Plume moth on milkweed. I'm cheating a bit -- this was taken in my garden today. But see what kind of cool things you can attract if you plant milkweed in your garden?

This will be a little picture-heavy today. It was a lovely morning and sometimes the light does amazing things by the pond:

Another view of some pond plants:

I cleaned up the rest of the party remnants -- hot dogs and corn, pickle jar and pickles, mustard container, binder rings, half-burned papers -- then pulled plants for a while. A few little treasures appeared, like this columbine (hmm, is it columbine? Maybe it's meadowrue?) ...

... and this nice caterpillar:

Black-eyed Susans:

There were more snails climbing trees:

The spotted sandpipers were by the river again ...

... and I saw the indigo bunting for the second day in a row at Todmorden Mills. I wish I could get a good picture. Here's most of him!

Common milkweed is flowering now. If you get a chance, go sniff some. Delightful! You can check underneath the leaves for monarch butterfly eggs or teeny caterpillars.

Sigh. An end-of-school party, apparently. Hot dogs, corn, chips, pop, beer, marshmallows, cookies. What, no baby carrots? It was still smouldering so I couldn't do much but spread it out a bit and wait for the rain we're expecting today. At least they didn't write on the signs. It's too bad those police officers don't walk their dogs along here on a Friday or Saturday night.

If anyone knows Emil, I'd like a word with him ...

Having tidied up what I could, I returned to the tansy patch and cleared out a section. By the time I've laid waste to the tansy, Queen Anne's Lace and thistles, there's not much left in places.

(There are some little sumacs getting started in there, and fleabane and a few other things that belong, so maybe they'll have a better chance now.)

Those of my readers who aren't in the Toronto area may not know we're in week one of a strike by the garbage collectors. I expect there will soon be a lot of illegal dumping in the valley. So far it's at a level I can tolerate ...

... until the animals rip those bags apart and scatter the contents, of course. Also involved in the strike are city-run museums like Todmorden Mills, city daycares and daycamps, ferry service to the islands, and park permits for things like wedding photos and the upcoming Canada Day celebrations. (BTW, if you were hoping to attend the local Environment Day at Riverdale Park, it's been postponed to October 17.) Oh, and one more thing that hadn't even crossed my mind until Don Watcher mentioned it -- the stewardship program is on hold. Of course, as a "guerrilla steward" I'm not affected. Now not only am I the only steward at Beechwood, I'm the only game in town! Well, perhaps some of the others have turned rogue as well and are continuing work at their sites -- I wouldn't like to speculate. The dog-strangling vine is not going to wait around while we resolve labour disputes.

News from farther afield: common reed, or Phragmites australis, is threatening shoreline and wetlands in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. It's another of the invaders at Beechwood.

The interpretive signs at Beechwood are a popular target for tags, and I spend a little time each summer scrubbing them off. Before:

The official cream cleanser of Beechwood wetland:

After:

Not perfect, because the painted surface is pitted and hard to clean. I would have been better off just painting over the tags, but this will do.

Spot the raccoon hiding in this picture:

Of course, while I'm scrubbing signs and tracking coons, the tansy is swarming over the landscape in every direction:

This groundhog beside Pottery Road was too busy eating to worry about the photographer approaching:

All those larvae I saw earlier in the year are turning into a swarm of beetles. Here's a typical one on a cup plant:

I paused to admire a cedar waxwing; it approached an empty nest, selected some nesting material, and flew off with it. Recycling!

At one corner of the Beechwood site is a little viewing point where people can look at one end of the pond. This corner has been bugging me for a while as it fills up with dog-strangling vine, tansy and thistles, so I had a go at it this morning. Before (tansy to the left, DSV curling gracefully in the centre):

And after:

Dog-strangling vine has impressive roots. This is from a single plant:

You see the problem with getting rid of it! These have to be dug up one by one. As long as you have good gloves, though, thistles are fun to pull. They tend to come out fairly easily and have a simple tap root. They make a good reward for the frustrations of removing DSV.

Boy, go away for a few days and the kids have a party and trash the place. I started my work this morning by clearing away a lot of broken-off sumac branches, burned sticks from a "campfire," and assorted food-related garbage. I was a bit puzzled by the clumps of uprooted tansy -- did the partiers have a little stewardship session as well? Their choice of party food surprised me too:

Kids today. I left the remaining baby carrots for the local creatures and threw away the plastic bag. Here's a Beechwood bunny who might appreciate the treat:

Notice all the cottonwood fluff lining the path. Here's a closer look:

After I tidied up:

I guess the ants find the cow parsnip as interesting as I do:

It's so cute the way the daisies rush up to the fence and poke their noses through, hoping to be petted:

The blackeyed susans are just on the verge of opening:

They'll be spectacular soon. In the meantime I'm still enjoying the little roses:

What happened to the terrible weather we were supposed to get today? I took advantage of a fine sunny morning to walk down to Beechwood and get a little work done.

