- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
People aren't the only ones favoring fava beans.
Fava beans growing in a raised bed in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are attracting honey bees, European paper wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, aphids and carpenter bees.
We saw all six insects on a trip to the haven last Friday.
While the honey bees and carpenter bees gathered nectar, the European paper wasps, lacewings and the ladybugs searched for prey. The ladybugs were also searching for mates.
The half-acre bee friendly garden, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus, is open year around from dawn to dusk. Admission is free. Visitors can conduct their own self-guided tours by following the signs and reading the plant labels. Groups that want a guided tour (the cost is $4 per person) can contact Christine Casey at cacasey@ucdavis.edu.
Meanwhile, life is good in the fava beans.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Meet a carpenter bee.
This one (below) is a male carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
It's also called a "mountain" or "foothill" carpenter bee.
When it slits the corolla of the flower--in this case, salvia--and bypasses the pollination process--this is called "nectar robbing."
The mountain/foothill carpenter bee is the smallest of the three species of carpenter bees in California, Thorp says. The other two are the Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, the largest, and the California carpenter bee, Xylocopa californica, the second largest.
The male of the Valley carpenter bee is a green-eyed blond and often referred to as a "teddy bear." The female of that species is solid black. And huge!
The California carpenter bee or Xylocopa californica is known for its distinctive distinctive bluish metallic reflections on the body, Thorp says. The females have dark smokey brown wings.
The one photographed below, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, is common in the center of the Central Valley, "probably due primarily to increased nest sites such as redwood arbors and fences," Thorp says. Although considered a pollinator instead of a pest, "it can be a pest when it gets into untreated redwood used for water tanks or structural timbers," Thorp points out. "The females are black with light smokey-colored wings. The male has bright yellow marks on the lower part of its face and some yellow hairs on the top front of its thorax."
You can see the yellow hair on the thorax.
And how big is the smallest of the three carpenter bees? "Much larger than a honey bee, but about half the size of the other two carpenter bees," Thorp says.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So you're sitting in your yard having your morning coffee, and you get buzzed--not a buzz from the caffeine but a buzz by a carpenter bee.
A male carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, is guarding the salvia, fending off all other male suitors as it waits for a female to arrive. Then, seeking a quick energy fix, our subject stops to rob the nectar (when carpenter bees slit the corolla, bypassing the pollination process, it's called "robbing the nectar").
We managed to photograph this male carpenter (below) in quick succession: (1) in flight (2) stealing the nectar and (3) jumping off the flower.
Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex is the smallest of the three carpenter bee species found in California, according to native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emertius professor of entomology at UC Davis. The other two species: X. varipuncta and X. californica. (See UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)
X. tatabaniformis orpifex may be the smallest, but you wouldn't know it by its buzz.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Just wanna be your teddy bear..."
When Elvis Presley sang that, his fans swooned.
Well, there are bee fans that can't get enough of the "teddy bear" bee, aka the male Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta).
It's often called a "golden bumble bee." Golden, it is. Bumble bee, it is not.
The female of this carpenter bee species is solid black.
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, spotted this male Valley carpenter bee yesterday in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research at UC Davis. He does research in the half-acre bee friendly garden. (By the way, it's located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus, and is open from dawn to dusk. There's no admission.)
We at UC Davis periodically receive phone calls about "golden bumble bees." The green-eyed, golden-haired carpenter bee does attract a lot of attention.
"Oh, let me be, your teddy bear."
Or better yet, let me "bee" your teddy bear.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Maybe not so nice to have around your untreated patio or fences (as they drill holls in them to make their nests) but just think of them as pollinators, not pests.
As native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, says: "Carpenter bees are beneficial in that they pollinate flowers in native plant communities and gardens. That far outweighs any damage to wood structures.”
We receive many calls and emails about carpenter bees. Many folks just want to know "what that loud buzz is" or "what's sharing our garden."
The other day we received an email from a carpenter bee enthusiast in Patterson who wanted to know how to keep attracting them to her garden.Yes!
She inquired: "I had a couple of female bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) visit my garden this summer, but they seemed only interested in Salvia apiana and citrus flowers. Do you have any idea of other flowers that might interest them (I would like to keep them around longer)? Prefer California native plants."
Thorp responded: "Xylocopa varipuncta is a generalist flower visitor and has been recorded from a number of different kinds of flowers. Some natives you might consider include: Asclepias, Salvia, Trichostema, and Wislizenia for nectar; Eschscholzia and Lupinus for pollen.
Asclepias? The milkweeds. Salvia? Sages. Trichostema? The culinary herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary, oregano, lavender, and thyme. Wislizenia? Think Wislizenia refracta, also called by its common name, jackass clover. Eschscholzia? California poppies. Lupinus? Lupines.
In our yard, carpenter bees are partial to a variety of native and non-native plants, including salvia, lavender, catmint, rock purslane, purple oregano and African blue basil. They also like the golden day lilies and poppies.