Renee – Finding my Spot

8-31-19, 3:15-4:45 p.m.  Partly cloudy, Temp around 85, light breeze from the south

Choosing my sit-spot seemed monumental – this was a place where I was going to spend some significant time and I wanted to make a good decision.  I wanted it to be a place where I could experience a lot and be easily pulled into unfolding stories that I was witnessing.  In the end, I chose a spot less than 50 yards to the east of my house which has low human traffic and a good vibe.  I settled here because I liked the solid chestnut oaks to my right (south) and the white pine/Virginia pine duo to my left (North) – they seemed to frame my view.  Directly in front of me is an old tree carcass covered in the soft green moss – which I find soothing.  The sunlight was playing on the tree trunks and there were some nice shrubs (probably in the blueberry family) in front of me – I knew between the chestnut oak and the shrubs I would have a nice barometer to watch fall unfold and in the leaf litter there would be some interesting invertebrates to watch.  I was hoping I might see something big and exciting but was perfectly content to let the spot unfold for me.  And unfold it did.

At first there was so much to see that I didn’t really see anything – the old proverb in reverse “couldn’t see the  trees for the forest.”  Watching the chestnut oak leaves in the canopy, I noted lots of insect damage – there wasn’t an intact leaf on a twig, though they are all still green…. it took me 15 minutes before I looked at one of the leaves right beside me and saw the strangest moth caterpillar I have ever seen.

It looked like Donald Trump’s hair – only about an inch long and half an inch wide -how could it have taken me 15 minutes to notice this strange being.  What kind of brain filter do I have that let me miss this munching wonder – I had to have seen it earlier – but somehow my brain filtered it out as unimportant.  But it wasn’t unimportant.  I took a picture and after I was done I did a google search.  It was a “PUSS CATERPILLAR”  (Megalopyge opercularis) one of the more toxic caterpillars in the US.  I found out that my sit-spot has to be at the very northern end of its range – it is much more common in Florida – how cool that I saw it – how not cool that it took me so long to register its presence 3 feet away – how cool I didn’t try and pet it and – how not cool that climate change must be bringing some unwelcomed southern species our way.  I bet the oaks welcome a lot less than I do!

Tiny and toupe orange but it packs a punch.

I saw lots of other animals in my time in my sit-spot.  Though I chose to write about the puss caterpillar which was no bigger than my fingertip in my blog post, I did see three turkeys moving along a trail just in site of my sit spot which occupied some significant space in my journal.  They winked in and out of view as they made their way West.  I saw them because I was quiet and not moving around – that was a treat.  I also saw a couple butterflies flit in and out (red spotted purple and common wood nymph) – neither elected to spend much time with me.  And a number of ants – at least three different species – small black, medium black head red body, and big black….I can’t give them names because I don’t know my ants but it did seem that I would notice them in the leaf litter and then my attention would be drawn elsewhere and then I would see them again on me….am I an ant magnet?

So much to see and to hear.  There were low throaty ravens calling to the north while I was in my focused observation.  They were joined by some insect which I named “SAW-BUGS” because they sounded just like buzz saws much closer and to the North east.  They were a chorus of sorts and seemed to come to some collective agreement to stop calling at the same time.  Wonder why.  Other than the soft footsteps of the turkeys the only other sound I registered as the constant rustling of the leaves in the canopy.  Seemed to me that different trees made different noises and if you listened long enough and hard enough maybe you could learn the wind songs of chestnut oaks and how these differed from hickories and pines.  I wonder if I will have the patience to sit and listen and learn those voices.

I am not sure that I have an answer to that question – but I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in my sit spot and seeing animals that I have not seen before.  I witnessed the lives of other species which are always there but in my self-absorbed oblivion I failed to notice.  And in watching those lives I thought a bit less about my own – coming once again to that realization that getting out of myself is the surest way to settle into myself.

My focal objects:  I decided to take a picture of my chestnut oaks – they will be my map to the changing seasons in the sky.  I also picked a pine cone about three feet to the South east of my sit spot – it will give me a landmark to watch the changing seasons on the forest floor.  And I also decided to follow this beautiful platform web of a funnel spider.  I doubt that web will make it through the season – but I would like to know.  I tried to get a picture of the web designer in the funnel but only a leg can be seen in the obscurity of the dark enclosure.  What kind of thoughts must this spider weave as it waits for food rather than forest detritus to fall in its web.

My focal objects