Know how to tell if you're standing under a black locust tree right now? Look down.

This is the kind of hole a pileated woodpecker leaves behind in the dead trees it searches for food:

There was a very pretty spider in the equipment box today. I don't know what kind, sorry.

I'm quite taken with the cow parsnips, as you may have noticed. Here are a few pictures of the flowers, close up and from below:

I removed tansy around our group of sumac trees, and found a little sumac coming along nicely. I'll have to go back next spring to remove that garlic mustard (the small, scattered leaves on the left) when it starts its second-year growth spurt.

I've been noticing what seems like a huge number of snails this year, and on my way home today I suddenly realized why: they're growing on trees! Seriously, this tree was covered with them. What the -- ?

The rain let up ... some ... and I decided to get in a trip to Beechwood while I could. This weather really puts the WET in wetland:



I pulled some tansy and watched the birds. There were clearly some young-uns in a tree and a parent or two flying back and forth with food -- SQUAWK CHEEP SCREECH FEED ME!!! -- but I couldn't get a good look at them. Possibly orioles but I can't say for sure. The yellow warbler took up her usual post near me and chirped for all she was worth; I saw her fly into a dogwood carrying a little green worm, and out a moment later without it, so I may have pinpointed her nesting spot, but I didn't pry. As I was leaving an egret flew north over the site but didn't stop.

The rain and wind had done some really interesting things with the vegetation:

There's a new bit of impromptu sculpture at Todmorden Mills. If you've lost this, um, thingy off your car, this is where it ended up:

Don Watcher has a post about snapping turtles today -- check it out!

I haven't made it to Beechwood for a couple of days, the weather looks terrible for the rest of the week, and I'll be away over the weekend, so you probably won't get a wetland update from me for a while. In the meantime, I offer a few pictures from my own (completely neglected) garden.

Sedum telephium 'Autumn Joy' is one of the first things to appear in the spring. At the tail end of winter, when you're wondering if the snow and cold will ever end, go dig around where your sedum lives and you should find some bright green knobs appearing impossibly early.

Kerria japonica puts on a good show:

My pink poppies, Papaver orientale 'Princess Victoria Louise', opened late last week:

They're already blowing apart and the coming storms will finish them off, alas. Here's a petal up close:

A simple little wild rose:

Lamium maculatum (Spotted Lamium) 'Purple Dragon' is also called Dead Nettle. This is a lot more fun to be around than the stinging nettle we have at Beechwood. Seen from below, the flowers look to me like eager little faces:

It was a foggy, sunny morning. Here we see the dead tree on Marnie's Point, shrouded in mist:




Despite being dead, it works very hard supporting a ton of grapevine and frequent bird visitors.

There were two wood ducks on the pond. You can vaguely see the male here:



Let's try a close-up of that one:





Another snapping turtle appeared. This one had cleverly tried to camouflage itself with some vegetation, but nobody was fooled:

I think I like watching the people just as much as the turtle. The walkers and most of the cyclists stop to check it out; one cyclist this morning kept going, but said to me, "That's cool!" I'm torn about taking pictures of the poor turtle, wanting to get in for some close-ups but not wanting to stress it out too much.

A look at the turtle walking down the path:

I worked my way over to a section of the pond-edge I don't see much. The reeds here have really been eaten down:

These frogs cracked me up:

The longer you look at the pond, the more frogs you start to notice staring back at you.

I cut down some knotweed that was towering above my head, and was pleased to find one that had been chewed by ... something. I didn't find any bugs on it, but let's hope there are a lot of them around.

There's a nice little group of young oaks growing, if they can keep ahead of the knotweed:

Here's my little cutie:

Definitely a yellow warbler, female. (A male would have light reddish streaks on his breast.) She hopped around in small trees nearby and chirped incessantly while I was working, and seemed very friendly and interested in what I was doing.

I also saw:

- my first rabbit of the year

- the flicker, in the bur oak this time

- a kingfisher being chased by a robin. Last week I saw one pursued by a blackbird. I've just checked a lot of online sources and found a couple that mention young birds as part of the kingfisher's diet, so I guess that's the problem here. If you think a kingfisher is noisy normally, wait until you hear one being chased by an angry parent.

