Bee houses

The drive from Antelope Reservoir to Owyhee State Park was fairly short, and pleasant as we wandered through lush fields of alfalfa and other crops. In one area in particular we noticed these strange contraptions situated very systematically in the fields. They look like small wooden boxcars, mounted on a flat bed. Some fields had a lot of them and some didn't have any - and I can't tell you what all we came up with as we tried to logic out what they were for.  Later, as we toured the visitor's center at the Owyhee dam, we asked our host, who had grown up in the area.

The little buildings are bee houses! (That was NOT one of our guesses.) It seems one of the major crops in the area is alfalfa seed, and honey bees aren't very good at pollinating alfalfa. Several years ago leaf-cutter bees were imported from Asia specifically for this purpose. Also called solitary bees, these little guys don't live in a hive, like like to drill holes in wood (trees, your house, they aren't picky) to lay their eggs. As it's pretty expensive to buy new bees annually, the local farmers use these little houses, which are full of wood slabs or other lumber, full of holes that are just the right size, to entice the little guys to lay their eggs in a contained space. In the spring the houses are opened up and, voila! More bees. Mystery solved!