Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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A male valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, engaging in nectar robbing; he's sipping nectar through a hole in the base of a foxglove blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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How a 'Bear' Can Outsmart a Fox

May 30th, 2022
There's a way for a bear to outsmart a fox. A teddy bear bee, that is. We just witnessed a male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, aka "the teddy bear bee," buzz up to a patch of foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea. Then he engaged in the foraging behavior known as nectar-robbing.
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