Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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A honey bee foraging on mustard on Sunday, March 18 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Rolling in the Mustard

March 19th, 2018
A sure sign of spring: honey bees foraging on mustard. You'll see mustard growing as cover crops in the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley vineyards, but you'll also see it gracing the hillsides, roadways and area gardens. It's a time when the yellow pollen dusts the bees from head to thorax to abdomen.
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A close-up of a male green sweet bee, Agapostemon texanus, nectaring on a coneflower, Rudbeckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Wearing o' the Green

March 15th, 2018
On St. Patrick's Day, we see green. We crave green. We wear green. And the penalty for not wearing green? You get pinched. Not so with green sweat bees. As their common name implies, they're green. A metallic green. But no pinching allowed! The green sweat bee, Agapostemon spp.
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A winter ant, Prenolepis imparis, encounters a Phidippus, jumping spider in an almond tree on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Saving a Spider

March 15th, 2018
I did not save a spider yesterday. Did not save one today, either. Well, if I had seen one.... Wednesday, March 14 was "Save a Spider Day" in the United States, according to a post by the Entomological Society of America (ESA).
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A honey bee pollinating a nectarine blossom in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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It's Tough Being a Bee During the Springlike Rains

March 14th, 2018
It's tough being a bee--especially when you have work to do and the rain won't let you out of your hive. But when there's a sun break, it's gangbusters. To put it in alliteration, we spotted a bevy of boisterous bees networking in the nectarine blossoms in between the springlike rains this week.
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A bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Bumble Bees on the Move

March 13th, 2018
Bumble bees stole the show during the Graduate Student Poster Research Competition at the fourth annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, themed "Keeping Bees Healthy.
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