Backyard Orchard News
The Year 2017: 'Survival of the Flittest'
How would you describe the year 2017? Survival of the fittest? In the insect world, it's more...
Have you ever seen a male long-horned bee (Melissodes agilis) doing a protective fly-by, trying to save a food source for the female of his species? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Have you ever seen a male long-horned bee (Melissodes agilis) challenging a Western tiger swallowtail seeking nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)?(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Have you ever seen a Melissodes agilis targeting a Western tiger swallowtail? A tiger by the tail? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Have you ever seen a syrphid fly targeting a honeydew-laden lady beetle, aka ladybug, on a rose? This is an Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) and a syrphid fly, a Scaeva pyrastri, according to Martin Hauser of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Have you ever seen a honey bee and bumble bee racing for the nectar on catmint (Nepeta)? The bumble bee is a Bombus melanopygus.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Surprise! A Little Brown Package in the UC Davis Arboretum
Surprise! Surprise! You never know what you'll see when you're strolling through the 100-acre UC...
A praying mantis egg case or ootheca, clings to a Mexican grass tree, Dasylirion longissimum, in the UC Davis Arboreum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From a distance, the ootheca on the Mexican grass tree can easily be spotted--if you're looking for it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The ootheca or praying mantis egg case above is probably the work of a Stagmomantis limbata, like this one, shown here feasting on a honey bee in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photobombing a Honey Bee
Ready? Set? Go? The search party is almost ready to start. If you're lucky, you'll net the prize...
A cabbage white butterfly photobombs a honey bee on a bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis). This image was taken in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Joy, oh, joy, another photobomb opportunity! The cabbage white circles the honey bee nectaring on bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
They Hop and They Suck!
You've seen them. You've seen them hop. They're aptly named. Leafhoppers are tiny insects (family...
Two leafhoppers sharing a black sage leaf in Vacaville, Calif. They are Typhlocybinae leafhoppers, Eupteryx decemnotata, according to Robert Lord Zimlich of BugGuide.Net. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Leafhoppers generally are varying shades of green, yellow, or brown, and often mottled," according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. This one is a Eupteryx decemnotata on black sage (Salvia mellifera) in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Monarch Kind of Christmas
Merry Christmas has always been merry, but it's better with butterflies! Isn't everything better...
Last year at this time, we saw four monarchs eclose in our small-scale rearing project. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed butterfly is a special holiday greeting. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed monarch spreads its wings. It's symbol of hope, love, joy, change, transformation, strength and endurance. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)