Test PB Collection: FTE

The Baxter House is no more. The UC Davis Fire Department burned it down yesterday. It's gone, along with assorted black widow spiders, scattered crane flies, munchkin termites and maybe a meandering ant or wandering fly or two. (After all, this is a "bug" blog.

The honey bee hive is not all sweetness. The first virgin queen bee to emerge from her cell (each queen cell resembles a peanut shell) will rid the colony of her competition. After emerging, the queen makes a mark on the other queen cells.

The bees are dropping like flies--in swimming pools all over northern California during this triple-digit heat wave. Honey bees collect water to aircondition their hive. They sip from bird baths, dripping faucets, water-splashed plants and even wet laundry hanging on the line.

A trip today to Marin County, with a side trip to the Marshall Post Office in Marshall, yielded a triple bonus. A bumble bee, a honey bee, and a syrphid or flower fly all were nectaring flowers on the post office grounds, located right across from a restaurant and marina we were visiting.

It's National Pollinator Week, and what a perfect time to welcome native pollinator specialist Neal Williams to the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. He's actually no stranger to UC Davis. He's been collaborating with researchers at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

They're as long and thin as darning needles. And, sometimes theyre as difficult to find as a needle in the proverbial haystack. These slender, frail-looking insects (below) are damselflies. They fly around ponds and streams and perch on plants near the shoreline.

Today, in honor of National Pollinator Week, we turn to the Picris echioides. Picris echioides? You either hate it or love it. Honey bees love it. Gardeners hate it. ?If you plant a lawn with Picris echioides, expect a visit from Code Compliance.

This week (June 22-28) is National Pollinator Week, and what better time to celebrate the honey bee than now? The White House Victory Garden, planted the first day of spring on part of the South Lawn, now has thousands of new residents: honey bees (Apis mellifera).

Quick! How many legs does a honey bee have? If you said "three pairs" or "six legs," you'd bee right. But have you ever noticed the honey bee in flight? The worker bee packs pollen in her pollen baskets or corbiculae, located on the midsegments of her outer hind legs.

President Obama caught a little flak when he smacked a fly during a recent press interview in the White House. During the interview, a pesky fly buzzed around his head and then landed on his hand. Big mistake. The commander-in-chief nailed him. The bug stopped there. "I got the sucker," he said.