[first sit-spot magnolia/ last sit-spot magnolia]

[first sit-spot leaf cover/ last sit-spot leaf cover]

For my last sit-spot, sit-spot #5, I went in the morning. It was very lovely, even through the chill of winter! The sky was very clear then, except for some long patches of clouds, and I saw and heard a large variety of animals. I hadn’t gone out in the morning before, but I liked it a lot. Back when I did my first sit-spot, it was still just as beautiful, if only a tad bit more green (though, green is my favorite color). When I went to my sit spots in the beginning of the year I heard much more activity from animals than nowadays. For instance, I used to be able to hear the cicadas and crickets when I finished my sit spots, but now I don’t hear them.  The tree I monitor that I face during my sit-spots, the Saucer Magnolia, has completely lost its pretty green leaves. It looks bare, but you can see the buds of potential flowers still at the tips of the branches. Still, it looks much different than it did a few months ago, and I’m glad I got to document its change. The ratio of leaves to grass on the ground varied throughout the months. In the beginning, as you can see in the photo, they were kind of sparse except for when you got closer to the Magnolia tree. My latest sit-spot shows that there are a lot more leaves on the ground than my first sit-spot, but if those of you who read my blog a few weeks ago remember, at one point it was as if I was walking on a bed of leaves – the ground was so thickly covered!

Anyways, this time, I went to my sit-spot at about 3:16 on Wednesday as part of my lab block. The sky was even more clear than last time! It was this very pretty nice blue, and the only clouds in sit were two small cumulus-cloud-tufts spread out across the sky. To the south, I could see the moon very far off.  It was also very, very windy, which made it very cold whenever there was a burst. I wished I had thought to bring my thick blanket to sit and do this last sit-spot, but my jacket still managed to do its job!

I didn’t see a wide variety of animals at all, but I did see a bunch of birds over the time I sat in my spot! In fact, at one point near the beginning, I saw three very large birds flying around in the distance. They had a very wide wingspan, with dark brown feathers, and it seemed like a lot of the time they were coasting on the wind, since I barely ever saw them flap their wings. Watching them brought me back to when we did our bird lab near the beginning of the semester. I thought if I had my identification sheet I might be able to tell what species they belonged to! Other than them, I didn’t see any bugs or squirrels at all, but I watched about three other black (?) birds quickly fly back and forth between the trees all around Baile Gardens. There was absolutely no sound at all except for the rustling of leaves and trees from the wind, and their chirping and singing. It was quite peaceful! I was surprised I saw so many of them in one sitting, and in such cold weather! Normally I don’t see that many birds at all, even earlier in the semester! The only other animal I saw, which surprise surprise, was also a bird, was this beautiful male cardinal hopping around on the leaves (probably looking for something to scavenge up) about 7 meters away. His feathers were a deep, beautiful red and it contrasted the leaves he hopped on in the best way. I tried to get a picture of him so I could post it here with the others, but he flew away when I tried to sneak up to him.

As I said earlier, my three things ( the foliage of the Saucer Magnolia, the leaf cover on the ground, and the amount of animals observed) have notably changed over the semester. The leaves of the Magnolia fell a few weeks ago, while as I expected the amount of observed animals to drop significantly, this last sit spot showed me otherwise. I saw more activity on Wednesday than many other sit-spots. Then, regarding the leaf cover, it has gone back and forth a lot over the semester. In the beginning, it was sparse, and a few weeks ago it was at its highest, which relates with when most of the leaves dropped from their trees, and for my last sit-spot it seems as though there are much fewer again, but upon closer inspection you can see that there is evidence of the trees that fell quite a while ago under the newly fallen leaves.

Finally, I know that I didn’t select the oak tree that I sit under for one of my three things, but looking back, I’ve been monitoring the change in its leaves as well for the entire semester. As an update, all of its leaves have finally changed color to this lovely redish-orange-brown color, though the tree has still retained most of its leaves.

This experience has changed for me over the course of the semester as well. In the beginning, for example, I loved how beautiful the gardens were but was tormented (half-exaggerating) by mosquitos that treated me like a buffet. It didn’t make me wish I was back sitting there. But more recently, its been a much more peaceful, relaxing experience that I appreciate a lot more. I really, really liked monitoring the change in the environment around me on paper, and I like that I got to learn a lot more about the organisms that surround me, which gives me even more appreciation for them. For instance, over the course of the semester it has been a journey trying to figure out what the big tree in front of me was, and with a bunch of help from Liz, it was only after the leaves dropped that I was able to confirm that it was a Saucer Magnolia. I also think that sitting here has made me a little more comfortable in nature, even if my dislike for certain bugs is not going to change, because I Do like sitting in my sit-spot. A year from now, I think I’ll still remember a lot of the things that stuck out to me on each of these sit-spots. I think I’ll remember the mosquitos, but I’ll also remember being scared the hell out of by a bunch of squirrels that one time a few weeks ago, and the cardinal I saw on Wednesday along with the huge birds (falcons? vultures?). I know I’ll remember the experience of identifying the things around me, which was very satisfying for me.

I left my sit-spot at 4:24pm. Bye for now!

Emily