Bug Squad

Don't know if silence is GOLDEN, but Italian honey bees definitely are. Early morning Saturday, I watched a bee the color of liquid gold nectaring the lavender in our yard. A golden opportunity to capture her brilliance. She won't live long.

Carpenter bees (Xylocopata tabaniformis orpifex) can't get enough of the day lilies in our yard. In the early morning, they buzz into the patch of day lilies to forage for nectar and pollen. When they're finished, it's easy to tell where they've been: they're covered with telltale yellow pollen.

Congratulations are in order. Chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, has just been selected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, a prestigious honor granted to only 10 or few members of the 6000-member organization each year.

It was delightful hearing UC Davis nutritionist and fitness expert Liz Applegate extol the virtues of honey at the 31st annual Western Apicultural Society (WAS) conference, held recently in Healdsburg. Like many of you, we've always loved honey.

Call it the "Mournful Dusky-Wing" or the "Sad Dusky-Wing." Call it what you will, but the Erynnis tristis, a member of the skipper butterfly family (Hesperiidae), is neither mournful nor sad when it's nectaring lavender.