Bug Squad

Insects are cold-blooded so their temperature coincides with their environment. Before the sun rises, they lie ever so still. As the sun warms them, they stir ever so slowly. At 6 a.m.

Perfect planning. Except it wasnt planned. On the last day of a two-day advanced workshop on "The Technique of Instrumental Insemination, taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. UC Davis, bees from one of the hives began to swarm.

They're good soldiers, those soldier beetles. Members of the family Cantharidae, they are beneficial insects that eat other insects, especially aphids and caterpillars--but just about any soft-bodied insect will do. If no insects are available, you'll see them dining on nectar and pollen.

Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, eat lots of aphids. Did we say lots of aphids? Lots of aphids. They have no portion control. If you watch closely, you'll see them gobble aphids like theater-goers devour buttered popcorn.

It wasn't the Battle of the Sexes. It was the Battle of the Males. I spotted two male carpenter bees buzzing loudly over the salvia (sage) in our back yard Saturday morning. Each was lying in wait for a female, but instead found a competitor.