Dagnab it, these things are forming seedpods already. It doesn't take long. A fairy godmother left me a present of some extra gear for my "guerrilla stewardship," so I'm well equipped to continue the battle. (But now I'm envisioning rival stewardship gangs fighting over the right to remove garlic mustard.) Now if only someone would leave me a thermos of coffee and a sandwich ...

There are a lot of interesting birds in the valley these days. Yesterday an oriole was singing loudly, the goldfinches were zipping around at top speed, and I saw a pair of Eastern Kingbirds hanging out by the pond. Of course there are the usual black-crowned night herons, cormorants and mallards, mainly on the river but sometimes around the pond as well, along with the commonplace robins and sparrows.

Here's one of the Eastern Kingbirds, looking slightly annoyed with me. You don't want to mess with a creature whose Latin name is Tyrannus tyrannus.