Adventure for Wilderness – Okotoks Pollinator Power, July 25, 2026

July 30, 2026

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• Adventures for Wilderness
• Events
• Pollinators

 

Text and photos by Rachel Pizante

The weather was hot and smoky, but that didn’t stop us or the pollinators from enjoying the lovely flowers alongside the Sheep River in Okotoks on Saturday!  

Okotoks is a Bee City – a designation meaning that they have committed to creating pollinator habitat, educating their community about pollinators, and celebrating pollinators. Avery Kaszas, a Conservation Educator for the Town of Okotoks, joined us for our walk to discuss Okotoks’ pollinator and other environmental initiatives. 

The town’s commitment to pollinators was apparent as we began our walk at the native plant garden just outside of the Okotoks Environmental Education Centre. Practically the entire garden was in bloom, and many pollinators were buzzing around. Bees, flies, beetles, and butterflies visiting flowers alongside each other, demonstrating just how effective native flower gardens are at concentrating pollinators and supplying them with nectar and pollen. 

We continued down the path towards the river, keeping our eyes peeled for pollinators. Goldenrods lined the trail, a common sight along paved paths in this part of the province. Here, we were delighted by many skippers that were quickly darting across the path in their signature “skipping” flight pattern. Although they look like moths with their large, fuzzy bodies and triangular wing shape, they are indeed butterflies.  

Another common sight on the goldenrods was sweat bees. Most sweat bees are much smaller than bumble bees, but they are still excellent pollinators. Sweat bees lack corbiculae, which are pocket-like structures on the hindlegs of bumble bees and honeybees used for storing pollen. Instead, sweat bees have scopae, which are densely packed areas of branched hairs that are excellent at collecting pollen.  

As we continued to meander towards the river, we also enjoyed saskatoon berries from the many bushes alongside the path. The path we were on is a part of the Okotoks Food Forest, an initiative to encourage residents to enjoy locally grown fruits. While the bottoms of the bushes were picked clean, likely by deer, the tall branches still had berries. Saskatoon berry shrubs self-pollinate, meaning that they don’t need a pollinator to produce. However, insect pollination has been found to increase berry production. It’s no doubt that the bounty of berries we enjoyed would not have been as fruitful if not for pollinators! 

Our last major find came as we were walking back towards the education centre. A participant came up to me and said my favourite words, “Rachel, we found a big bug, and we don’t know what it is”. Immediately, I rushed over. On a leaf sat a drone fly, one of the largest hover fly species in southern Alberta. 

Although common, most people do not know what a hover fly is and will mistake them for bees or wasps, and for good reason. Hover flies are Batesian mimics of bees and wasps. The venom that makes bee and wasp stings hurt so much also makes them taste bad, which causes predators such as birds to avoid them. Hover flies do not produce venom, but they take advantage of the distastefulness of bees and wasps by looking almost exactly like them, thereby fooling any potential predators into thinking that they taste bad too. In fact, the drone fly is named after male honeybee drones due to their visual similarities.  

There are a few key details that will help to differentiate hover flies and their bee and wasp counterparts. First, hover flies only have two wings, whereas bees and wasps have four. Second, hover fly’s eyes are much larger than bee and wasps’ eyes and take up a much larger proportion of their head. Finally, their antennae are much shorter than those of bees and wasps, and also originate from the middle of their heads in the shape of letter Y instead of from the sides of their head. 

Our walk concluded back at the Okotoks Environmental Education Centre. Participants expressed their excitement at learning something new, and I was reminded of the importance and value of environmental education and outreach. If you weren’t able to join us for the pollinator walk, I encourage you to take your own pollinator walk. All you need is curiosity and a patch of blooming flowers, and you are sure to find something wonderful.