Backyard Orchard News
Honey Is Not Bee Vomit
For years, uninformed folks have declared that honey is "bee vomit." It's not. These things are...
Honey is not bee vomit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How to Pin a Butterfly
How do you pin and spread a butterfly? Entomologist Jeff Smith, an associate at the Bohart Museum...
Entomologist Jeff Smith shows Cassidy Hansen fof Rio Vista how to pin a butterly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Cassidy Hansen works on a butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the project. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A white-lined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The white-lined sphinx moth has a long proboscis (tongue). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why Do Honey Bees Die When They Sting
"Why do honey bees die when they sting?" That's the question PBS Newshour asked Extension...
A honey bee embeds its stinger in the wrist of Eric Mussen and then tries to pull away. Note the abdominal tissue trailing. (This is an actual photo of a bee sting; it was not posed.) (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee has pulled away to die, leaving the stinger and abdominal tissue behind. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A, B, and C: What They Really Stand for...
Give me an "A" (for excellence). Give me a "B" (for bee). Give me a "C" (for Cosmos). Watching...
Honey bee heading for a Cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All the right moves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The grand entrance. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The reward: nectar and pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hide the Cactus!
Hide the cactus! There's a Mexican cactus fly in our midst. A large black fly hovers over a...
Black hover fly, aka Mexican cactus fly, sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of the black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Mexican cactus fly ready to take off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)