Posts Tagged: Vacaville
Insect Apocalypse: Where Have All the Insects Gone?

"Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing Where have all the flowers gone? Long time ago Where have all the flowers gone? Girls have picked them every one When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?"--Pete Seeger The late folksinger...
Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, walks along one of his study areas, Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville. This image was taken Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Insect Wedding Photography-- Or How a Tired Ol' Male Proved He Wasn't

You're heard these idioms: The early bird gets the worm First come, first served. Johnny-on-the-spot. The second mouse gets the cheese. But have you ever seen a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) eclose and then see her...well...engaged? Such...
A newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) hanging from her empty chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A tired old male, his wings tattered and torn, is the first to arrive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The action at the "altar": the newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary and the tired old male. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Gulf Fritillary butterflies become one. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
David James' Incredible Research on Migratory Monarchs

Newly published research by entomologist David James of Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society yielded incredible news about the monarch population that migrates from the Pacific Northwest to...
This male monarch, released by citizen scientist Steve Johnson of Ashland on Aug. 28, 2016, fluttered into Vacaville, Calif., on Sept. 5, a 457-kilometer journey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male monarch, No. 6093, sips nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia on Sept. 5, 2016. It traveled 457 kilometers from Ashland to Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A feast! This migrating monarch from Ashland, Ore., sipped nectar from a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
WSU entomologist David James, wearing a monarch t-shirt, with citizen-scientist inmates at Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla.
Monarchs overwintering in the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, in 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ol' Blue Eyes: A Blue-Eyed Darner

Ol' Blue Eyes. What a treat to see. No, not an old movie starring Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), but the blue-eyed darner, the Rhionaeschna multicolor blue-eyed darner, Aeshna multicolor. Order: Odonata Suborder: Anisoptera...
A Rhionaeschna multicolor blue-eyed darner, Aeshna multicolor, soaking up sun on a Spanish lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Find the blue-eyed darner in the Spanish lavender! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Monarchs Lovin' the Lantana, One Sip at a Time

What amazing journeys! For the last two months, migratory monarch butterflies have regularly stopped for flight fuel in our 600-square-foot pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. to nectar on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), butterfly bush (Buddleia)...
A monarch nectaring on Lantana on Oct. 23 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch takes flight after fueling up Oct. 23 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The same monarch taking flight again over Lantana on Oct. 23 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)