Bug Squad

Why become a beekeeper? Why keep bees? Beekeeper Brian Fishback of Wilton is quick to answer that. Bees, he says, teach us core family values. Bees have to take care of each other and work together for the success of the colony, just as people do for the success of their families.

Pansies aren't bee plants. But don't tell that to the bees. True, bees are partial to the lavenders, the mints, the salvias, thyme, basil, borage, oregano, sunflowers and the like, but it's winter and their food sources are scarce.

Goodbye, 2013. Hello, 2014. If you're a beginning driver--or you remember being a beginning driver--your instructor may have admonished: "Look where you're going; not where you've been." But sometimes, especially at the end of a year, it's good to know where you've been.

Arthur Shapiro is willing to trade a butterfly for a beer. And its all in the name of science.

A journey to the Benicia (Calif.) Capitol State Historic Park, Solano County, on Christmas Day yielded the unexpected: a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, foraging in jade blossoms.