- the dog vomit slime mold, which looks much as it did on day two, but a little smaller

- a pair of cedar waxwings at Todmorden Mills. They were struggling to claim a long string tied to a pole. One on top ...

... and one below ...

They had to stop for a rest:

(See that dog-strangling vine along the left side of the picture?)

After the waxwings flew away I untied the string and draped it over the fence in case they decide to try again.

For my associate, Cup Plant, here's a little group of her namesake plants:

The pretty pink grass is fading:

Black locust tree. They're everywhere.

Some days I look around Beechwood and think, "Gee, this section is looking really good!" Other days, like today, I think, "My god, I had no idea there was so much tansy [or garlic mustard, or knotweed, or dog-strangling vine]. I'll never make a dent in it." Then I just get back to work. I'm continuing with the tansy slaughter, with an occasional thistle or stand of knotweed for variety.

This morning, like most mornings, I was joined by orioles, robins, a kingfisher, song sparrows, and what I think are yellow warblers. There are goldfinches as well, but I think what I've been seeing lately are warblers, and they appear to be all yellow. They perch in a tree and chirp until I find them with my camera, and the moment I press the button they fly off. I'll keep trying.

A pair of catbirds prepare to duel:




Tall buttercup:



(You can't tell from that picture, but it is indeed quite tall.)

The beautiful but unwelcome Dame's Rocket, with a little dog-strangling vine poking its nose in. It's like that annoying kid who always puts up two fingers behind someone's head and ruins the family photo:



(The DSV is the small brownish-purple star-shaped flower. We'll be seeing more of it later, but for now I'm all tansy, all the time.)

I found half a robin's eggshell on my way home:






Near the top of Pottery Road someone has cut back small sections of DSV beside the path. This section had a neatly tied bundle of the stuff; someone's a much tidier steward than I am!







Here's a little video of yesterday's egret catching something to eat in the pond:

Today's exciting bird -- the Great Egret! It was fishing in the pond this morning when I arrived. I watched from the viewing point but didn't dare try to get closer for a better shot. This is only my second time seeing one; my first one, also in this pond, flapped away when I tried to move in for a photo. Lesson learned.

After I'd watched it for a while I was called away by a jogger to see a snapping turtle. Man, I'm going to have to hire an assistant to keep up with everything! The snapper was thinking about crossing the path, but these things take time, so I got some photos:

It sat for a long time and considered its options while everyone passing by paused to marvel at it. Everyone loves turtles, it seems. I warned a woman with a dog that there was a turtle up ahead and she obligingly put her pet on a leash while they went past. (We also had a chat about tansy, which I was pulling at the time, and dame's rocket, which she's noticed taking over fields in the area over the last few years. I'm all about the outreach.) Finally the turtle raised itself up (look how high it gets!) and sped across a few feet of path before resting for another five or ten minutes.

At long last it made it across the path, but it didn't head toward the pond as I'd expected. Instead it spent quite a while meandering, perhaps wondering how it was going to climb over the fence. In the end it moved into the grass and disappeared.

Here's what tansy looks like, before:

And after:

Dog vomit slime mold, day two:



Ah, beauty is fleeting.

Before I'd even made it down Pottery Road this morning I'd seen a hawk being mobbed by some smaller birds, and the lovely indigo bunting again at Todmorden. When I got to the Beechwood mulch pile I thought for a minute someone had thrown a dead goldfinch onto it:

(more on this later)

I took a few pictures, then turned to find a curious deer watching me from across the path. I have to say, these deer are much more inquisitive than I'd imagined. It ducked back into the trees but I found it and a friend a moment later:






Happy to have had my deer sighting du jour, I headed into Beechwood proper to get to work -- and surprised three more deer. Oops! Remember what I said about whole herds of deer cavorting in there amongst the tall goldenrod ...?

Scary deer:



Those antlers are coming along nicely, aren't they? Note to self: turn off auto-flash.

Less scary deer:




They ate a bit more, then headed for the embankment at the back of the site, and northwards. So that's at least five in the area. I'm getting a bit jaded now. "More deer, ho-hum, could you hurry it up so I can get to work here?" (Not really. But I am getting used to the idea of these large animals being in the neighbourhood.)

As for my work, I cut more Japanese knotweed and pulled a lot of tansy. The tansy is really trying to stage a takeover, but I'm onto it. If the ground isn't too dry I can pull the whole plant out without too much trouble. It has a very strong spicy smell which I dislike, but c'est la guerre. I don't seem to have taken any pictures of it -- I guess that tells you how I feel about it. I'll remedy that another day.

