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.

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.

If you head over to the California State Fair, which opened July 14 and continues through July 31, be sure to check out the Insect Pavilion at "The Farm."

It's a treasure house of not only insects, but spiders and assorted other critters.

At the entrance, tuck your head inside the monarch butterfly cutout and have someone take your photo. You can be "Butterfly for the Day."

Then it's off to see the "live" monarchs, a few steps away. The contrast between the painted cutout and the real insects is startling. Nature does a much better job!

Other highlights at the Insect Pavilion include honey bees, wasps and spiders.

The site probably should be called "The Bug Pavilion" because some of the critters, such as spiders, aren't insects.

Beekeeper Brian Fishback of Wilton, a member of the California State Beekeepers' Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, provided the bee observation hive.

Parents exclaim to their children: "Look! Bees!"

Then they usually point out that bees make honey and "No, honey, they can't sting you; they're behind glass."

It shouldn't be about stinging. It should be about their pollination services, not their defensive mechanism. Bees pollinate one-third of the food we eat.

However, a walk through the nearby vegetable garden buzzes home the point that honey bees are invaluable.

Next Tuesday, July 26, the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis will display live insects and specimens at The Big Bugs attraction at the state fair, according to Tabatha Yang, the Bohart's education and outreach coordinator. The specimens will be in the "oh, my" drawers--so called, she says, because that's what folks say when they see them: "Oh, my!"

Blue damselflies should be on "Dancing with Stars."

Because, in many respects, they ARE the stars--the stars of the insect world.

They're slender, delicate and beautiful dancers that look like blue-stick diamonds.

Damselflies are often confused with dragonflies, which are in the same order, Odonata, but in a different suborder.  Both are predators.  Damselflies, however, hold their wings parallel to the body. They're usually smaller than dragonflies and don't move as fast.

But if you stalk them, they're leery. If you shadow them, these needlelike insects vanish in a flash of blue.

Fossil records show that dragonflies and damselflies lived on earth 300 million years ago. Ancient insects, indeed.

The best time to photograph damselflies is in the early morning when they're warming their flight muscles. Sometimes they'll perch motionless on a plant as if they're posing.

Poet-playwright William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) asked "How can we know the dancer from the dance?"

We can't.