Bug Squad

These freezing temperatures we're experiencing make us yearn for spring. True, it's still autumn and winter doesn't officially start until Dec. 22, but it's a good time to think of honey bees pollinating the almond blossoms. California almonds usually bloom around mid-February.

If you're looking for a cause to support, consider the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis. The museum crew, led by director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and dedicated.

In March of 2012 when we were touring The Bee Collective's Bee Sanctuary near The Domes on the UC Davis campus with beekeeper/manager Derek Downey, we remember seeing an unusual "bee hive"--a wood duck box, moved there from a rural location after swarming honey bees claimed it.

It's rather troubling trying to rear subtropical butterflies, Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae), in late autumn. The string of warm sunny days in late November meant plenty of days for Gulf Frits to mate and reproduce.

It's no secret that bugs often get a bad rap. Take the negative expression, "Bah, Humbug!" uttered by Ebenezer Scrooge, a Charles Dickens character. Now it seems that everyone who dislikes Christmas says it, with an emphasis on "bug.