Some cool pond plants rising above the surface:




Someone's been munching on the reeds. Muskrat?




I stopped to admire these mysterious etchings on a dead branch. I assume some sort of beetle chewed its way along here under the bark, leaving this pattern behind, but doesn't it look as if a creepy centipede somehow imprinted itself?




There's a very pretty tall grass showing up lately. I hope it's native:




Now, let's go back to that yellow thing on the mulch pile. A quick Google identified it as the harmless Fuligo septica, aka Dog Vomit Slime Mold/Fungus or Scrambled Egg Slime. Have a closer look:





And closer still:




How cool is that? This bright yellow stage won't last long, so I'm glad I had the chance to capture it. If you want to see a ton of incredible macro photos of slime molds (and hey, who doesn't?), go here.

Finally, I saw some spotted sandpipers in the river as I made my way home. There's never a dull moment around here. My pictures aren't good enough to post, but maybe I'll get some another time.

Oh good, there you are:



Two of them crossed the path ahead of me this morning and disappeared into a little grove of sumacs.

These things will one day be elderberries ...




... and these will become raspberries:




This pretty thing is a Tree of Heaven, or Ailanthus altissima. It's the one that smells strongly of peanut butter (although some people find the smell much more disgusting than that). I admired it, I took its picture, I cut it down.



Going back to that aster-y thing I found a while ago: I've had a closer look and done a little research, and I now pronounce it common fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus (which is in the aster family).



This page says the leaves of common fleabane clasp the stem, and I think you'll agree that's what we see here:

Let's see, what else is going on in the neighbourhood these days? The black locust trees are flowering:

The leaves look like this:

The cup plants are flourishing at Beechwood:

The leaves join the stem to form a little cup that holds water:

Stay tuned for updates as the impressive flowers develop later in the season.

Finally, here are the two hairy woodpeckers busy in the cottonwood tree. Unfortunately, I wasn't recording at the moment one turned and fed the other a little tidbit. Sweet!

A city crew came by yesterday and trimmed branches all along the bike path. They got a little slaphappy with our sumacs, maybe ...

Ah well, they'll survive.

A night heron contemplates the river, or life in general:

My woodpecker mojo continued today. As I was putting things away in the equipment box I had to stop and check out the commotion directly above me in the cottonwood tree. Tapping, rustling, bits of debris raining down ... all due to a pair of hairy woodpeckers having breakfast. (Video clip coming later.)

And what are the odds that I would find this feather today on Marnie's Point?! Clearly the woodpecker gods are pleased with me.

A video clip of the pileated woodpecker at work:




It's a girl! A birder at the forum mentioned that this is a female, so I researched the way to tell: the female's crest is black at the front, while the male's is completely red.

Another fine and busy day at Beechwood. I cut some more Japanese knotweed on Marnie's Point and hauled it to the dumping ground:

It can grow pretty tall, with a thick stem ...

... which is segmented and hollow, like bamboo:

It's nice and crunchy to cut, like celery.

The goldenrod is, well, crawling with black things, which I've learned are the larvae of a kind of leaf beetle, genus Trirhabda:

A cardinal joined me for a while. Everyone likes that big dead tree on the point:

The Eastern Cottonwood tree has started sending out its fluffy seed capsules:

The lovely birdsfoot trefoil has started to bloom, but not within my jurisdiction, so I don't have to feel guilty about admiring such a beautiful but non-native plant:

I've been posting recently at a local birdwatching forum. Someone there mentioned that he wasn't seeing any good birds in this area lately, and in particular he'd never seen a pileated woodpecker at Beechwood despite our interpretive sign showing one. Of course I sprang to Beechwood's defense, noting that I've seen downy and hairy woodpeckers there, and then I saw that flicker the other day. Yesterday I posted that the next step on the woodpecker spectrum is a pileated, and I'd be on the lookout. This morning -- well!

Now, technically this was at Pottery Road, not Beechwood, but close enough for jazz, I say. I was walking home when I heard a funny noise. I kept walking as I thought it over ... "Sounds like a person clapping his hands to summon his dog? Sounds like someone whacking a log? ... Y'know, if I were a pileated woodpecker that's exactly the sound I would make." I backtracked a few steps and soon located this lovely fellow (gal?) just off the path:

I watched it for quite a while until it flew off. Continuing on my way, I found this beside Pottery Road. I'm not sure what it is, but it sure seems happy:

It was a rainy morning, but the Don Valley Parkway was closed for a charity bike ride, and I hate to miss a chance to enjoy the Beechwood area without the constant noise from the highway.

