Backyard Orchard News
Let Us Prey!
Everybody eats in the pollinator garden. Everybody. The pollinators in our garden in Vacaville,...
A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by Andrew Pfeifer) clings to a showy milkweed leaf as she dines on a longhorn bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis is a cunning predator. The score: praying mantis: 1. Longhorn bee: 0. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Nature's way; praying mantis devours her meal. The longhorn bee, probably a Melissodes agilis, erred in flying too close to the predator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
After her meal, the praying mantis climbs toward the top of the milkweed to look for more "meal movement." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Beetle Boys Meet at the Bohart
The Beatle Boys made their mark in Liverpool, but across the pond, specifically at the Bohart...
The Beetle Boys, both recipinets of Coleoperists Society Youth Inventive Awards: Noah Crockette (left) of Sacramento, and Quincy Hansen of Arvada, Colo. (Photo by Tabatha Yang)
The Bee and the Tiger
Talk about a butterfly ballet... A large Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, with a...
A male longhorn bee, probably a Melisoddes agilis, targets a Western tiger swallowtail nectaring on Tithonia in Vacavile, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Butterfly ballet--The startled Western tiger swallowtail takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Western tiger swallowtail, interrupted by a male territorial longhorn bee, decides the Mexican sunflower is not "big enough for both of us." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Persistent Western tiger swallowtail selects another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ever Seen a Snakefly?
Have you ever seen a snakefly? Not a snake. Not a fly. A snakefly! They're predators but rarely...
A snakefly, genus Agulla, snared in a spider web in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The snakefly, a predator, struggles in the spider web. The spider is out of sight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
In the end, the score was: Spider, 1; snakefly, 0. (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)