Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
Article

Have You Seen Me? Can You Identify Me?

May 19th, 2017
Have you seen me? Can you identify me? No, you're a skipper, but which one are you? The colorful brown skipper butterfly that touched down on our Jupiter's Beard in Vacaville, Calif., on May 17 puzzled us.
View Article
Article

Bears Raiding Bee Colonies: They're Seeking the Brood

May 18th, 2017
Yes, bears raid honey bee colonies. But it's primarily for the bee brood, not the honey. The brood provides the protein, and the honey, the carbohydrates. For beekeepers and commercial queen bee breeders, this can wreak havoc. Financial havoc.
View Article
Article

A Face Only a Mother Could Love?

May 17th, 2017
So there we were, on Mother's Day, looking at the yet-to-bloom English lavender in our yard. And there it was, something golden staring back at us. It was showing a face that "only a mother could love"--or an entomologist or an insect enthusiast. Scathophaga stercoraria, the golden dung fly.
View Article