Posts Tagged: Apis mellifera

Cover Girl

If any insect should be the "cover girl" during National Pollinator Week, it ought to be the honey bee (Apis mellifera) Specifically, it should be...

Cover Girl! Cover of the Journal of Economic Entomology shows an image of a worker bee heading toward a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Cover Girl! Cover of the Journal of Economic Entomology shows an image of a worker bee heading toward a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sharing the Bounty with the Bees

Move over, monarchs. Bees--and other pollinators--gravitate toward the enticing aroma of the milkweed, too. The milkweed is widely known as the...

A male leafcutter bee, Megachile sp., in flight, heading toward the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male leafcutter bee, Megachile sp., in flight, heading toward the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male leafcutter bee, Megachile sp., sips nectar from a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male leafcutter bee, Megachile sp., sips nectar from a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, a green-eyed blond, sipping nectar from the milkweed.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, a green-eyed blond, sipping nectar from the milkweed.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, sipping nectar from the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, sipping nectar from the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee leaving with pollinia (pollen structure) from the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee leaving with pollinia (pollen structure) from the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This 'B' Gets an 'A' for Good Grooming

This "B" gets an "A" for good grooming. We recently watched a honey bee land on the edge of a planter. "Hmm," we thought. "Why is she landing there?...

A honey bee lands on the edge of a planter and proceeds to clean her tongue (proboscis). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee lands on the edge of a planter and proceeds to clean her tongue (proboscis). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee removing the particles from her tongue so she can keep foraging. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee removing the particles from her tongue so she can keep foraging. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Am I good to go? The honey bee finishes cleaning her tongue and stares at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Am I good to go? The honey bee finishes cleaning her tongue and stares at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bee Is a Bee Is a Bee,,,

If poet Gertrude Stein were alive today, she might say "A bee is a bee is a bee" instead of "a rose is a rose is a rose." Or, she might say "A fly...

A drone fly, Eristalis tenax, heading toward a Cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A drone fly, Eristalis tenax, heading toward a Cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee, Apis mellifera, heading toward a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee, Apis mellifera, heading toward a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

So You Want to Become a Master Beekeeper...

So you want to become a Master Beekeeper. You don't want to just keep bees, you want to devote your life to learning more about them and...

Extension apiculturist Elina Niño of UC Davis greets a beekeeping class before donning a veil and smoking the hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Extension apiculturist Elina Niño of UC Davis greets a beekeeping class before donning a veil and smoking the hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Examining a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Examining a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees clustering on a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees clustering on a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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