9/15/19

Blog 1

10:07-10:58

For my sit spot, I chose an area that had water, trees, and grasses that I could observe. It is along Carvin’s Creek, next to the right of the bridge. It has several sycamore trees and other tree species as well. There is grass, along with other green plants that make up the ground of the sit spot. Among the grasses and the dirt, I know many organisms live there.

At first, I wanted my sit spot to be near the back to the left of Dana, where I saw a narrow waterway and a fairly large tree stump. However, when I saw my sit spot that I chose on the day of the stream ecology lab, I knew that was where I wanted to sit and observe as there didn’t look to be a lot of human interference in the area. The creek also, as I learned from the lab, has many organisms and its own ecosystem that I can observe, along with a view into the forest on the other side of the creek.

In my first time at the sit spot, I saw and learned a lot just by observing. When I had first approached my sit spot and set up the towel I brought to sit on, I could hear what sounded like a bird screeching loudly, with a bug chirping softly in the background. I tuned myself into my surroundings the best I was able to and after a few minutes, it sounded like a second bird joined in with the first. I did not see the birds, but I could hear them communicating through their screeches, one sometimes after the other or at the same time. As I looked at the water, I could see multiple ripples appearing, along with the occasional splash. I could also see some fish near the surface of the water. Halfway through my observations, the birds had quieted, and I could hear cicadas and crickets continuously. I saw a mostly black insect with some red stripes on its side fly past and land on a leaf of what looked like clover (Not certain if it was clover). It had white tips to its antennae. There was a slight breeze and the sky was a light blue with lots of white and pale grey clouds. As the breeze blew, the water looked like it was full of ripples. I could also hear a faint knocking sound (Of what I think may have been a woodpecker, but I’m not certain) in the forest.

Many other bird calls were also heard, of varying lengths and volume. I saw a bird fly past. It was small and flew from one tree to another. Momentarily, I got distracted when I noticed a small ant was on my hand. I put my hand to the grass, and it crawled off of my hand and into the grass without causing me any pain. I saw a few insects and they flew past and around me. Soon after the first ant had left into the grass, a second ant was on my flip flops (I had taken them off because I didn’t want to be distracted by having to move my legs often to adjust to stay comfortable). It would crawl to the edge of the shoe and reach towards a grass blade, going up and down the top of my shoe doing this until it reached one, then it crawled into the grass. I could hear branches falling and the air smelled like it does after it has recently rained. I could see leaves falling and hear them rustling around me. The tree that I chose to follow doesn’t look to be a sycamore. It has what looks to be vines of some sort going up a portion of its trunk, with leaves on the vines. The leaves of the tree are mostly green, with some yellow and some dead leaves. The bark is light brown in color and has some deep grooves on the bark. As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed a long black, caterpillar-looking bug on my shoe. It had an orange head and looked to just be resting and trying to eat plant matter off my shoe. I used a grass blade to encourage it off my shoe. It also went into the grasses, where I lost track of it.

I felt that I benefited from my focused time in my sit spot. I learned a lot about the area around me just by observing. I do have questions about what the two bugs I described in the previous two paragraphs were. Overall, the experience was fun; I got to see more than I would have if I was just walking by and I observed a bit of behavior from the invertebrates that I saw. I do look forward to the next time I go to my sit spot. Other than that one time I lost focus due to the ant on me, I feel like I stayed tuned in pretty well.