Posts Tagged: tropical milkweed
Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home!
Ladybug! Ladybug!Fly away home.Your house is on fireAnd your children are gone. How many...
A lady beetle positions itself on a tropical milkweed leaf, poised for flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All systems go! The lady beetle opens its elytra, revealing its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ready for liftoff? This lady beetle is good to go. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
And we're off! The lady beetle spreads its wings and is off. Photos taken with 105mm lens on Nikon D500; ISO 2000; shutter speed, 1/1000, and f-stop 16. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why Friday the 13th Is Not an Unlucky Day
Friday the 13th is not an unlucky day--not when migratory monarchs make a pit stop at your home on...
A male monarch nectaring on tropical milkweed on Friday the 13th in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch spreads its wings on a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Sneaky Cuckoo Bee
You could call it a slacker, a deadbeat, a moocher, a sponger, or a loafer. Or you could call it a...
A cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, sips nectar from a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora urbana, sips nectar from lavender. The cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, is a parasite of Anthophora. It lays eggs in the host's nest, resulting in death of the host's offspring. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Top-Bar Beekeeping Advocate Les Crowder to Speak at WAS Conference at UC Davis
Are top-bar beekeeping hives for you? What are their advantages and disadvantages as compared to...
Les Crowder examines a frame from his top-bar hive. A resident of Austin, Texas, he will speak Sept. 7 at the Western Apicultural Society conference at UC Davis.
A honey bee heads over the top of a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Monarch Butterflies Arrive!
A little haggard, a little worn, a little ragged, a little torn. But there she was on Monday, Aug....
A male monarch visits the Mexican sunflower patch in the Garvey pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oops! Time to leave. This male monarch was spooked by longhorn bees targeting him as he nectared on the Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female monarch stops at the tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch spreads its wings. She ended up laying eggs on the tropical milkweed and showy milkweed. Note how tattered she is--the predators missed!(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)