Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

Primary Image
CARNIOLAN HONEY BEE, a dark bee, is drenched from falling into a swimming pool. She is magnum black. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Gone Fishin'

July 20, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's not just two-legged humans that take a dip in the pool. So do six-legged honey bees searching for water. When temperatures soar, honey bees scramble to collect water for their colony. They release droplets of water in the hive as their hardworking sisters fan their wings to "cool it.
View Article
Primary Image
THIS GNAT-SIZED insect with a red abdomen is a female cuckoo sweat bee from the genus Sphecodes. Fished out of a swimming pool, it is crawling around on a net. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Seeing Red

July 17, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Its triple-digit hot and youre relaxing in a swimming pool when suddenly you realize you have company. A knat-sized insect with a red abdomen lands next to you. It looks like a wasp. No, it looks like a bee.
View Article
Primary Image
BRUCE HAMMOCK knows how to dodge water balloons and he'll do so again Friday at Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs

July 16, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The economy is tanked. The cuts keep coming. The smiles fade. Not tomorrow. Friday afternoon, July 17 is the seventh annual Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs.
View Article
Primary Image
HONEY BEE nectars an almond blossom. This is one of the photos appearing on Cooperative Extension's newly launched Bee Health Web site. California's 700,000 acres of almonds require two hives per acre for pollination. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Bee-utiful Work!

July 15, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees--what do you know about them? Do you know what the queen bee, worker bees and drones do? Do you know why bees swarm? Do you want to learn to be a beekeeper? Or, if you already are a beekeeper, how do you keep your hives healthy? If you're a researcher, what are your colleagues doing?
View Article
Primary Image
BLOSSOM BOUND, a pollen-packing honey bee heads toward a Peter Pan Agapanthus, a dwarf version of Lily of the Nile. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

The Peter Pan Bees

July 14, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Peter Pan vowed he'd never grow up. "I won't grow up!" yelled the boy, a figment of a Scottish novelist's imagination. "I won't grow up!" So it is with Peter Pan Agapanthus (Agapanthus africanus), a dwarf version of a spectacular flower known as Lily of the Nile. It won't grow up.
View Article
Primary Image
BEE SWARM on a limb near Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. This telephoto was taken from the third floor of Briggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Bee Swarm at Briggs

July 13, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Eagle-eyed Carol Nickles saw it first. The graduate student coordinator for the UC Davis Department of Entomology spotted the bee swarm from a third-floor window of Briggs Hall. There it was, swaying on a tree branch, about 25 feet above the ground.
View Article
Primary Image
A HONEY BEE rolls around in a poppy, the California state flower.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Just Bee-Cause

July 10, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Sometimes you don't think about the declining bee population when you see a pollen-dusted honey bee rolling around in a poppy blossom, but colony collapse disorder (CCD) is still with us. Pollinator protection is a must. That's why we were glad to see the U. S.
View Article
Primary Image
FIND THE INSECT. Yes, there's an insect in this photo. Under the top blackberry leaf is a "walking leaf" (lighter green). Walking leaves are a big attraction at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

These 'Leaves' Are Made for Walking

July 9, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Two newly moulted insects in the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, look just like leaves. But these leaves are made for walking. These are camouflaged insects (Phyllium giganteum), commonly known as "walking leaves." They're green, wide, and flat.
View Article
Primary Image
A CARPENTER BEE graces the cover of the current edition of California Agriculture. This spectacular photo is the work of Rollin Coville. See the California Agriculture journal online at http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/.
Bug Squad: Article

A Salute to California Agriculture

July 8, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Do you recognize the native bee that graces the cover of the current edition of California Agriculture, a peer-reviewed journal published by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources? Yes, it's a carpenter bee.
View Article
Primary Image
PINK BLOSSOMS of this cactus, Echinopsis, rise majestically, but if you look closely, this plant has company. It harbors plant bugs (see photos below). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Marvelous Mirids

July 7, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So, you spot a bug crawling up and down a plant in your garden. What is it? Plant bug. Plant bug? No kidding. The common name for certain members of the Miridae family is--you guessed it--"plant bug.
View Article