Posts Tagged: California Bees and Blooms
Bumble Bees and Tithonia: Perfect Match
A perfect match: a bumble bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Lately we've been observing a bumble bee, identified as a California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, sipping nectar from the colorful orange blooms in...
A bumble bee, identified as a male Bombus californicus, foraging on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, peeks through the flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Over here is better. A male Bombus californicus foraging on a Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hello There, Little Leafcutter Bee
Hello there, little leafcutter bee! Yes, you, foraging on the sky-blue Chinese Forget-Me-Nots! You're just in time for National Pollinator Week! Leafcutter bees, family Megachilidae, are so named because the females cut leaves and petals ...
A leafcutter bee, family Megachilidae, peers at the photographer. "Here I am! It's National Pollinator Week." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The leafcutter bee continues foraging on the Chinese-Forget-Me-Nots. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The leafcutter bee ignores the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, I'm leaving now for another blossom." The leafcutter bee is about to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Exit Seminar on Oct. 18: Clara Stuligross, Ph.D., Is Passionate About Wild Bees
Clara Stuligross is passionate about wild bees, and you should be, too. Stuligross, who received her doctorate in ecology on Sept. 9 from UC Davis, will present her exit seminar, "Individual and Combined Effects of Resource and Pesticide Stressors...
A blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, heads toward Phalacia. (Photo by Clara Stuligross)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads toward a California golden poppy. Both are natives. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How to Find a Praying Mantis in the Wild
If you're trying to find a praying mantis in the wild, go where the food source is. Sounds pretty easy, right? But oh, they're camouflaged. They lie in wait, as ambush predators, and strike. Now you see the predator, now you don't. Where did it...
A praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, hides beneath an African blue basil leaf in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, hanging out in the African blue basil leaf, scouts for bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Find the Praying Mantis in the African Blue Basil
Honey bees absolutely love African blue basil. If there ever were a "bee magnet," this plant is it. We first learned of African blue basil, (Ocimum kilimandscharicum × basilicum 'Dark Opal'), through Gordon...
In this image, you can see two bees on the African blue basil. But can you find the praying mantis? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oh, there you are, praying mantis! Enjoying a little sunshine, hmm? This one is a male subadult male Stagmomantis limbata, as identified by mantis expert Lohit Garikipati, a UC Davis alumnus now studying for his master's degree at Towson (Maryland) University. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)