So here's this praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, tucked beneath a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden.

She's as still as a stone, and you know how still stones are.

Along comes a honey bee, Apis mellifera. She's packing a load of orange pollen. She lands on the blossom and begins foraging.

She does not see the mantis, commonly known as "the European mantis."

The mantis sees her.

What happened?

Well, Ms. Bee continued to forage, oblivious to the predator and the pending danger, and then buzzed away.

Ms. Mantis remained as still as a stone.

And then, she, too, took flight...in the opposite direction.

No prayers answered today--for the mantis. 

Photographers call the first hour after dawn and the last hour before dusk "The Golden Hour."

That's when the sunlight is softer and warmer.

It's also called "The Magic Hour."

Compare that to high noon, when the sun casts such strong highlights and shadows on the subject that even images of Miss Universe and Miss America look harsh.

Now if you photograph a golden honey bee during The Golden Hour, the world looks even warmer and softer. 

But use the term, Golden Hour, figuratively. As Wikipedia explains: "The term hour is used figuratively; the effect has no clearly defined duration and varies according to season and latitude. The character of the lighting is determined by the sun's altitude, and the time for the sun to move from the horizon to a specified altitude depends on a location's latitude and the time of year. In Los Angeles, California, at an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset, the sun has an altitude of about 10–12°. For a location closer to the Equator, the same altitude is reached in less than an hour, and for a location farther from the equator, the altitude is reached in more than one hour. For a location sufficiently far from the equator, the sun may not reach an altitude of 10°, and the golden hour lasts for the entire day in certain seasons."

The honey bee (below), foraging on a blanket flower, Gaillardia, couldn't discuss Golden Hours, seasons, latitude and longitude with you. But she knows how to return to her colony (which could be five miles away) and how to communicate with the other bees. And that, too, is Golden.

Dr. George Stock enters the museum as half a bee; all he needs are the head, boots and gloves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Yes! 

That was the scene at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Annual Children's Party, held Thursday morning, Aug. 8 in the museum courtyard on Buck Avenue.

The event, open to children ages 3 and 9, drew a capacity crowd. One of the highlights was The Honey Bee, with a smile as wide as the Sacramento River.

Inside the smiling bee costume was Dr. George Stock (retired physician), who practiced in the Fairfield/Vacaville area for more more than 30 years. A native Californian, he was born and raised in San Diego.

He lives in Vacaville with his life partner, Debbie, for 40-plus years, and "two dogs that changed our lives." He describes himself as a "Sierra hiker, itinerant gardener and wine aficionado."

And now, a honey bee. "Dr. George" handed out honey sticks donated by "Queen Bee" Amelia Harris of the Z Food Specialty/The Hive, Woodland, retired director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. He stood near a bee observation hive displayed by beekeeper Ettamarie Peterson of Petaluma, known fondly as "The Queen Bee of Sonoma County." A retired teacher, she is a past president of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association and is a longtime beekeeping leader with the Liberty 4-H Club.

"That was fun," Dr. George said. "I think the Mickey Mouse/Disney routine worked well. Don't say much, dance and wave your hands, pat ‘em on the head, hold still for photo ops. Thank you for this opportunity." Vacaville residents Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin co-chaired the event, themed "Fun on the Farm."

The California Master Beekeeper Program, directed by associate professor of Cooperative Extension Elina Niño, based in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, loaned the costume to the Vacaville Museum Guild for the day. The Bee has appeared at special events, including the annual California Honey Festival in Woodland.

And now at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party, where there was a doctor in the house, the courtyard and in the bee costume.

A honey bee flies over the head of a male praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

He's a male Mantis religiosa, as slim as a string bean, and scanning his environment.

We're accustomed to seeing see the native Stagmomantis limbata in our garden, and not M. religiosa, the European mantis, which is found throughout Europe, Asia,  Africa, and North America.

"Males are often found to be more active and agile, whereas females are physically more powerful," according to Wikipedia. "Adult females are generally too large and heavy for their wings to enable a take-off...The great variation in the coloration of M. religiosa from different shades of yellow, brown, green, and sometimes black has been the cause of numerous hypotheses and studies for over 100 years.However, no generally accepted answer about reason, benefit, or mechanism of the coloration or the change of coloration has been found."

The male is apparently quite good at avoiding sexual cannibalism during mating.  Wikipedia says: "Instead of just observing them, sexually mature males approach sexually mature females when they see them, but due to the physical superiority of the females, males of M. religiosa face certain challenges in doing so. When a female spots a male, she is very likely to attack and kill him (see also: Sexual cannibalism). Therefore, males can be observed to be very slow and cautious in their approach; after spotting a female, the male usually freezes and turns his head to look directly at her. Since the foveae in his eyes face directly forwards, he has the most accurate and detailed view of her and can watch every one of her moves. He then proceeds to approach her from behind. Males can be observed to stop as soon as the female turns her head or even moves. Mantids are very good at detecting moving structures, but are almost unable to see immobile objects. Using this ‘stop-and-go' tactic, the male stalks closer to the female. This can often take several hours. Depending on the environment, males sometimes show a light ‘rocking'-behavior which is believed to imitate the leaves of surrounding plants to blend in with the background. Males doing this had no higher probability of being detected and attacked, which supports this hypothesis of concealment."

We asked praying mantis scientist Lohit Garikipati about this European species. He holds a bachelor's degree from UC Davis and a master's degree from Towson University, Md., and is now PhD-bound at the Richard Gilder Graduate School in the American Museum of Natural History in the Jessica Ware lab.

"In my time at Davis I observationally did--they hold a special place for me as they were the first species that ever kept and raised in captivity!" said Garikapti, who shared his mantises and expertise at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses.  "But they also highlighted to me the potential impact of invasive species on both native mantis species but also prey populations--as low foliage and ground dwelling predators, they have a different niche from S. limbata, and may be contributing to the decline of native Litaneutria (even as they have for the California mantis, Stagmomantis wheelerii). Adult females have also been observed feeding on fence lizards, without much apparent effort as they can take lizards even larger than they are. All of these factors combined with their cryptic ooth (ootheca) deposition and large clutch size have made them one of the most if not the most successful mantis species on the planet - they tolerate both cold and hot climates being found in deserts to temperate forests and now have a Holarctic distribution."

Garikipati related that in the Ware lab, he will be "investigating the evolutionary relationships of praying mantises and what drove their diversity."

We look forward to hearing more from Lohit! As for our buddy, the male M. religiosa, he took flight. (See video on YouTube).