9/18/2020, 8:02 am – 9:05 am. Slightly cloudy, temperature around 70 degrees, light wind from the north.

It was my first time of intentionally sitting down and observing my surroundings, trying to identify and understand whatever I see. I was sitting right behind the Cocke building on a chair. As I looked above me, I saw a canopy of a large tree but I was unaware of the species. I saw a dead branch on the tree, all leaves in that branch had turned brown and were ready to fall off. Around the chair where I was sitting were a bunch of dead leaves and twigs. The creek was flowing right in front of me and from where I was sitting, the flow rate seemed pretty high. There were many trees around me, there were also a decent amount of shrubs and grass. I saw a tree on the other side of the creek that seemed lifeless; without any leaves and some branches ready to fall off. 

The plants looked all green, some small shrubs had turned completely brown and were ready to fall off. One of the trees, around 30 feet tall had no leaves on it. Some small trees have leaves that are turning yellow. There was a tree on the opposite side of the creek, and it happened to be leaning towards me. I saw that some branches had no leaves at all while some had completely intact leaves and some branches had partially dried leaves. The ground looked green overall. Where I was sitting, there was no grass around me, just fallen leaves and twigs, making the area look completely brown. There were some bald patches in the middle of the areas with all grass.

As I got to my spot and was about to sit on my chair, I saw two not very big red ants. I could hear some insects, they sounded like crickets in the beginning and that was the most dominant sound I could hear when I first got there but later the sound got fainter and I could hear another type of noise, almost like loud buzzing. I saw a few squirrels running around with a nut in their mouth. I did see 3-4 birds, however I was not aware of the species. They looked small, a little bigger than the size of my fist. I noticed birds of two different species flying playfully. I assumed they were of different species because they were making completely different sounds. I also saw tiny gray spiders crawling up their webs, which seemed invisible to me. I am curious to see what other kinds of animals I will be seeing at this spot at other times of the day. I am also really keen to hear how the noises made by the bugs around here changes throughout the day.

I could hear the sound of the flowing creek, which could not have been more obvious because it was right in front of me. As I had mentioned earlier, the flow rate seemed pretty high around where I was sitting, but I would like to see if that changes as the seasons’ change. Also, the algae on the path leading to the stairs on the side of the Cocke building made it slippery, and I am eager to see how that changes with time. I took my mask off to smell the air for around 10 seconds, and it smelled like fresh green peas, for some reason. I am not sure how to describe it, but the air smelled like greens. The sky looked slightly cloudy outside of the canopy of this tree above me. The sun was right behind me, but the trees behind me were making a little canopy for me yet again. It almost seemed like mother nature knew I had forgotten to put on my sunblock and was trying to protect me!

One of my focal objects that I chose was the creek flowing right in front of me.  I am looking forward to observing how it changes with time. My second focal object is the canopy above me- I am excited to see what happens as fall progresses, and my last focal object is the plants on the bank of the creek. They have yellow and purple flowers, and I am excited to see how they change with the seasons.

Beale Creek

Canopy above me

The plants with yellow and purple flowers