There were a thousand tiny spiderlings on the side of the equipment box:

And more young'uns in the river:

(Aww. I count an even dozen goslings.)

I spent some time cutting Japanese knotweed on Marnie's Point:

Note the sophisticated invasive-plant-removal technology: gloves, pruners, and an old bedsheet. You can't cram all that stuff into a garbage bag, and it's very wet and anty to gather up in your arms. I don't want to just leave it on the ground to smother all the good plants I'm trying to make room for, so I haul it away in a sheet and dump it across the path in No-Man's Land. There's also some tansy in there, along with the odd wisp of thistle and even a tree of heaven (betrayed by its peanut butter scent).

Cutting the Japanese knotweed doesn't discourage it in the least, I'm afraid. I've been cutting that stuff for years now, and the city keeps coming in to treat it with napalm or something, and still it grows, and grows, and grows. I came across a sobering picture of some knotweed growing through the pavement in Boston. (That's a cool blog, actually -- check it out.)

A purple-flowering raspberry shows how it got its name:

Also getting ready to flower is the staghorn sumac:

Here's what happens if nobody pulls up the Dame's Rocket ...

... and the garlic mustard ...

Each of those prongs is packed with seeds to continue this plant's takeover attempts.

One of the cow parsnips is now exactly my height, 5'4", but I don't expect it's done growing yet.

A closeup look at the flowers:

I finally got around to identifying that interesting flying thing I saw a while back:





It's an Eight-Spotted Forester Moth, Alypia octomaculata. As a caterpillar it eats grape leaves and Virginia creeper, both of which we have handy around Beechwood.

We're getting some lovely spring weather now, if a bit cool, and everything's looking fresh and green. The goldenrod and other plants are stretching up taller; soon there might be whole herds of deer cavorting at Beechwood and I'd never see them.

The cow parsnip is coming along nicely:

This flicker, a type of woodpecker, perched atop a dead tree for a while. You can see (if you squint a bit) its black collar and the red patch at the back of its head:

I see we haven't licked that viburnum leaf beetle problem yet. This is what they do to the leaves of a maple leaf viburnum:

Some kind of aster ... ?

Got him! Here's an indigo bunting at Todmorden Mills, early in the morning. I think there were a couple of them, actually.




I'm not sure what this raccoon was digging out of the far riverbank -- snails, maybe? Grubs? Any other guesses? It would dig for a bit, then carry something quite small over to that log and eat it, then go back to digging a few inches further along the bank. I watched it do this repeatedly for several minutes. (Also not sure about the orange/grey blur on the left -- think I caught a robin flying by.)




One of the raccoon's partners in crime left some incriminating evidence beside the pond:




Here's a closer look at a wild geranium:




A purple-flowering raspberry gearing up to bloom:




Once again I managed to avoid being arrested, despite "harvesting" a lot of Japanese knotweed.

Usually when people see me "picking the pretty flowers" they nod, smile, or just ignore me. Today a man jogged by, then turned to say angrily, "They see you, they give you shit, stealing the flowers!" He jogged on without waiting for a reply. (I may have made one anyway, under my breath.) A few minutes later a police officer walked by with his police dog; this happens regularly, as the police dog training compound is just a bit farther along the bike path. As usual, I was not arrested, questioned, or paid any attention to, really. Even the dog hardly looks my way. If we come eye-t0-eye we say good morning, and that's about it for the terrible trouble I'm going to get into for "stealing the flowers." Whew.

Ah well, I was comforted by finding several milkweed plants growing among all the Dame's Rocket and other invasive stuff. Now they'll have a little more room to grow.



There was a muskrat in the pond this morning, but it didn't hang around while I figured out the correct setting for my camera. I also got some poor shots of the black-crowned night heron...



... and an interesting flying thing:

I can't seem to find the setting on my camera that identifies the thing I've just taken a picture of. Wouldn't that be a great feature?

There's some cow parsnip getting established at one corner of the site. It's big already, but just wait!

There's a large flower cluster all folded up in this little package:

I saw the indigo bunting again at Todmorden Mills. He's a noisy chap, and too busy to have his picture taken. Instead, here's a robin enjoying some sumac fruit:

It's a great season for birdwatching at Beechwood. This morning a black-crowned night heron flew in to join all the goldfinches, tree swallows and kingfishers at the pond:

There were several orioles around, but they wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a picture. I decided to take a little video instead, so you get to hear them as well. My previous camera could take video clips but didn't have sound; I'm enjoying my recent upgrade!