I decided to go with a sit spot I was very familiar with, a small trail starting from the back of my neighborhood that leads to a small stream all the way to a cow farm. I chose this sitting spot because I knew I would need something close enough to casually walk to, but far enough away walkers and other people couldn’t bother me. The spot I chose faced by neighborhood to the NE through a thick patch of forest. To the east is a small stream that’s deep enough to hold some pretty cool organisms. I hoped to be close to the water and watching water insects and fish would have been good, but a strangely vivid green patch of the forest stood out to me instead, so I got comfy.

I began my sit spot watch by slowly following the trial to the area I had in mind. I was immediately surrounded by the swarm of cicadas and bees buzzing on a hot, humid day. As I finally grounded myself in my sit spot, I began to really focus my eyes on what was immediately around me. I was surrounded by different shades of green, from the settling deep fern color to a bright almost yellow lime of small rounded vines crawling up the thick tree trunks. I had settled just in between the end of the more prevalent trail and the smaller one that leads to the stream. The stream was definitely my favorite, as it’s shallow enough that you can easily walk through it yet deep enough to hold so many creatures. 

The stream to the southeast of me

The first thing I distinctively hear is the babbling water of the stream to the south of me. It helped me relax and ground myself in the woodsy area I haven’t been to in years. I am soon able to push the water to the background and begin focusing on what I hear closest to me. I immediately notice the mosquitoes and beetles flying around me, annoyingly so. This is followed shortly by the screams of the cicadas around me, so loud I couldn’t tell if I could hear any other insect really. I began to notice 

 

As I stare off into the SE direction of the stream I find my eyes following along a fallen tree. I see huge patches of moss along the edges of the old, rusty colored bark. I am almost surprised how reddish brown the underneath of the tree trunk was, but this tree also looks like it may have been manually cut down. It is when I was looking at the white and deep green moss layered on the shadows of the tree, I see a small trail of ants marching along. They were just far enough I could see them moving along but not much else like what they were carrying or where they led. They had an intricate enough of a pathway leading into the branch, I could only assume it was their home or a common spot of theirs. 

To the south side of my sit spot

Ferns by the shallow stream

I was very comfortable with my area, although it did get a bit noisy with the sounds of families walking about in the background. I decided I will focus deeper into the forest area. I decided that the three things I would try to seek out would be the beginning of the trail leading into the deeper forest area. I thought the overall arching feeling of the space would be cool to observe over time. Second I chose more closer to the steam, although not as deep as it can go I think the steam area closest to my sitting spot would look great in the fall. Along the stream, I’ve decided to focus on the growing life of some ferns as well as I believe those would be great to observe. As it was getting unbelievably humid and hot for a September day, had finally succumbed to the mosquitos and sweat bees flying around me and I decided to call it a day. I look forward to watching the woods in my background from a different perspective and learn more about the environment around myself. 

The overarching trail leading up to the clearing