Backyard Orchard News
It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, It's...
It's a bird! It's a plane! Is it Superman? No, it's a bird dropping. If you're growing sweet...
The iconic anise swallowtail caterpillar is a pale green with black bands containing orange spots. This is probably the fifth instar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Dorsal view of an anise swallowtail caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This younger larva of the anise swallowtail resembles a bird dropping. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This anise swallowtail caterpillar is shedding its skin or molting, leaving its “bird dropping” skin behind. This is probably the third instar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An adult anise swallowtail nectaring on Verbena. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Flash of Orange: Welcome, California Tortoiseshell!
A flash of orange. Usually we see assorted orange butterflies--Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis...
A California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica) nectaring on a butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The California Tortoiseshell is bright orange with black spots on the wings, but the underside is a dullish gray-brown, resembling a dead leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This image of the California Tortoiseshell shows the dullish brown and gray underwings, a perfect camouflage. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sometimes it seems like forever before the California Tortoiseshell spreads its wings. This one did several times before it fluttered off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Five staff and one academic retire at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center in 2018
Five staff members and one academic based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, representing a total 148 years of service, were honored today with a luncheon to mark of their retirement.
Center director Jeff Dahlberg presented each retiree with a calendar signed by their colleagues and wished them well in retirement.
The retirees are:
Shedding Light on the Native Bees
When you visit the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden--named the...
Sarah Dalrymple, then a doctoral candidate at UC Davis, coordinated the bee mural in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Here are the artists who created the mural. Instructor Sarah Dalyrumple is in the group on the right, front row left. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
David James' Incredible Research on Migratory Monarchs
Newly published research by entomologist David James of Washington State University, Pullman,...
This male monarch, released by citizen scientist Steve Johnson of Ashland on Aug. 28, 2016, fluttered into Vacaville, Calif., on Sept. 5, a 457-kilometer journey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male monarch, No. 6093, sips nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia on Sept. 5, 2016. It traveled 457 kilometers from Ashland to Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A feast! This migrating monarch from Ashland, Ore., sipped nectar from a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
WSU entomologist David James, wearing a monarch t-shirt, with citizen-scientist inmates at Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla.
Monarchs overwintering in the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, in 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)