Backyard Orchard News
Bohart Museum Open House: 'Insects and U'
Mark your calendar! Here's an opportunity--especially for new students and prospective students at...
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on catmint. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photobomb! A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, photobombs a bee nectaring on bluebeard, Caryopteris x clandonensis. (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)
Flurry of Pink at Gold Ridge
There's a flurry of pink at the Gold Ridge. That would be the Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment...
A pink lady, Amaryllis belladonna, nearly swallows a foraging honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee trails the pink petals of a naked lady, Amaryllis belladonna. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Are Western Monarchs Heading for Extinction?
Are western monarch butterflies heading for extinction? A Sept. 7 article in Reuters, headlined...
A male monarch takes flight on Sept. 12 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch heads for another flower on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Startled, a male monarch abruptly leaves a tropical milkweed blossom, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Monarchs nectaring on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bright Face in the Garden: Banded Argiope
We have bright faces in our Vacaville, Calif., pollinator garden. The bright faces are usually...
A banded garden spider, Argiope trifasciata, stretches out near its wrapped bee in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
See the freeloader fly, family Milichiidae, feasting on the wrapped bee? Below it: the banded garden spider, Argiope trifasciata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the banded garden spider, Argiope trifasciata. Argiope is Latin for “with bright face” while trifasciata is Latin for “three-banded.” (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)