Bug Squad

The late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor and a tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, would have been proud.

Oh, to be a praying mantis, and hide among the flowers waiting for prey. On a warm sunny morning in Vacaville, Calif., this female Stagmomantis limbata positioned herself in a patch of Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola.

Imagine this. You're a high school junior and you want to become a marine biologist. You're influenced by Jacques Cousteau, and encouraged by your high school biology teacher. So you launch a project to collect, record and sketch the intertidal invertebrates in the San Francisco Bay.

Hear that buzz? Are you ready for National Honey Bee Day? It's held the third Saturday of August and that's tomorrow. Launched in 2009 by a small group of beekeepers petitioning the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture (USDA), the day basically "honors" honey bees and beekeeping.

Our showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is putting on a show. The towering plant--a good eight feet--anchors the garden as we patiently wait for monarch butterflies to arrive and lay their eggs.