2:00-3:00 p.m. Mostly sunny; temperature in the 70’s with a breeze from the east
I choose my sit spot in my backyard because it was a convenient spot for me since it’s super close by. It has a large tree in the east that could give some shade or protection from rain in case some bad weather came along. I’ve also lived in my home for nineteen years so I knew where the most active place on my yard would be. I did not want to sit where I would see snakes or intrude on some groundhog’s home, especially with winter coming. Plus, the terrain was the most solid and not at a strange angle like the rest of my yard.
Before I even sat, I heard the noise of crickets chirping, which caught me off guard just because of what time it was. It was only two p.m.! It was very soothing though. But soon their noise was drowned out by four different bird calls happening in the south. I kept glancing until I saw a black and white bird fly by and land on a tree close by. It couldn’t tell what type of bird it was but I believe it was a type of woodpecker. The ants and flies got too comfortable with me after a while, always crawling or landing on me, which was quite annoying for me. There was an occasional buzzing from some cicadas in the west.
After seeing that ‘woodpecker’ I kept seeing animals that had black and white features. A zebra looking bug that was only half an inch that landed on my book, a black swallowtail butterfly, a cabbage white butterfly it was so strange! I saw a few deer scurry by me, a mother and a fawn. Then, being someone who doesn’t handle insects well, I felt something fall on me. It felt huge and, while panicking, grabbed the insect that was on my back and threw off of me. A green, fuzzy, black spiked caterpillar. That’s when the pain kicked in my back. I looked it up and found out it was an American Dagger Moth Caterpillar (Acronicta Americana) and have toxins stored in their hairs. Search up the symptoms when you get a sting. Go ahead. If you don’t want to I’ll tell you it’s painful and now I have hives. I was later chased by a bee who was fascinated with my ear while I was rushing inside to treat my sting.
For the most, my sit spot was actually relaxing and I thought it would be much harder to not think of anything but it was quite easy. Like a release from having to worry about the next thing and just enjoy the moment. That said, being stung by a caterpillar was a first and hopefully last time occurrence. I’m also apprehensive under trees now. Thankfully, the bee didn’t think to sting me as well.
Focal objects: The three items I will be looking at is a thorn looking plant, a branch, and a purple stemmed plant. I choose the thorn plant since it looks like something is starting to snack on it and I want to see if the animal progresses to eat from it. The branch doesn’t seem too old and could be from a deer or an animal reaching for leaves. The purple stemmed plant because, well, it was purple and it was the very first thing I saw while at my sit spot.
I think the purple-stemmed plant you’re observing is called a common pokeweed! (Phytolacca americana). It grows dark purple/blue berries that are poisonous if not prepared correctly.
I saw some pokeweed on my sitspot adventure as well! As their name states, they’re pretty common.
Does the tree you were under contain nests of the American Dagger Moth Caterpillar? If so, I think that would be a cool species to keep track on as well.