
Now that's a sweet gift!
Said Cady Behles, Häagen-Dazs brand manager: “The app concept came directly from our brand loyalists who recognized the necessity of tempering to enjoy all of the flavors in our ice cream. We took their feedback and developed an advanced mobile experience – something never seen before in the ice cream industry – that would be functional and also entertain them during the optimal time period.”
Developed by creative agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners and digital production company JAM3, the Häagen-Dazs Concerto Timer app is now available for download in the iTunes App Store.
The video begins with the text: "Just as wine needs to breathe, Haagen-Dazs ice cream needs to soften for two minutes. Now there’s a concerto for that."
Check out the online video at http://www.multivu.com/mnr/62528-haagen-dazs-mobile-concerto-timer-app-classical-music-preparing-ice-cream and read about the app. You can download the app from I-Tunes.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, home of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility and the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven thanks you; the bees thank you; and somewhere Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. (1907-2003), the father of honey bee genetics who devoted his entire life to the study of bees, must be smiling.
Sweet music indeed!
(Editor's Note: You can also donate to UC Davis bee research by accessing this page.)
