Test PB Collection: FTE

Countywide projects available, Countywide Achievement Night, New Leader Orientations, National 4-H Week...

Now that's Italian! The Italian honey bee (below) nectaring on a zinnia at the University of California, Davis, is striking for two reasons: she's as gold as starthistle honey in the sunlight and she's a very young forager.

Seattle will be the place to "bee" on Oct. 4-7. That's where the Western Apicultural Society (WAS) will hold its annual meeting--and this year it's in conjunction with the Washington State Beekeepers' Association.

The photo just begs for a caption. The praying mantis, with a female sweat bee grasped in its spiked forelegs, suddenly turns its head to look at the photographer. Actually, three photographers: Davis insect photographers/bee enthusiasts Allan Jones and Gary Zamzow and I.

Spotted wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii has become a potential concern for strawberries following its damage to cherries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries in coastal California. Other species of Drosophila are morphologically not equipped to attack ripening strawberries.

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Dairy feed production is particularly amenable to conservation agricultural practices, according to four dairy operators featured in Part 4 of the Conservation Agriculture documentary series, released today on the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation website. (The video is also posted below.

Diggin' the digger bee... We spotted this female digger bee, Anthophora urbana, zooming in on some zinnias at UC Davis. She buzzed loudly, virtually owning the zinnia patch. Smaller sweat bees scattered.

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.

Don't look now, but a garden spider almost grabbed a tiger by the tail. The tiger? That would be the Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus. The ragged wings of the butterfly (below) show signs of a close encounter with a predator--maybe another spider, a praying mantis or a bird.