Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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Rain drops falling on a lady beetle, aka ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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What's That Wet Stuff?

December 11th, 2014
What's that wet stuff falling from California skies? Could it be the "R" word, rain? Or what Wikipedia calls "liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitatedthat is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity?" It is.
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A Gulf Fritillary laying an egg in the dead of winter on a passionflower leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Go Lay an Egg? And She Did!

December 10th, 2014
Nobody really bats an eye when a chicken lays an egg. That's what we expect them to do. But when a butterfly lays an egg, that's a different story--especially in December.
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Rachael Long (left) and Corky Quirk talk about bats at an educational program at the Avid Reader, Davis. Quirk is holding a bat that's feeding on a mealworm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Curious About Bats?

December 9th, 2014
Curious about those insect-eating bats? Yolo County Farm Advisor Rachael Freeman Long, who has been researching and writing about bats for 20 years, has two colonies of bats at her ranch in Woodland.
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Shaun Winterton of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, an associate of the Bohart Museum, collected this stiletto fly, genus Agapophytus, and photographed it. It now needs a name. (Shaun Winterton Photo)
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The Perfect Gift

December 8th, 2014
So you're thinking about a holiday gift for someone who has everything. You've racked your brain trying to think of the perfect gift. Nothing. You can think of nothing. Nothing is not good. Nothing can get you in big trouble. VERY. BIG. TROUBLE.
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