- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Be careful when you're harvesting an artichoke.
You might find a European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) hunting for a little protein, such as ants, flies and tiny bees to carry back to its nest.
Entomologist Whitney Cranshaw of Colorado State University writes in one of his fact sheets that "European paper wasps rear their young on live insects. They do not produce nuisance problems around outdoor dining that characterize scavenging species, such as the western yellowjacket. European paper wasps will sometimes feed on sweet materials, including honeydew produced by aphids. On rare occasions, they also may feed and damage ripe fruit."
Don't consider the European paper wasp a pest. "European paper wasps have become one of the most important natural controls of many kinds of yard and garden insects," Cranshaw writes. "Most commonly they feed on caterpillars, including the larvae of hornworms, cabbageworms, and tent caterpillars. Sawfly larvae are also commonly taken prey."
As its name implies, it's a native of Europe. Says Cranshaw: 'The European paper wasp is the common paper wasp of Europe. It was first found in North America in the 1970s in the Boston area. Since then it has spread rapidly to much of the northern half of the United States and British Columbia."
Volunteers at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis, recently spotted a paper wasp nest on a lush growth of grey musk sage.
As the paper wasps tended and guarded their nest, honey bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees gathered nectar.
The bees: vegetarians. The wasps: carnivores.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ten tenants.
That's how many tenants are occupying our wooden bee block, aka "bee condo."
It's "home, sweet home" for leafcutting bees (Megachile spp.).
Daily we see these native bees tear holes in leaves (red bud, rose, catmint, gold coin, rock purslane and nectarine) and gather the fragments to line their nests.
Folks who grow prize-winning roses--the kind that win blue ribbons at county fairs and rose shows--aren't fond of these little critters, but we are.
Especially when we see two leafcutters at the bee condo at the same time...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, to go through life being called a "short fat fly."
Such is the case with a specific tachinid fly (family Tachinidae, genus Gymnosoma), which we spotted on a coreopsis (aka tickseed) growing along a Fort Bragg cliff.
It's an odd-looking fly. Its abdomen resembles a ladybug or lady beetle. Its head--definitely a fly. (Gymno is Greek for naked, and soma means body.)
"Its larvae are parasites on stink bugs," said native polliantor specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
Check out another image on bugguide.net.
Well, it's good that this ladybug mimic rids the world of a few more stink bugs!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Every once in a while you see it.
And it's a real treat--especially when it's a bee garden that's synonomous with treat.
We tracked the black-faced bumble bee (Bombus californicus) in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly demonstration garden at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.
Her nectaring preferrence left no doubt: grey musk sage (Salvia "Pozo Blue"). She serendipitously posed by the identification label.
Another bumble bee species common to the garden is the yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii).
But only Bombus californicus posed.
The garden, located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus, is open from dawn to dusk. There's no admission. It's a joy to walk the paths featuring vegetables, fruits, nuts (almonds) and ornamentals.
Just don't forget to bring your camera.
Bombus californicus might pose for you.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
For at least three days, he visited our yard.
He swooped over our fish pond and swimming pool and returned each time to perch on a tomato stake in the vegetable garden.
We nicknamed him "Big Red." Big Red? Actually, a flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata), native to western North America.
Our presence never bothered him. Our excitement at seeing him never bothered him. My macro lens poked a couple of inches from his face never bothered him.
I captured his image from above (bird's eye view), from the sides (both sides now!) and from beneath (bug's eye view).
No worries.
It was only when I popped a barbell-like ring flash on the 105 macro lens that he stirred. Whoops! That was a bit big. He lazily took off and then returned--with a native bee in his mouth.
One day Big Red sat on his perch for three hours, periodically leaving to snag insects, then methodically returning to eat them.
On the fourth day, he disappeared. We haven't seen him since.
I suspect Big Red proved to be an easy catch for a hungry bluejay.