October 28, 2020

Time Entered: 5:00 p.m.

Time Left: 7:48 p.m.

 

As I entered my space today, I immediately noticed that something was different about it. I was extremely quiet, as well as there were hardly any mosquitoes out. I quickly realized as to why this was happening in my spot. The reason behind this unusual event was because of the fact that the minute I sat down; it began to rain. The only noise I heard while I was there the entire time, was the occasional squirrel throwing the shells of nuts into the leaves.

My spot also visually looked different, due to it being winter season, the area looked more bare and dead. Most of the leaves had fallen or were falling. Also, the grass in certain parts was dead, but I didn’t think it was that cold, so I have come to the conclusion that the brown patches of dry grass must have something to do with human interaction. The color of all of the shrubs, bushes, trees, and more were all a reddish/brown and were dying or dead. One specific tree that I focused on was completely bare of its leaves and it was also fragile. Compared to what it looked like a couple of weeks ago, this part of the tree looked like a skeleton. The tree itself looked weak and unstable. While the other trees were also experiencing the same loss of their leaves, this tree was experiencing the process at a more accelerated rate.

An update on my three objects, which were the massive tree, bush, and shrub. The changes that were happening to the tree consisted of a large portion of the base of the tree being covered in green moss. The leaves have also, gradually, changed colors and some are on the ground surrounding the base. The color was more of a reddish/ orange than it was last week. The bark was also a darker tint. Secondly, the bush was had lost most of it leaves and it also was completely red/brown versus a red/orange color. It was very close to being completely dead. The shrub had perhaps the most dramatic change of them all! Just last week, it was green and somewhat healthy, and this week it was completely brown and dead. I was shocked by how much it had changed in the course of a week. What I found really interesting is that we haven’t even been having that cold of weather too! It was truly a sight to see such a big change in such a short amount of time!

Tree- Before

Tree- After

Bush- Before

Bush- After

Shrub- Before

Shrub- After

Last blog, I followed three species that I identified via Inaturalists. I followed a purple beautyberry bush, leafhopper, and a northern cardinal. This week, I was unable to find the lovely cardinal again! I also was not able to find another leafhopper due to the fact that it had rained and not many bugs were out. I however was able to check up on the purple beautyberry bush, and it has changed slightly since last week, but there wasn’t a significant change. The bush had a slight yellow tint to the green leaves, versus its usual dark green leave color. The purple color of the berries also was not as vibrant, but still beautiful!

Purple Beautyberry- Before

Purple Beautyberry- After

For my 1m2 plot, I chose the vertical side of a tree in my area. The reason I chose this spot was because I hardly ever pay attention to that area in my sit spot, as well as I don’t really pay attention to that tree. Upon first glance, the tree looked bare and it looked just like every other tree that I have ever seen. However, this tree had more going on than it originally led onto. Upon a closer look, I saw an army of ants marching up the side pf the tree and I also saw a caterpillar on the side! There were multiple tiny tree trunks on this tree, but the main and largest one seemed to be home to a variety of bugs. I could only see the remains of what seemed like a bunch of bugs home. Tiny holes leading into the trunk everywhere, and that is also where the ants were going into! There also looked like little patches of white/green tinted bark, and I think it was lichen. The tree in my plot was small and thin, and it was also losing all of its leaves. This small focus greatly helped me to tune into a section of of my spot that I previously had not paid enough attention too! I found it really interesting to see my sit spot after it rained because it somewhat changed my experience, meaning I wasn’t paying as much attention to bugs as I was to other details in my sit spot. I greatly enjoyed tuning into my spot!

1m2 plot tree