Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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BEE BREEDER-GENETICIST Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, holds a frame of bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Co-Bee

December 9th, 2009
You won't find anyone more passionate about honey bees than Susan Cobey. Cobey, a bee breeder-geneticist and manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, has just received the California State Beekeepers' Association's 2009 Distinguished Service Award.
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BEEKEEPER Elizabeth Frost shows a miniature beehive candle she made from beeswax and a little paraffin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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At Wick's End

December 8th, 2009
Elizabeth Frost is at wick's end. When she's not tending the bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis or tending her own bees at home, she loves to make candles.
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A CREW recently planted the Campus Buzzway, a quarter-acre field of golden poppies, lupine and coreoposis, on Bee Biology Road, next the the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Burst of Buds, Blooms and Bees

December 7th, 2009
Next spring the Campus Buzzway at UC Davis will burst with buds, blooms and bees. The Campus Buzzway, a quarter-acre field of wildflowers, took root the third week of November when a crew planted golden poppies, lupine and coreopsis (tickseed).
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HONEY BEE nectaring a mutton bird sedge (Carex trifeda) at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Brush With a Bee and a Hummer

December 4th, 2009
A brush with a honey bee... A brush with a hummingbird... When we visited the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden recently, honey bees were nectaring the mutton bird sedge (Carex trifeda), a New Zealand native known for its upright floral spikes that resemble golden bottle brushes.
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BEEKEEPERS outside the window of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. At left is bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Laidlaw Facility and a veteran beekeeper. With her is junior specialist Elizabeth Frost. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Honey, I'm Home!

December 3rd, 2009
Youngsters like to joke about what a honey bee says when she returns to the hive: "Honey, I'm home!" Honey...what is it? The National Honey Board defines honey as "the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees.
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