Bug Squad

Day 5 of National Pollinator Week: Meet the leafcutter bee, family Megachilidae. It's a native pollinator, a solitary bee, and about the size of a honey bee. Its coloration--the black-and-white banded abdomen--makes it easily recognizable.

When you think of pollinators, you think of bees, right? And well you should: honey bees are the global workhorses of the pollination community and pollinate about one-third of the food we eat, including fruits and vegetables and some nuts, primarily almonds (California's almond acreage exceeds 1.

It's Day 3 of National Pollinator Week. Fortunately, a tiger came to visit us--no, not the predatory jungle animal, Panthera tigris, but a newly emerged Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus.

It's Day 2 of National Pollinator Week. So, I guess I should "toot my own horn" (we don't have one, but in our household we do have a piano, a double bass, a guitar, a banjo, a ukulele, a dulcimer, a harmonica, a sousaphone, a set of hand drums, and two accordions.

Those mighty monarchs haven't graced us with their presence this year (since late January) in our Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden, but we're waiting for them. The habitat beckons and they will reign.