Posts Tagged: Sonoma Cornerstone
Ever Seen a Coronavirus-Equipped Mantis?
Sometimes you just have to display your sense of humor. Take the case of a huge praying mantis sculpture that anchors the Davis, Calif., front yard of entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. It's a coronoavirus-equipped mantis, complete with...
This is the coronavirus-equipped mantis that's drawing lots of smiles in the Davis front yard of entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of UC Davis. (Photo by Lynn Kimsey)
A praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, watches a honey bee buzz her head in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone, Sonoma. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Case of Survival of the Flittest
If you visit the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone--and you should, especially during National Pollinator Week--you'll see honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, among other pollinators. Today we spotted a male monarch patrolling the milkweed in search of a...
Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, nectaring on verbena in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, heads for more nectar in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Caught in flight: a Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Once Upon a Praying Mantis...
The three men pause in front of the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at the Sonoma Cornerstone and begin to read the sign. "The Pollinator Garden by Kate Frey," one man reads out loud. "It's brand new, come back soon and watch as it grows. This flower-filled and colorful garden is a pollinator garden....
A female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa (as identified by praying mantis expert and UC Davis student Lohit Garikipati) is camouflaged in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Whoa! No pictures!" The female mantis raises her spiked leg. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"I said no pictures!" The mantis covers her head with a spiked foreleg. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A sign informs visitors what the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone is all about. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A visitor takes images of the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Tattered, Torn and Tired Monarch
First monarch butterfly sighting of the year. A tattered and torn monarch--a male (as identified by Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis) fluttered into the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone last Sunday and landed on a salvia. He didn't move...
A tattered, torn and tired monarch nectars on a salvia in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch stretches his wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view shows just how tattered and torn this male monarch is. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From Out of the Blue Pops the Anthophora
From out the blue. And sometimes it's too good to be true. We were visiting the Sunset Gardens at the Sonoma (Calif.) Cornerstone on Sunday--marveling at the brilliant blue floss flowers, Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon'--when a bee with the familiar black and white abdominal stripes streaked...
First of four images: A digger bee, Anthophora urbana, heads for a Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon' at the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Second of four images: A digger bee, Anthophora urbana, heads for a Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon' at the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Third of four images: A digger bee, Anthophora urbana, heads for a Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon' at the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Fourth of four images: A digger bee, Anthophora urbana, heads for a Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon' at the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)