Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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High Society--with Bad Breath?

September 8th, 2016
It was right where it belonged--by the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. As I returned from a meeting in the building today, something green caught my eye. A praying mantis was hanging out on the society garlic. Was it eating any prey? No, not this time.
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A WSU-Tagged Monarch: What a Traveler!

September 6th, 2016
What are the odds? What are the odds? A monarchthe most special monarch ever--fluttered over our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. on Monday afternoon, Sept. 5 and touched down on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).
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Yellowjacket or Paper Wasp?

September 2nd, 2016
Western yellowjackets, nicknamed "meat bees" (as opposed to the "vegetarian honey bees") are often misidentified. A recent visitor at a camp in the Sierra Nevada mountain range witnessed a large number of wasps and stinging behavior.
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