Backyard Orchard News
Rolling in the Mustard
A sure sign of spring: honey bees foraging on mustard. You'll see mustard growing as cover crops...
A honey bee foraging on mustard on Sunday, March 18 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Full speed ahead: "gold dust" or mustard pollen covers the head of this honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Look closely and you can see the proboscis (tongue) of this honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
And she's off! A honey bee caught in flight as she leaves a mustard blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wearing o' the Green
On St. Patrick's Day, we see green. We crave green. We wear green. And the penalty for not wearing...
A close-up of a male green sweet bee, Agapostemon texanus, nectaring on a coneflower, Rudbeckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Saving a Spider
I did not save a spider yesterday. Did not save one today, either. Well, if I had seen...
A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis, encounters a Phidippus, jumping spider in an almond tree on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A blanketflower, Gaillardia, was a perfect meeting place for this crab spider and a bee, Halictus tripartitus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A crab spider dining on a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's Tough Being a Bee During the Springlike Rains
It's tough being a bee--especially when you have work to do and the rain won't let you out of your...
A honey bee pollinating a nectarine blossom in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A foraging honey bee takes a liking to a nectarine blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bumble Bees on the Move
Bumble bees stole the show during the Graduate Student Poster Research Competition at the fourth...
A bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis doctoral student John Mola won the Graduate Student Research Poster Competition at the UC Davis Bee Symposium with his work on bumble bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis doctoral student Maureen Page stands by her research poster on honey bees that won second place at the UC Davis Bee Symposium. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis doctoral student John Mola explains his research to the judging panel. From left are Mea McNeil, timer; Santiago Ramirez of the UC Davis Evolution and Ecology faculty; Tom Seeley of Cornell, the keynote speaker at the symposium; and Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis doctoral student Maureen Page tells judges that honey bees may have negative impacts on native bees and native plant communities in certain contexts. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The panel of judges conferring. In the foreground is timer Mea McNeil. In back (from left) are judges Robbin Thorp and Santiago Ramirez of UC Davis, and Tom Seeley of Cornell. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)