Bug Squad

You're heard these idioms: The early bird gets the worm First come, first served. Johnny-on-the-spot. The second mouse gets the cheese. But have you ever seen a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) eclose and then see her...well...engaged? Such was the case on Labor Day, Sept.

You hike it, bike it, and sight-see it. You exercise the dog (and yourself), meet up with friends...and take images. That would be at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, and now the officials want to see your images--or up to five of your best images.

What's going on with the monarchs? Our little pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif., usually draws dozens of them in the summer as they flutter around, sip nectar from the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) and lay their eggs on their host plant, milkweed.

Just call them the "incredible aphid-eating machines." That would be the lady beetles, commonly known as ladybugs (although they are not bugs; they're beetles belonging to the family Coccinellidae, and they're not all "ladies"--some are male!).

There's an old joke circulating among entomologists about excited novices contacting them about finding a "two-headed butterfly." Sounds like National Enquirer stuff, right? Wrong. Just two butterflies mating.