- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You know the drill, lay 'em on the tendrils.
But Gulf Fritillary butterflies, Agraulis vanillae, don't always lay their eggs on the tendrils of their host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora) although textbooks may indicate that.
We've seen Gulf Frits lay eggs on and under the Passiflora leaves, on the stems, on the blossoms, and on nearby fence posts and screen doors.
Hey, Gulf Frits, are you trying to tell us something? Don't you like the accommodations?
But the other day, we saw a Gulf Frit executing acrobatic moves to deposit an egg on a tendril. A little breakdancing, Lindy hopping, pole-climbing, scooting, rolling, hooping and juggling--and she's done.
The egg is tiny, bright yellow and pinpoint in size. It will probably hatch, but the larva or caterpillar may not make it.
Currently we have several California scrub jays enjoying an all-you-can-eat caterpillar buffet every morning. They sit on the fence, swoop down, grab a 'cat, and look for more.
There's always food in a pollinator garden. A Cooper's hawk that hangs out in the birdbath knows that, too.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Okay, boys, listen up!
You're the Lucky Seven!
Count yourselves. There are seven of you--seven male Melissodes agilis bees--sleeping on a single spent Mexican sunflower blossom (Tithonia rotundifola).
Do you know how lucky you are?
No, not that you escaped the hungry flameskimmer dragonfly patrolling the yard on July 7. Or the cunning spider building its web.
You're the Lucky Seven!
Forget the Seven Deadly Sins, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Seven Wonders of the World, Seven Seas, Seven Continents and Seven Days of the Week. Forget about Willie Nelson singing "Seven Spanish Angels." Forget about the time that George Constanza suggested a baby be named "Seven" in Season 7 of Seinfeld. See? Seven. Season 7. Seinfeld.
Yes, fellas, you "bee" the Lucky 7.
Your cluster grew to seven last night as you slumbered away on Cloud Nine, no predators in sight.
Seventh Heaven!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They're not, of course.
And neither are butterflies always "pretty." They can be "pretty gross," according to a delightful children's picture book, "Butterflies Are Pretty...Gross," by Rosemary Mosco with illustrations by Jacob Souva.
Yes, they can.
Mosco is a science writer and naturalist who tells it like it is, not how we want it to be. No sugar-coating. No candy-coating. No coats.
It's all there: "Warning — this book contains top-secret information about butterflies! Prepare to be shocked and grossed out by this hilarious and totally true picture book introduction to a fascinating insect."
Impersonating a "pretty" butterfly, Mosco relates that "We flutter through meadows, we pose on fancy flowers, we show off our wings, we shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow."
Then she cautions "Don't turn the page. Close the book. You're done. The story's over. Nothing to see here."
Oh, but there is!
Mosco goes on to tell us what butterflies land on, what they eat, what they slurp and other scientific facts. (We won't spoil the endings.)
It's a fantastic book--especially for those interested in science--as she covers the metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult. Readers, both children and adults, will learn something new on each page.
Mosco mentions seven butterfly species, including the Monarch, Danaus plexippus; Harvester, Feniseca tarquinius; Alcon Blue, Phengaris alcon; Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome; Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes; Red-Banded Hair Streak, Calycopis cecrops; and Julia Heliconian, Dryas iulia.
Butterflies, she points out, taste with their feet, and a Monarch mama "tastes the leaves" before laying her eggs. Then she asks "What if your parents stuck their feet in your cereal before you ate it?"
Can't you just hear young readers or listeners yelling "Yecch"? (Remembrances of the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology tours when the guides say "Don't say yecch! Say interesting!" And they do!)
Mosco's passion for insects shines through in this book. You may remember her as the co-author of the New York Times' bestseller, "The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid." The colorful illustrations are kid-friendly and as memorable as the text.
Yes, Rosemary Mosco does have a favorite butterfly. And it's not the Monarch. The author, who lives in New England, says it's the Guava Skimmer, Phocides polybius. Native to the Americas, this species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793.
"It's a tropical butterfly," says butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology. "In the United States, it's recorded only as a stray from Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas."
"This species (Phocidespolybius) is nearly everyone's favorite," according to the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) of South Texas. "The adult often makes long stops at flowers allowing for excellent photographs to be taken."
(Editor's Note: For information on butterflies found in the Central Valley of California, access Professor Art Shapiro's research website. He has been studying butterfly populations in the valley since 1972.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's early morning and the spider is hungry.
It snares a honey bee foraging for pollen and nectar in a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden.
The spider slides down the sticky web, kills its prey with a venomous bite, and begins to eat.
The spider is not alone. It soon has unexpected dining partners: tiny freeloader flies (family Milichiidae) who did no work but insist on their share of the free food.
Indeed, orbweavers are artists. Wrote Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) in her poem, "The Spider as an Artist":
The spider as an artist
Has never been employed
Though his surpassing merit
Is freely certified.
Today was a good day for an unemployed artist, freely certified, too--and a good day for the freeloaders, certified hungry.
Emily Dickinson? She wrote many poems with references to such arthropods as bees, spiders, butterflies, flies and gnats,
Emily Dickinson's Arthropods
"By my count, 180 of Dickinson's 1,775 poems refer to one or more arthropods," wrote U.S. Army medical entomologist (retired) Louis C. Rutledge in The American Entomologist, summer of 2003.
Who knew?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You want to let Big Red to stay in.
This male flameskimmer hung out in our pollinator garden in Vacaville on July 3 for a little over five hours. He perched on a bamboo stake, periodically circled to grab a few bees, and then returned to his post to eat them.
Flameskimmers, Libellula saturata, are a joy to watch as they circle, curve and dip to snatch their prey in flight. When they perch, they sometimes look like a biplane.
If you love dragonflies, note that the Bohart Museum of Entomology created an educational poster, "Dragonflies of California," the work of then doctoral candidate Fran Keller (now a professor at Folsom Lake College) and naturalist/photographer Greg Kareofelas of Davis. It focuses on 18 dragonflies commonly found in the Golden State. Keller is now a professor at Folsom Lake College. The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens, is temporarily closed to the public due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions but the gift shop is online.
Kareofelas identified this flameskimmer as a male.
After an afternoon sunning and dining in our garden, Big Red left for parts unknown.
He was back today to stake out his claim and snatch a few more bees (in this case, Melissodes agilis and Svastra obliqua expurgata). Table for one? He needs no reservations, no menu and no wait staff.
