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Posts Tagged: resources
Bumble Bees at Bodega Bay: Lovin' the Lupine
What a beautiful sight...a yellow-faced bumble bee, a queen, foraging on yellow bush lupine blossoms at Bodega Bay. She buzzed from blossom to blossom at Doran Regional Park while packing a ball of red pollen that seemed to increase in brilliance with every floral visit. A native...
A queen yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on yellow bush lupine at Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay. Note the bright red pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The queen yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads for another yellow bush lupine blossom at Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay. "Bombus" is derived from a Latin word meaning buzzing or a humming sound. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the head and thorax of a queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Mantis on the Milkweed
So here's this immature praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a narrow-leafed milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. She's camouflaged quite well. She's as green and thin as the leaves. Me: "Hey, Ms. Mantis, whatcha doin'?" Ms. Mantis: "Just...
A camouflaged praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a narrow-leafed milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis perched on a milkweed, the host plant for monarchs. She seems to be saying: "Sure, I'm occupying a milkweed, but I promise I'll never even LOOK at a monarch. I'll close my eyes should one flutter by." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The mantis keeps an eye out for prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The mantis assumes the prayerful position--let us prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Art of the Bee
Thought for the day... Every time we see a honey bee "posing perfectly" on a Gaillardia, commonly known as blanket flower, we think of a quote by internationally known honey bee geneticist, Robert E. Page Jr., a UC Davis doctoral alumnus and professor and chair emeritus of the UC Davis Department...
A honey bee on a blanketflower, Gaillardia, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Behold: the Banded Alder Borer
So there it was, an exotic-looking bug resting against a freshly painted red bollard at a Vacaville supermarket. It was not there to shop. Or to stop vehicles from crashing into the store or colliding with shoppers. It was there, I suspect, because of the pheromone-like scent of the fresh...
The banded alder borer is attracted to fresh paint, probably because of the phermone-like scent. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris, crawls on a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of the banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris. It's a longhorned beetle in the family Cerambycidae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eye to eye with a banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Digging the Digger Bees and the Newly Published Research
Have you ever seen the digger bees on the sandy cliffs of Bodega Head, Sonoma County? if you hike a short distance up a meandering trail, you'll see a landscape of turrets, the work of solitary, ground-nesting digger bees, Anthophora bomboides standfordina. The nests remind us...
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides standfordina, heading to her nest at Bodega Head. Note the ant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
At Bodega Head you can see turrets made by solitary, ground-nesting digger bees, Anthophora bomboides standfordina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides standfordina, nectaring on wild radish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Here I am! Anthophora bomboides standfordina, at Bodega Head, Sonoma County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)