Posts Tagged: Vacaville

Ready for the 7th Annual International Monarch Monitoring Blitz?

Save the dates! The seventh annual International Monarch Monitoring Blitz will take place Friday, July 28 through Sunday, Aug. 6.  That's...

A monarch lifts off from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch lifts off from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This is the monarch that citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland, Ore., tagged Aug. 28, 2016. It arrived in Vacaville, 285 miles away, on Sept. 5, 2016. This was part of a migratory monarch project headed by David James, a Washington State University entomologist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This is the monarch that citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland, Ore., tagged Aug. 28, 2016. It arrived in Vacaville, 285 miles away, on Sept. 5, 2016. This was part of a migratory monarch project headed by David James, a Washington State University entomologist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Squirrel Vs. Bees: Sorry, No Vacancy!

Call it “The Battle Over a Tree Hollow." Feral bees have occupied—and abandoned—a sycamore tree cavity in a Vacaville neighborhood...

Look closely and you can see a squirrel occupying a small hollow or cavity in a sycamore tree. The cavity has been home to feral bees for at least two decades. (Image taken in Vacaville by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Look closely and you can see a squirrel occupying a small hollow or cavity in a sycamore tree. The cavity has been home to feral bees for at least two decades. (Image taken in Vacaville by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's all that noise about? Can't a squirrel get some sleep? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's all that noise about? Can't a squirrel get some sleep? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The squirrel pokes his head out of his home, his sleepy hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The squirrel pokes his head out of his home, his sleepy hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Occupied! No vacancy! The squirrel is aware that bees are circling, trying to move into "his" hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Occupied! No vacancy! The squirrel is aware that bees are circling, trying to move into "his" hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

With the squirrel gone, honey bees quickly move into the hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

With the squirrel gone, honey bees quickly move into the hollow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Checkered Past, a Checkered Future or Just Checkered?

Have you seen any Checkered White butterflies lately? They're quite common in the southern United States and northern Mexico (they're known as the...

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice (as identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro) nectars on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice (as identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro) nectars on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White showing a rejection behavior although no males are around. "The 'tail in the air' is a sexual rejection posture," says UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White showing a rejection behavior although no males are around. "The 'tail in the air' is a sexual rejection posture," says UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ooh, an Ooth! And on a Clothespin, at That!

No doubt you've seen a praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, on a tree, shrub, fence or post. But have you ever seen one attached to a...

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Ants and Butterflies of Gates Canyon: Quite the Ecosystem

Gates Canyon, located just outside the city of Vacaville,  in Solano County, Calif., is quite the ecosystem. It's one of the habitats of...

This is the species (Lasius nr. atopus) that inspired the initial stages of the UC Davis project. (Photo by Matthew Prebus)

This is the species (Lasius nr. atopus) that inspired the initial stages of the UC Davis project. (Photo by Matthew Prebus)

This image of Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville, was taken Sept. 25, 2020, following the massive wildfire that swept through the canyon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville, was taken Sept. 25, 2020, following the massive wildfire that swept through the canyon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gates Canyon Road is a paved county road, located just outside the city of Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gates Canyon Road is a paved county road, located just outside the city of Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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