Today at my sit-spot I focused watching the pond. I wanted to see if I could find any living creatures in the pond today because I have not been able to actually see a creature in the pond. While I was still unable to find a creature today, I was able to find what I think was a tilted over water fountain in the pond (but maybe I am just wishful thinking that it was a water fountain, but there was definitely a current of water moving from one side on the east end of the pond). I really wish I knew someone I could ask to see if it actually is a water fountain.

I would like to start by saying, if you are going to close your eyes while outdoors for long periods of time, expect bugs to hit you in the face at some point. When I closed my eyes I had a reasonable amount of bugs hit me in the face and or land somewhere on my body. As someone who hates bugs, this was a bit traumatic, but I am known to be dramatic. But, when I did have my eyes shut, I was able to hear what I originally thought was a water fountain, but actually turned out to be water running into a drain on the east end of the pond. I determined that the drain was probably there for when water levels rose to prevent flooding, as the east end of the pond comes quite close to the road. Other than the fake waterfall, I was able to hear the leaves rustling in the trees around me and hear the occasional splash in the pond.

Of my three objects, only one of them has seemed to change. The algae spot always changes. Today the algae spot was back to its bright, cheery self and was neon green like when I first saw it. The algae had floated back up to the top of the pond and have a very large number of leaves on it from the nearby trees. In addition, my original patch seems to have merged with some of the other patches around it. The willow tree on the other had has had absolutely no noticeable changes, which seems to be consistent with the willow trees past sit-spot observations. The grass patch seems to be more covered by the water this week, making me think that the water level in the pond has risen.

I found three different organisms during my time that I have now identified. The first organism is a tree that has been to the right of me this whole time (obviously because trees do not move…) but I have not found what type of tree it was. The tree is a sycamore tree, which is actually very common, so I was surprised by the fact I was unable to recognize it. I was able to identify it by its very large leaves. The leaves are littering the ground all around my sit-spot and are all over the top of the pond too. Sadly, I think the amazing shade that the tree has provided me with every time I go to my sit-spot, may be gone our next sit-spot.

The next organism I identified was a blue jay, but is seemed to be smaller than your average blue jay, so I originally wondered if perhaps it was a young one or a baby, but I is late in the season to for birds to have babies I thought. However, because the bird was flying over my head in motion, I could just be guessing its size incorrectly. The last organism I identified was, of course, an ant. I seem to have a love hate relationship with the ants by my sit-spot, as they have never been a bad as the first time I visited, I always seem to have a few ants land on me, so today I decided I would find the name of one. So there are many types of ants in the area of my sit-spot, but after much deliberation, I think what I found was the pharaoh ant. I was reddish brown and was a regular to small size. People don’t know where the pharaoh ant originated from but the are very common and can be found all over the world.