A Small Gesture

When I got to the cabin last week, there was about a foot of snow on the ground, and it snowed all day and over night, adding another few inches. My neighbor said he’s never seen this much snow this late in the year—mid May—and the old-timers bear him out. I feel as if I’m getting a glimpse of the future world of climate change, where we can’t rely on the seasons being normal.

 

When I went for my walk in the afternoon, all the trees were laden with the heavy, wet snow,  and the clouds were low, so the light was muted. There was no wind, and everything seemed unnaturally still, as if I were walking through a painting. It was a beautiful painting, a winter landscape with mountain cabins framed by snow-covered forests, but it seemed unreal.

 

When I emptied water from my rain barrel around the ponderosa pines, it melted the snow and uncovered small green plants. So there’s life underneath the snow, just waiting to bounce back. But in the meantime, I worry about the animals. The bears have just emerged from hibernation, but what can they eat? The snowy, cold weather is an inconvenience for me, because I have to shovel snow off the decks and my shoes get wet in the slushy snow, but for the animals, it makes it more difficult to find food and their lives more precarious.  

 

I  kept hearing the whirring of hummingbird wings,  but there are no flowers, so what are they eating? I decided I needed to put the feeder out, even though I was leaving later that afternoon and the feeders could attract bears. But I hoped the sugar water might tide the hummingbirds over until the snow melted. Within a half hour or so, two males had discovered it and started chasing each other away.

 

From inside, at my computer, I watched one drink hungrily from the sugar water. It made me feel good, as if I were extending a lifeline to this small, fragile-looking bird. Or was I interfering with nature? But with climate change, we’ve interfered in a major way. This seems a small compensation.

Comments

[shoney]

Beautiful!
When I moved to Colorado I wondered if I would see hummingbirds here...it thrills me that they live here and manage to thrive. In California I used to plant flowers that they loved, yes, for them, but also for the joy of hearing them whir and click and seeing them dive and sip.
Thank you for sharing this snowy picture of your cabin in May.
May the sunshine soon return.

[sally]

We've had a very long spring, with lots of rain and it is nice as it has been so dry here for many years but it does seem weird and different. Strange things do happen with the weather across all of time. Things so unexpected, out of the blue. Like the hurricane that hit Long Is in 1938. Huh? It had not seen anything like this in the 120 years of record keeping. Maybe we are in one of those periods? I bet the hummingbird was so thankful for you that day!!

[Mandy]

I love that we get to see hummingbirds here ... have to get my feeder out.

[Barb]

Hi Kathy,
I'm traveling out of CO right now, so I like seeing the pics you've posted. I especially like the idea that hummingbirds are returning.