Bird news! This morning I saw a great egret in the pond. It's a stunning bird, snowy white and as large as a great blue heron. This brings my Beechwood bird list to 25 so far this year.

On Wednesday night we planted a variety of native plants: Blue Vervain, Hoary Vervain, Joe Pye Weed, Sky Blue Aster, Great Blue Lobelia, Smooth Aster and New England Aster. There was also some kind of tall grass, and we finished the evening by planting a lot of nice little poplar trees. Thank goodness for the extra volunteers who came out to help! We didn't get everything finished, but we came close. Here's a flat of plants waiting to go in the ground:

The city grows these for us in the greenhouse at High Park. I'm not sure about the trees. Does anyone know where they come from? [Answer: there's a city tree nursery near Fort York.]

Poplar tree settling into its new home. It has a good layer of mulch to discourage weeds and retain moisture, and a tree guard to discourage bunnies who would like to nibble the bark:

This is a smooth aster. Notice how skilfully it was planted:

Another masterful planting job:

I didn't plant this kind, so I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it will turn into something great:

By the end of today John and I will have watered all the new plants. I don't see any rain in the forecast for quite a while, so we may need to keep doing this. Unfortunately, it's not like a campground with a handy tap every few sites: watering plants means dipping water from the pond and carrying it through twelve miles of heavy brush. Well, maybe not twelve miles, and maybe the brush isn't all that heavy, but the water sure is after a while. This morning a couple of passersby kindly asked if I needed help (no, thank you) and then wondered why the water was so black (just mud from the pond). I had to be careful to avoid the frog that was "hiding" a few inches from my dipping bucket.

It's cottonwood season. This twig came down in the last big storm. You can see the shape of the leaves and the white fluff that is everywhere right now. This tree has a heck of a seed-dispersal system.

Finally, I saw dead chipmunk #3 this morning on the path. I'm going to have to put up tiny signs to warn them.

FFOS: first frog of season. I heard one the other day and got a good look this morning:

This is odd -- everything I read about black locust flowers says they smell very sweet, but I walked up to this one for a sniff and there was no scent. What's up? I must continue my research.

Spot the rabbit hiding in this picture:

It's hiding in a patch of tansy, which I've been busy pulling lately. It's the new garlic mustard. Speaking of garlic mustard, this is what happens after the bolting and flowering stages: those prongs are seed pods full of little black seeds ready to go forth and conquer the world.

While exploring the site I found this artifact, obviously left behind by the early pioneers who settled the area:


I've been reading about spit bugs, aka spittlebugs or froghoppers. These little insects produce a white froth that hides them and keeps them from drying out while they mature. They've beaten out fleas for the title of highest jumper in nature, so show a little respect when you see these gobs of spit on your plants.


Sightings: I saw a muskrat in the pond for the first time this season, along with some white-tailed dragonflies. There's been a black-crowned night heron there several times too. Early summer seems to be progressing nicely!

Finally, welcome to a new blog on the block, Riverdale Farm Ponds Stewardship. Check in there to learn how another great site benefits from the stewardship program.

Wow, that was a heck of a storm yesterday! There's a tree down in the pond:

(Actually a couple of trees, one [or more?] recently living and one [or more?] long dead. It's hard to make sense of the tangle.)

All serene today, though:

A chipmunk takes a break from checking out the storm damage to check out the woman with the camera:

The purple-flowering raspberry is doing its purple-flowering thing. The raspberry part comes later.

Is there anything prettier than a wild rose?

We had another evening of weeding this week, rooting out the last of the garlic mustard (I hope!), some dog-strangling vine, tansy and thistles. For variety we watched John take part in a study of Japanese Knotweed genetics. This very leaf provided a small sample to be mailed off for testing and comparison to other JK across the US.



I wonder about this glove every time I walk by it. I suspect it marks the final resting place of a fellow steward who lost the battle with dog-strangling vine:



The blue flags always look pretty in the pond:



The black locust trees in the area are in flower. I'm told these smell wonderful, but I haven't checked yet. Stay tuned for a report on this. Strictly speaking, black locust trees are on our black list (non-native), and I shouldn't encourage them, but just this once, in the name of science, I'll give them a sniff.

Next week we're going to have a special wildflower-planting session on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll get lots of people to help us fill in all the bare patches that used to hold garlic mustard.

We had our first official outing at Beechwood the other night. The team cleared out another mountain of garlic mustard, leaving the site fairly clear of it for now. Amazing! Of course the leaves of next year's crop are everywhere, but we'll deal with that next year as it bolts and flowers.

After our work session we toured the site and learned about its history and the challenges we face in restoring it. Here some team members take a look at the pond:

I was trying to respect everyone's privacy, not shoot faces etc. but when they heard about that they couldn't line up fast enough for a real group photo. Here's the gang from that night:

And a fine-looking bunch we are, too. Here we see another volunteer, Iris, a bit farther down the path:

Finally, I had heard about the wild socks parties in the valley but never believed it until now. Simply shocking:

I see the cow vetch is off to a good start along the bike path. Hey! An invasive plant that we don't have on our site?! Can it be possible?

I saw "my" raccoon again this morning. The tail looks better, but it's favouring the right front paw. Despite this, it seems to be getting around just fine. I watched it climb all over the big oak tree. It gave me a good looking over but didn't make any advances this time. It did communicate a message, though:

I tugged on a stubborn garlic mustard root this morning and came up with this. I'm guessing it's a raccoon jawbone.

My enjoyment at watching this little chipmunk ...

