I arrived at my sit spot at 11:10 on November 1st, this time I decided to observe my spot during the day. I have never been to my sit spot around this time because of classes and a general busy schedule. When my class got canceled this morning, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to start off my day with an hour of quiet at my sit spot. I also felt that since this was a different time than I have done it before that it would be interesting to see the differences from previous sit spot sessions.
The weather was a perfect fall day, crisp air around 40 degrees but the sun made this weather very enjoyable. The sky was a clear blue with no clouds in sight which was surprising with the intense storm last night that there are no clouds. This was probably my favorite sit spot session yet, because the weather was sooo nice. I enjoy the fall which we don’t get much of in Charleston so it’s a treat here, which made this a perfect day to blog. The sit spot had one very surprising change in the fact that the grass was very green and health looking, which was a drastic change from the dead grass the past couple of blogs.
Today I was treated with an abundance of wildlife visiting all at once, with in just the hour I was there I saw five different birds and plenty of squirrels. I was able to see a group of turkey vultures passing through and saw and heard several crows. I also saw a new bird today that I have not seen since beginning my sit spot, a very very small songbird; when I say small, I mean it was about half the size of the blue jays which aren’t big. However, my favorite birds were the blue jays and the cardinals. The blue jays are frequent flyers at my sit spot as they nest in the evergreens I observe. Today they were out in full force, I saw at least fifteen within an hour. The blue jays were collecting food, which was super fun to observe, I saw many fruit/nuts from the trees around my sit spot and what looked like worms. This is how unbothered they were with me they got within ten feet of where I was sitting for the food they were collecting. I was glad I wasn’t a bother to them because I got to observe them up close and watch them forage for food which was a fun experience. They were mostly foraging and flying back and forth from tree to tree today, putting on quite a show. The cardinals were new to my sit spot and I was so happy to see them! I saw several males and females, which can be distinguished by their different colors. The males are a bright vibrant red and the females are a dull mute red brown. This is so the males can lead predators away from the nest protecting the female and their offspring. Which got me thinking about sexual dimorphism which I think this could be a perfect example of. The cardinals did not stay long probably because of the abundance of blue jays already there, they sat in a tree about twenty yards from where I was sitting but not for long. I tried to get a photo of the cardinal male, but I was to slow, and he flew away before I got the chance and then they were gone.
The evergreen grouping I have been following has not changed, but that is to be expected as they are evergreens. They looked rather green today I guess that was because of the rest of the trees losing their leaves. The larger tree to the north of where I sit has finally changed colors to a beautiful bright yellow. The tree has also started to drop its leaves, which is exciting because it seemed to be resisting change the past few times I have been. The most surprising change, or lack of, was the small tree to the north. It seems to not have changed at all since the last time, not even a slight change in leaf color. This was so surprising to me because it seemed like it was losing leaves so fast last time but it has stopped.
This new time for doing my observations was the perfect time, it seemed as though the birds were very active at this time. I would visit again at this time to see if they are still as active as they were today even with the cold weather approaching. It also seemed to be the perfect weather time of day because the sun was in a perfect position so i was not cold.
Small Tree
Large tree
Evergreen trees
The large tree is so beautiful! It seemed like the perfect day sit at your sit-spot!
The color of the sky in your photos is so rich and deep that I’m kind of amazed by it all. I like how you related some of your observations to what we’ve been learning in class, very smooth and thoughtful incorporation. Your blog has inspired me to do my next blog post around noon as well, hopefully my observation are as immaculate as yours!