weather

Spring snowfall

Just when we thought winter was over, another dump of snow.

Snow covered caragana blooms.

The sad thing is that just that morning I saw our first hummingbird of the year. I put up the feeder, but never did see a hummer at it. It seems to me that they arrive around the time that the caragana bloom. But all the blooms were closed up under the heavy clinging snow.

Now I wonder if the hummingbird I saw survived the two day blizzard.

Spring snow weighing down the caragana branches.

Spruce tree as seen through the snow pasted kitchen window.

We were hit with two blizzards. The first came with a mighty wind that wreaked all kinds of havoc. When it was over, all the windows were pasted with wet snow and it was only as it melted off that we could see the damage outdoors.

Blizzard-downed tree top.

A large tree top was blown down onto the driveway and a big snowdrift had formed in its wake. Fortunately, we’d put the car in just as the snow began to fall. The next blizzard, a few days later, was less windy and more snowy. The heavy snow covered everything and pulled caragana branches to the ground — the spruce trees just shrugged it off.

Merlin footprints on the window sill.

Yet spring was still lurking underneath. One morning a merlin made a dive at Quincy. Fortunately, the intervening window deprived him of his prey. We got to see the merlin sitting dejected in the bushes below, but he flew off before I could snap a picture. All I have to show of him are the footprints he left on the window sill. I wonder if he is the fellow who hit the window last year.

Quincy recovering from the merlin attack.

He created quite a stir; sparrows and cockatiels screamed in warning and flew for cover at breakneck speed. Quincy was so shaken that he decided to have a recovery nap on the fridge.

Robin looking for grass to forage in.

The robins were forced to find what food they could on the small strips of grass that appeared late in the afternoon.