This has been another week of wild swings between spring and winter weather. One warm cloudy afternoon I watched a pair of Eastern Bluebirds forage for insects in our Milkweed Meadow, and saw a flock of Sandhill Cranes and a flock of Snow Geese fly over.

We also watched a flock of American Robins bathe in a puddle of water. The puddle was frozen at one edge, and melted at the other – it looked very cold.

The snow had completely melted from all but the coolest north-facing slopes when we had a night of thunder and lightning and rain, which turned to snow. It snowed all the next day, piling up about 6 inches of wet, heavy snow. Areas closer to the twin cities had even more – 15 inches around Red Wing, Minnesota and about 12 inches at our house in St. Paul. It snowed so hard that for most of the day we couldn’t see across the road.

All the trees and shrubs had heavy coats of snow.

It was still quite warm – around 30 – and I saw several insects including this spider, which sailed down on a silk thread onto the surface of the snow. I think it might be a species of jumping spider. It’s very small – smaller than a dime.

The Bluebirds visited the birdfeeder deck, perching on the feeders with their feathers fluffed out, looking very cold and hungry. They weren’t interested in any of the birdseed and I wished I had some mealworms to give them.

The next day the sun came out and everything sparkled – but it was cold with a brisk wind. Definitely winter again.