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LinkedInPosts Tagged: California Bees and Blooms
It's Pollinator Month: No Sweat?
In the sweltering heat of Solano County (100 degrees) during National Pollinator Month, how about an image of a sweat bee, genus Halictus, a tiny bee that's often overlooked in the world of pollinators. It's a social bee that nests in the soil. "These nests consist of a complex of tunnels...
A sweat bee, genus Halictus, sailing over a Coreopsis in a Vacaville pollinator garden. June is National Pollinator Month. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bumble Bees and Tithonia: Perfect Match
A perfect match: a bumble bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Lately we've been observing a bumble bee, identified as a California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, sipping nectar from the colorful orange blooms in our Vacaville pollinator garden. B....
A bumble bee, identified as a male Bombus californicus, foraging on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, peeks through the flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Over here is better. A male Bombus californicus foraging on a Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male California bumble bee, Bombus californicus, takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hello There, Little Leafcutter Bee
Hello there, little leafcutter bee! Yes, you, foraging on the sky-blue Chinese Forget-Me-Nots! You're just in time for National Pollinator Week! Leafcutter bees, family Megachilidae, are so named because the females cut leaves and petals (perfectly round holes!) to line their nests....
A leafcutter bee, family Megachilidae, peers at the photographer. "Here I am! It's National Pollinator Week." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The leafcutter bee continues foraging on the Chinese-Forget-Me-Nots. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The leafcutter bee ignores the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, I'm leaving now for another blossom." The leafcutter bee is about to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Exit Seminar on Oct. 18: Clara Stuligross, Ph.D., Is Passionate About Wild Bees
Clara Stuligross is passionate about wild bees, and you should be, too. Stuligross, who received her doctorate in ecology on Sept. 9 from UC Davis, will present her exit seminar, "Individual and Combined Effects of Resource and Pesticide Stressors on Wild Bees and a Potential Strategy to...
A blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, heads toward Phalacia. (Photo by Clara Stuligross)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads toward a California golden poppy. Both are natives. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How to Find a Praying Mantis in the Wild
If you're trying to find a praying mantis in the wild, go where the food source is. Sounds pretty easy, right? But oh, they're camouflaged. They lie in wait, as ambush predators, and strike. Now you see the predator, now you don't. Where did it go? "Observations of most species tend to peak in...
A praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, hides beneath an African blue basil leaf in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, hanging out in the African blue basil leaf, scouts for bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