... was spoiled by seeing a dead one on the path a moment later. It seemed quite newly dead, and whole; I didn't notice it on the way in, and I didn't see any vehicles go by while I was at the site, so I'm wondering if a bike hit the little guy. Chipmunks do tend to zip across the road in front of people. I nudged it into the grass with a little apology. My walks in this area have become a litany of the bodies I've found: there's the dead raccoon ... there's where the dead snake was ... there's the dead thing-that-might-be-a-dog ... there's where the chipmunk died ... Such is life.

And a bit more life: here are some wild grapes developing.

From a distance I wondered what kind of odd toadstool was growing on the lawn at Todmorden Mills, but when I got closer I found it was a paper wasp nest. (Right? If anyone knows better, feel free to correct me. I'm eternally confused about bees/wasps/hornets etc.) This is an abandoned one from last year that's fallen from its branch. It's an amazing structure, isn't it?

Oh yeah, we rock. There's a mountain of garlic mustard waiting to be disposed of. At the orientation meeting the other night we heard about the six sites involved in the stewardship program this year and had a look at various invasive plants we'll be dealing with. We decided to switch the Beechwood night to Wednesday, so heads up, team members! You'll just have to tape So You Think You Can Dance. I noticed a few new people signing on for our site. Welcome to Beechwood wetland! As John (our fearless leader) said, "We have it all." Unfortunately, what he meant was, "We have garlic mustard, and dog-strangling vine, and knotweed, and phragmites ..."

This morning I went back to the area by the pond I'd worked on earlier in the season. There was a bit of garlic mustard I'd missed, perfectly obvious now that it's flowering, and a new crop coming up thick and fast. I worked away happily for a while, then suddenly realized I was not alone. I looked up to see a raccoon not just regarding me but making a beeline for me. Um, hi, I don't have any food in this bag, so scram. It wasn't intimidated by my shooing techniques, just kept coming straight at me. I could see it had a nasty wound on its tail, so I decided discretion is the better part of valour and moved to a different part of the site. Dang, I can't believe I was chased off by a raccoon! I wouldn't say it was aggressive, exactly -- let's say assertive. I saw it later dabbling in the pond, and got a few pictures. You can see the wound near the end of its tail, although you can't see how raw and bloody it looked. (A bit of dead grass is helpfully "circling" the area in question, in case you're having trouble seeing it.)

Here's a plant called Dame's Rocket. Isn't it lovely? I bet you can guess the rest of the story: it's not native, and it produces tons of seeds, so we'll be getting rid of it.

Oh good, reinforcements have arrived! It looks as if more garlic mustard met its match last week. The green box is full too. (Edit: it seems John, Lise, Charity and Bruce were the workers responsible. Come on out this Thursday night for another round if you can. Alas, I work Thursday nights and can't join you.)

I got to do a little outreach yesterday. I often wonder what people are thinking as they walk or cycle past and see me grubbing in the dirt. ("What on earth is that crazy woman trying to do, weed the entire valley?") Hardly anyone stops to ask, but yesterday a cyclist came over to find out what I was doing and we had a chat about the stewardship program. I even got in a plug for my blog, so hello to you, visitor, if you found your way here. We'd love to have you bring the kids out some time to see what's going on.

Reminder: meeting tomorrow night, 7 o'clock at Riverdale Farm. This will be the official stewardship kick-off for 2007. (I figure the season really started yesterday, when I got my first ant bite.)

Apple blossoms, and a couple of notes:

The orientation session for the Community Stewardship Program is set for May 23 at 7 p.m. at the Riverdale Farm Meeting House. Come out and learn about what we do and where we do it. Please RSVP to greentorontoATtoronto.ca if you plan to attend.

John is planning an outing Thursday night to remove garlic mustard at Beechwood Wetland. Apparently I haven't quite got it all yet, so please come and help out if you can. It's very rewarding, I swear!

I saw a mockingbird this morning. There are now 21 different birds on my list, and that's not counting the catbirds until I ID them for sure.

Gratuitous shot of crabapple blossoms not found on the Beechwood site. You can never have too much pink and green.

The garlic mustard is in flower too. Must ... work ... faster ...

(Actually it makes it easier to spot the plants that are hiding among the good stuff.)

I saw my first oriole of the season yesterday and a few more today, along with a redstart. I'd better keep a running list of birds and report back in the fall.

Thank you to Ontario Wanderer for identifying something I posted recently: "Just for the record, your 'tree thingies' are the male (pollen or staminate) flowers of the Manitoba Maple also known as Box-elder and Ashleaf Maple (Acer negundo). At least that is what it looks like to me from your photo."

Ontario Wanderer has just taken part in the Blogger Bio Blitz. I've been reading along with a couple of bloggers who attempted to list all the plants, animals, insects, etc. they could find in a small area. I admire their dedication! I'm happy to know the common names of the most obvious stuff I see, and I'm even happier if someone else will do the ID work for me. Thanks, OW!

Update on the odd goose: I posted the pics on a birdwatching forum and people have been tossing around some suggestions. The goose was there again yesterday with a mate (regular Canada goose) and I got some pictures of it out of the water. Orange legs, so it seems to be a domestic/Canada hybrid. A domesticanada? A Canadomestic?

Check out the kung fu moves!

A few scenes from early this morning:

Frost!

Mist!

Tree thingies!

It's a lovely day for digging up invasive plants. I was joined by a common yellowthroat warbler and some tree swallows. Sorry, no pictures of those -- the problem with actually working is that my camera isn't handy.

The garlic mustard is bolting. Sadly, this means it's sending up a flower stalk, not running away.



Here's what the roots look like:




An intriguing little hole in the ground. Anybody home?



What's the story with this goose, does anyone know? The first glance at my field guide made me think it was a barnacle goose, an unusual stray from Europe, but no, it doesn't have the black chest. Is it a hybrid?



I found an old oriole nest on the ground:

If you peer inside you can see the empty eggshell: