Blog #4

11/2/19

Start time: 5:45pm

End time: 6:30 pm

Direction facing: East

I was excited to return to my sit spot because it felt like I hadn’t been back for so long, however the temperature did not make this visit as pleasant as desired. It was about 55º F when I first arrived and around 53º F when I left. Despite me not being dressed properly and having to endure the chilly wind, it was a beautiful day. The sun created a beautiful glow on the trees as it started to set. It drew a horizon on the tree trunks in front of me and emphasized their leaves that were now orange and red. Along with the sun, the wind danced the leaves back and forth showcasing their vibrant colors. The branches made a cracking sound as the breeze maneuvered the branches to brush their leaves together. As I watched the trees overhead, I noticed flocks of small birds quickly fly past overhead. This made me wonder what species they were and if they were migrating. It would not be my sit spot without having a few squirrel visitors and sure enough they stopped by.

My focus on the activity above me was interrupted by what sounded like a gun shot. I only heard it once and it wasn’t but a couple minutes later that a family of deer came running past my spot. I wasn’t able to take a photo of them because they were on the other side of the stream behind the trees and they moved so quickly. I moved my leg and one of the does stopped, made eye contact with me, and began walking instead. This event made me very curious since rifle season hasn’t started yet and made me question if it was an actual shot fired and where, or what was it intended for? Maybe it was someone target practicing, and it scared the deer present in that area.

As a way of calming my heart rate down I decided to travel over to my three objects and take a look at them. First, I studied the small bamboo stalk. It was about the same size as my last blog but didn’t look as green and healthy. This time is showed signs of dryness and even though it still had full branches of leaves they had white, dry patches (picture below). Next, I look at the blood splattered leaves of the tree sprout that sits South East my spot. I was very sad to see that only three leaves remained, and they weren’t even full leaves. They were brown and shriveled up and the tree sprout looked very bare and scrawny (picture below). Last, the beautiful tree canopy above my spot was much barer then last time, however the leaves that were still waiting to fall were beautiful. I guess I was still in the Halloween spirit because the branches looked like creepy, crooked witches’ fingers. I look forward to seeing how these three have changed even more in my next visit.

I was looking forward to my 5 minutes of auditory tuning in because I would get to hear the calming sound of the breeze through the trees. Unfortunately, this was not the case. A flock of birds had accumulated in the group of trees to my left (North) and it sounded like they were flying back and forth on the branches. Their vocals sounded like a hundred chickens making clucking noise. I could hear their wings flapping as they transitioned from one spot to another, which I would not have picked up on if my eyes had been open.

After my 5 minutes were up, I had no choice but to observe these birds for the following 10 minutes, because they seemed to be begging for my attention. They were in fact switching branches constantly. They would fly up in a small flock in a pattern that almost resembled a diamond and then fly back down to the trees. I’m really not sure what species of bird they were or why they were doing it, but I would like to find out because they were fascinating to watch. I also couldn’t tell how many there were, but it seemed like there were about a hundred of them.

Many things changed in my spot since my last journal. While looking at my three focus objects I noticed that the once baron stream now has a small amount of flowing water in it from the rain the area received earlier this week. Could this be why there was so much more animal activity in my spot this time? The trees in front of me that guard the stream now have yellow leaves that were colored and twisted in a way that reminded me of banana peels. The dry grass below is covered in more of a variety of colorful dry leaves and they are joined with fallen twigs and branches. The changing colors, weather, sounds, and wildlife of my spot are like the changing of scenes in a play and I have a front row seat.