Ruthie Beeland Sit Spot 3

Ruth Beeland Sit Spot Journal #3 

10/18/20 Enter: 2:30 PM Exit: 4:10 PM

Immediately upon entering my sit spot I was encountered with something I did not expect. Though I was lucky I noticed it when I did, a snake laid directly in my path, hissing slowly whenever I lifted my foot or made too much noise. Though I was not sure it was alive when I first came across it when I poked it with a stick to see if it would react I quickly determined that it was very much so alive. It was obvious to me that this snake was not venomous upon first sight, but I still did not fancy the idea of getting bit by a snake on this particular day, especially as I was alone and the area around me was quite unpopulated. I resolved to tread through a thicket of branches rather than pass by the snake as I would have had it not been there. The thorns got me in my legs, but I think a bite would have hurt more at that moment. As I made it into my sit spot proper, I sat fully down onto the wet grass without any mind to my pants. 

During my fifteen minutes of observation, I couldn’t help but look around occasionally just to make sure that snake hadn’t come back for revenge, but other than that I found my observation pretty uneventful. Bees bumbled around as they usually did, the birds had moved from chirping to all-out screaming in the canopy, and that would have been the loudest thing in my sit spot had it not been for the absolutely massive amount of crickets that I had the pleasure of listening to for my nearly two hours of hanging out in my sit spot. 

I saw a fair few bugs during my observation, but I focused in on one that looked like a cross between a firefly, inchworm, and centipede that was crawling around next to me. It scaled the blades of grass between my feet, only pausing whenever I took the time to fidget with my pencil. I couldn’t help but wonder where it was going until I came to the conclusion that it was going to the ultimate destination: nowhere in particular. Sometimes I feel really wrapped up in routine and work, and it was a little odd for me at that moment to come to the conclusion that this bug did not have anything to do but eat, reproduce, and then die, only one of which I could relate to on a human level. 

During my auditory tuning time, I hate to say it, but barely anything of interest happened. The crickets were literally all I could hear, interrupted by the occasional call from a bird I could only place as being one of prey. I found myself wondering if while my eyes were closed it might assume I was dead and circle me like the birds all do in movies. Of course, I do think myself to be stronger than a bird, so if it were to swoop down on me I was confident I could give it the old one-two. 

With INaturalist I actually ended up identifying quite a bit more than three species of plant and animal. First, I started with my snake enemy which I found to be a Plains Garter Snake, though I did receive a comment on my post that said that they thought it was an Eastern Garter Snake rather than a Plains, which, admittedly is probably more accurate than my assessment. 

Then I uploaded a photo of my bug friend and identified it as a Lampryis bug which is in the firefly family, so I was correct in my first instinct! 

Next, I identified the previously unidentified plant that I talked about in my last journal as being a Kousa Dogwood, which is a naturalized species in this area, originally native to Korea. I also went about confirming my holly bush and found that it was actually a Red Currant, which is also invasive to this area. 

I spent the rest of my time in my sit spot identifying different types of flowers and weeds I saw. I found a breed of bamboo called River Cane, a flower that looked sort of like pink wheat called Low Smartweed which is also invasive, a yellow flower called Yellow Crownbeard, and a bright blue flower called a Chicory flower.