Posts Tagged: bees
The Water Girls
If you're struggling with triple-digit temperatures, think about the honey bees. They need to collect water for their colony to cool the hive so their brood can develop. And for other purposes. Just call them "The Water Girls." Lately the bees have...
A honey bee, its proboscis extended, collects water from the edges of a birdbath. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
For worker bees: Two's company, three's a crowd, and four is a work party. Bees collecting water from a birdbath. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
'The Water Girls'--six of them--collecting water at a Vacaville birdbath. Note the absence of birds. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee heading back to her colony after collecting water to cool down the hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bumble Bee's Beeline for a Rock Purslane
We miss the late Robbin Thorp, 1933-2019, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, who co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University Press, 2014). He loved to share...
Bombus fervidus, formerly known as B. californicus, makes a beeline for a rock purslane in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bombus fervidus cradles itself in a rock purslane in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bumble bee's proboscis is easily seen in this image. This is Bombus fervidus foraging on a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bombus fervidus exits a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bees, The Team, The Honor
When UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, recipient of a UC Davis Academic Senate's 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award, delivered his seminar at a recent luncheon in the UC Davis Conference Center, honey bees showed up, too. In...
UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal delivering his Academic Senate Faculty Distinguished Research Award lecture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Inside a honey bee colony: worker bees and the queen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bees Reign at Bohart Museum Open House
World Bee Day was May 20, but the Bohart Museum of Entomology celebrated it early--on May 19--with an open house on wild bees and managed bees. More than 300 attended the May 19th event, noted Tabatha Yang, education and outreach...
The Rachel Vannette lab engages the crowd at the Bohart Museum open house. In front, from back, are doctoral student Dino Sbardellati, associate professor Rachel Vannette, junior specialist Leta Landucci and doctoral candidate Lexie Martin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Doctoral student Peter Coggan of the laboratory of Santiago Ramirez, is ready for the crowd to arrive. Coggan studies the neurological and genetic basis of orchid bee courtship behavior and evolution. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Health physician Jaclyn Watkins (far left), co-leader of Brownie Troop 121 of Davis, watches as troop members listen to doctoral candidate Lexie Martin of the Rachel Vannette lab. The girls earned their Brownie Bug Badges. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Queen, The Workers, and The Drones
An unmarked queen bee isn't easy to spot. That was the consensus at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house when attendees tried to locate the queen in the bee observation hive at a table staffed by UC Davis graduate student Richard...
UC Davis entomology graduate student Richard Martinez encourages attendees to find the queen in the bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A very focused youngster asks UC Davis graduate student Richard Martinez a question about honey bees at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology graduate student explains how to identify the queen, male and the worker bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Queen bee (center) with workers and a drone (top right). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A worker bee (left) and a drone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)