The praying mantis glared at me. It was not afraid of me, my camera, or my jockeying around to get a better position. When I captured the image (below) last fall in a neighbor's garden, I decided that in 2009, I would get my very own praying mantis. Or maybe dozens of them.

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TEAM B.E.E.S.--These high school students from Allendale, N.J., are learning to be beekeepers and are educating the public about the importance of bees. From left are Camila Robbins, Bryan DiBlasi, Malith Waharaka, Colin Bassett, and Manny Gonzalez. However, Allendale prohibits backyard beekeeping. They're lobbying to change the ordinance.

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What Would We Do Without the Bees?

January 16th, 2009

Dianne DiBlasi is frustrated. Shes the advisor of Team B.E.E.S. (Bergen Environmental Effort to Save Bees), a group of six high school students in Allendale, N.J. involved in a honey bee project.

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BEE CRUSADER--Katie Brown, 6, of Phoenix, Ariz., loves bees and just donated $20 from her allowance savings to the UC Davis honey bee research program.

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Our Young Bee Crusaders

January 15th, 2009

Dear Bee Scientists, wrote 6-year-old Katie Brown of Phoenix, Ariz. I am giving this money to you so you can help the bees. I love the bees. She enclosed $20 from her allowance savings. Hannah Fisher Gray, 11, of Wilmington, Del.

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TINY PREDATOR--This juvenile Gambian spotted-eyed flower mantis, less than an inch long, is one of the live specimens at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Tiny Predator

January 14th, 2009

If you meander over to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis campus, you'll see a very tiny predator that looks for all the world like a green leaf. It's the Gambian spotted-eye flower mantis and it's one of the many live specimens housed there.

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Blowin' Smoke

January 13th, 2009

If you've been around honey bee hives much, you know what a smoker is. It's a tool that beekeepers use to inspect, manipulate or handle a hive. They smoke a hive to check the health of the colony, to add a little food, and to take a little honey.

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