October 1st, 2019

Start Time: 5:40 pm

90°F

My sit-spot is at Oyster Pond. I chose it as my sit-spot because of the reported wildlife activity. I find Oyster Pond to be one of the most peaceful places on campus because of the sound of the rushing water into the drain and the chirping of crickets. Oyster Pond is only a two minute walk from Tinker and, even though it is near the road, it has very little foot traffic. Both times that I have been to my sit-spot, I have seen a lot of wildlife, which was the main reason I chose it to begin with. Finally, I chose my sit-spot because it has a lot of things that I can watch change as the weather changes (i.e. trees, wildlife activity, and algae).

According to the compass that I used, I face Northwest. Directly in front of me is the pond, a few various small trees and bushes, and the mountains. Slightly to the West (left), there is a very large tree which I will be

observing during my time at my sit-spot. In the Southwest, about 20 feet from where I sit is the drain which all of

the water flows into. To the Southeast (behind me) is the road. To the North are the soccer field and tennis courts.

 

The first thing that I did when I got to my sit-spot was look for any kind of insect or animal. This decision brought me to notice the various spiders and their activity on or near the water. The first spider I saw was making a web and attacking his prey. It was interesting to watch it walk upside-down on its tiny little strand of web. I was trying to get a video of it when I looked down and realized that there were two more spiders crawling up a strand of grass right next to my hand! I freaked out and moved a little too quickly which all three of the spiders to attempt to camouflage themselves by making their body blend into the strand of grass, or algae, which they were on or closest to. The spider spinning its web over the water dropped onto the algae in a split second and flattened itself out. The two in the grass pulled in all of their 8 legs as close to their body as possible to make themselves one with the grass they were on! I then looked slightly to the right and realized a larger spider was making a web attached to the grass it was on and suspending it over the water. There was a large purple and blue dragonfly which continued to zoom past me the entire time I was at my sit-spot. A little while later, I started to hear multiple birds calling, it sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite identify it. I looked up as they got closer and saw a flock of about 20 Canadian Geese flying overhead. According to my compass, they were flying West which made me think “maybe my compass is wrong.” Shouldn’t they be flying south for the coming cold or is it too early for that?

My second experience at my sit-spot was very different from my first experience because I was more aware of the activity going on rather than trying to familiarize myself with my surroundings. I enjoyed my second experience much more than my first because I was able to  be more observant of what was occurring in the pond, not just what was happening around it. Also, I went at a later time, so I watched the sun change from cloud-free and bright blue to pink, purple, and spotted with a few fluffy clouds. I was able to observe the fish in the pond, some of which are very big, and how they interact with each other. This experience was more enjoyable for me because I saw a lot more wildlife than I did in my last experience.

    I got up out of my sit-spot to take some pictures of the things which I will be following. As I passed the drain, I saw something scurry as fast as possible into it! When I leaned over to see what it was, I realized it was a GIANT Wolf Spider! I decided to leave it alone and see if it would come out again later (it did, so I decided to make it one of the things that I follow). The thing that made this wolf spider so unique was that it appeared to only have seven legs. During my time at my sit-spot, I had also noticed the change in the amount of algae since I had been there the previous time. There was a lot more of it and it has become more yellow, rather than green, since then. I noticed that more leaves had begun to stick to it and it was much thicker than the thin layer of algae which I saw the last time I was there. So, the algae is my second thing that I will be observing. Lastly, I will be observing the largest tree at my sit-spot which already has about as many green leaves as it has yellow leaves. There are a few leaves on the ground underneath it, but it has a long way to go before it loses all of them.

End time: 7:00 pm