Ongoing research

Pull up a lawn chair and watch the honey bees. They're buzzing around the Russian sage, gathering nectar. So focused are they that they don't seeem to mind the photographer sharing their space. So dedicated. So committed. So industrious. Wait, a honey bee is wearing a new hat.

Cmon, you know you want one. Who wouldnt want a horror skull stress ball to relieve the tension of today's world? Here's what you do. Take one stress ball. Place it in the palm of your hand and squeeze. From the eyeball socket pops out a membrane of assorted bugs.

Plumbers, especially a plumber named "Joe," are hogging the news a lot lately. But what about the carpenters? What about the carpenter bees? The carpenter bee, a black bee larger than a bumble bee, burrows into dead trees, logs and your unpainted or unvarnished fence posts or deck.

"Go ahead, make my day." So said actor Clint Eastwood, as the character Harry Callahan, in the 1983 movie, Sudden Impact, after a robber grabbed a hostage. "Dirty Harry" was known for blowing away the bad guys. Clashes and confrontations often ended with blow flies on bad guys.

Well, it's not really a Halloween butterfly, but it is orange. The Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) visits us more than the politicians do at Election Time. Last Sunday we spotted four Skippers in our backyard. Only two politicians skipped to our front door.

Remember the 1998 U.S. vice presidential debate when Sen. Lloyd Bentsen told Sen Dan Quayle: "I knew Jack Kennedy, and you're no Jack Kennedy!" Well, in the insect world, there's a fly that looks a lot like a honey bee, but it's no honey bee.

Ladybugs love our Russian sage. Ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles, eat aphids, which are pests in the garden. The ladybugs are welcome. The aphids are not. Belonging to the family Coccinellidae, ladybugs look resplendent in their bright red or orange wing covers, dotted with spots.

Pity the poor caterpillar. Here you are, minding your own business, and this tachinid fly comes along and lays eggs in your head. Good day for the tachinid fly. Bad day for the caterpillar.

If you've ever visited the Storer Gardens, UC Davis Aboretum, you've probably noticed the honey bees enjoying the cenizo(Leucophyllum frutescens), an evergreen shrub with silvery foliage and bell-shaped pinkish-lavender flowers.

We often hear of "cream of the crop," but the honey bee is the "queen of the crops." Honey bees are crucial to Californias $32 billion agriculture industry.