Blizzard! February 1, 2011

Since this blizzard (snow and wind) is the biggest snow Columbia has had in a generation, I feel the need to write about it, although the Upper Midwest and the Northeast might hardly take notice of our 20 inches.

  The snow began Tuesday morning like a sheer curtain blowing in the wind outside of our windows.  The birds seemed determined to eat the seeds on our deck even as the wind blew the birds about, particularly the little juncos. 
My husband went out in the afternoon to spread more seed and to position a kitty litter top with a round opening in such a way that the seeds inside wouldn't be covered by snow.  Even though the juncos were leery about going into the protected kitty litter top.  Once inside a couple of them tried to stake their claim and drive other birds away. 

The Carolina wren came around eating the suet cake and looking for the meal worms in the bluebird feeder, but it was filled with snow.

The snow continued all night, and tapered off early the next morning. 

Wednesday saw clearing skies without the dangerous wind predicted. I took my camera outside to snap some snow pictures and was surprised to find our neighbor already clearing our driveway with his snow blower.   He estimated the accumulation at about 20 inches.

The front gate leadiig the the backyard

While Bill ran his snow blower for an appreciative audience of two (my husband and me), I also snapped several snow pictures.

This is neither our house nor our spruce, but they are both beautiful in the snow.



The birds are a continual fascination, at least to me. The cardinals are the kings and queens of the deck.  Sometimes I count a dozen cardinals either feeding on the deck or waiting a turn in the nearest redbud tree.

However, the starlings also gather in the redbud and wait for an auspicious time to conduct a raid.

My favorite wren finally got to finish off the mealworms I had bought last summer for a bluebird who never materialized. 

I kept them in the refrigerator, until my husband finally set them out, but they still showed sign of life. I had put some out for a mockingbird several weeks ago, that came to drink in our heated birdbath.  Perhaps the feeder was too small for him to alight on, but he ignored the mealworms to the wren's delight.