As my time in Drumheller is nearing a close, and I am
destined to head back north to Lloydminster, I took time to reflect on my
experience in southern Alberta. The
diversity of this province is mind blowing.
And like my great, great grandfather that settled here in I believe
1887, I have found no other place I would rather be.
Over the past couple weeks I have seen and studied more
plants, animals, weeds, landforms and soils than I have in a long time. Yesterday
a huge snake skittled across the road, today a moose (on the prairies of all
things!!) came to visit me and pose for a photo on site. How many people can say they’ve completed
Awakening the Dragon on the top of a hoodoo in the wake of a setting sun? Or explored a series of mud arches in the
hoodoos that formed down a really cool and dangerous looking creek bed.
But there is one thing I have to understand before leaving this part of the province. More baffling than Jimmy Hoffa, crop circles, or the sock thief in the washing machine.
I have come across a couple farmer fields that have these
weird plywood enclosures disbursed throughout.
Even more curiously there is an open side that is always facing the same
direction. They are spaced very evenly
with about 40 meters apart in a grid configuration. Inside the enclosure, there is nothing. On the outside they are painted very colorful,
some with very distinct patterns to them.
The shelters are about 3 feet wide, by maybe 6 feet long, by 5 feet
high.
Even Google was stumped.
The only thing I can think of is perhaps bee hive enclosures, but then
why are they empty?
The truth is out there.
The truth is out there.
They are leafcutter bee shelters. Inside is not empty but house boxes where the leafcutter bees lay their larva. The leafcutter bees purpose is to increase seed setting and thereby, increase yield of forage crops such as alfalfa, clovers, and alsike.
ReplyDeleteHow do I know this? My Dad was a leafcutter beekeeper
AHA! I was on the right track! Thanks Sherri, this one was really bothering me!
DeleteIf you look at the leaves where these shelters are you will see circles cut in the leaves. Here is a website describing them, what they look like, leaf circles, and what the cocoons look like. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05576.html/
ReplyDeleteI should mention that when you see the shelters on forage crops, the farmers are harvesting the seed and not hay baling the crop.
They are for bees....The field they were in was most likely alfalfa to be used for seed production rather than a feed hay crop. I think its all about bee distribution for pollination! If you hear differently, correct me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! Mystery solved. Now about the sock monster in the washing machine......
ReplyDelete