Saturday, October 17, 2020

Before I get into the actual contents of the blog, I must begin with quite the story. There I was, sitting on my blanket, eyes closed, tuning in to the auditory world. I had heard a variety of bird chatter: high-pitched twitters and some “caws”. I was listening to the stream. Then I hear some shuffling scuffling noises. I opened my eyes (I’m sorry I broke the rules of auditory tuning but the 5 minutes were basically done and if I hadn’t you would not be here reading this incredible story). Across the stream on the western bank, shrouded by all the foliage, was a family of deer. They were trekking along in a single file line and had not noticed me. I would say there were about 4 or 5 members. The deer in the front was roughly opposite me when it finally noticed me. They all stopped. I, in my infinite wisdom, turned away, thinking they would mistake me for a red bush (I was wearing my red sweatshirt because it was cold out there!! Not California cold more like 39 degrees cold). After what seemed like infinite minutes passed, I turned. They were still there. New tactic: closing my eyes. Maybe that would show that instead of the beautiful red bush I was, I was actually a scared and harmless human. This would also allow me to squint and actually see what the deer were doing and still appear as if my eyes were closed. I wasn’t about to turn blind to the once in a lifetime moment of seeing a conga line of deer now, was I? This squinting- closing my eyes tactic was put to the test when the lead deer turned towards me and was now facing me. I had thought that the lead deer was the mother, but this deer actually seemed pretty small in size, leading me to think: Was it a fawn? This deer then began to bow its head and paw at the ground.

Now I was thinking: Was I going to be run over by a deer? Is this how I die? Will my tombstone read death by deer? Do deer have the same reaction to bull upon seeing red? Because my hoodie was bright red. Low and behold, I didn’t move at all. I was not as moved by the threat of a deer running me over to put on my shoes and actually pack up all my things, not to mention, I was here to complete my sit spot and that was precisely what I was going to do. I had no time to be getting bullied by deer, I had things to do. So, I sat there, with absolutely no response to the deer staring at me. I decided to try my previous tactic of pretending I was a red bush, so I turned my face away hoping the lack of eye contact would alleviate the tension in the room. Eye contact means aggression and a challenge, which is why you’re not supposed to make eye contact upon meeting a new and not so friendly dog for the first time. You’re supposed to stare at the ground and pretend you’re the submissive and harmless new friend. Or at least that’s what I was thinking. I turned back to face the deer, because I had to know what was going on. If I was going to get mauled by a deer, I wanted to know it was coming, and die a heroic death. At this point, I was getting tired. I just wanted the deer to get on with their lives. They started heading west, deeper into the forest across the bank. I was so pleased, that to aid their return to normal behavior, I thought it would be a great idea to lay down and pretend the red bush/ squinting human was actually an inanimate and flat patch of red grass. Invisibility has nothing on me. I was turning to lay down when a car also came by. I’m not sure what exactly spooked the deer, but before I knew it, one of them had let out this cry that sounded like a cross between someone blowing their nose and a scream. They all booked it out of there, their fluffy white tails bouncing away. The noise continued several more times. I was absolutely stunned.

Did I scare away the deer and potentially scar them for life? I wasn’t making any sudden movements, I was rotating and lowering my torso. Not to mention, I had already started to process of lowering myself when they absolutely booked it, so it surely couldn’t have been me, right? (Tears hitting the keyboard as I Google search: “How to make it up the deer you have potentially scarred for life”) Maybe it was the sound of the car driving by? Or was it something else? Following the deer incident, I have been mulling it over in my head, guilt-tripping myself for having traumatized the poor family of deer. So, if anyone wants to offer me reassurance that it was totally not my fault at all, preferably backed by an extensive knowledge of deer behavior, accompanied by homemade dumplings or pumpkin bread or any other comforting treat, I will be here, in my now tear-stained red hoodie.

The spot where I was stared down by the deer.

Now, onto paid programming. I’ll keep this as short as possible since I have taken a lot of time to detail my deer incident. As I was setting up my blanket for my sit spot, I noticed a flock of geese heading eastward. 15 minutes into my quiet observation, I saw, perhaps, the same flock headed north west. This time one side of the “V” was very short, so that they looked more like a lopsided “L”. I observed a lot of bird activity and chatter. There were quite a few birds twittering about, flitting from tree to tree. I couldn’t concretely identify any of the birds or catch on to any physical characteristics since they were far away from me. I did note that they all seemed to be of a small size. A few birds, emerged from the south side and flew away, as did the rest of the birds. It was quite the frenzy of bird activity today. I also took time to stare up in the foliage of what I thought could be a possible maple tree (we shall find out later). The foliage was rather dense and full unlike the two trees that I had been following. There I was, peacefully gazing up into the brown and green leaves, when a drop of dew smacked me in the face. Quite lovely!

As mentioned earlier, my auditory tuning was interrupted by the arrival of the deer. However, I did hear quite the few bird calls. Unfortunately, I couldn’t identify any of them. I heard the noise of the stream, the gurgling and tinkling of the water. Following the deer incident, I heard what sounded like duck noises, thought that is probably not the most accurate description of the sound. I also heard what sounded like barking, but it was more shrill and not as deep. My mind was mostly thinking about the deer: wondering if they’re okay or if they are permanently traumatized and will never return. However, prior to that, I had been thinking and imagining all the birds that could be here. I won’t lie, some of my thoughts were still consumed with the constant cycle of tasks, worries, and all the sorts. I was also thinking about how I have to come up with something good for the sit spot assignment, but that always tends to operate in the background of my mind during sit spots.

I tried to identify the species of tree that I had noticed earlier, the possible maple. Interestingly, INaturalist identified the tree as belonging to the genus platanus. It could be an American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) or a Mexican sycamore (Platanus mexicana) among other possibilities. The American sycamore is a deciduous tree whose trunk “sheds” its old bark to reveal smoot white inner bark, which I saw in the upper canopies of the tree, whereas the bark of the lower trunk of the tree was dark. The sycamore has high water use and requires sun and shade, which is fulfilled by the environment of my sit spot.

The pink flower, I was truly unable to identify, I thought it was likely to be some type of wildflower. INaturalist identified it as belonging to the genus persicaria. It is most likely Persicaria longiseta which is also known as the Oriental lady’s thumb. This flower exhibits radial symmetry and has about five petals which are fused in a cup or a tube. It is actually an annual herb and a common weed of rice paddies. Itis not native to North America, but was actually introduced around Philadelphia and is invasive in some areas.

My last species to identify was this small red flower which I thought looked really unique. INaturalist identified it as, most likely, a mock strawberry, also known as Potentilla indica. As its name suggests, Potentilla indica resembles a strawberry. It is native to eastern and southern Asia and is naturalized in many regions around the world. This information might help me engage with my sit-spot by considering how is it that these plants have flowered and thrived in this specific space, essentially, why this space? It is also interesting to consider how these plants got to where they are now, the means of dispersal that have resulted in a population of these species growing here.

This sit spot experience has been the most exciting out of all the others. The deer incident seemingly throws all of my other observations in its shadow. Its hard to marvel at the wonders of leaves and plants when a deer almost charged me down. I hope this was an enjoyable read for all of you and hope for more wonderous and exciting things to occur in my sit-spot! That is,  if I haven’t traumatized the family of deer who would have shared that terrifying experience with the rest of the deer around Hollins resulting in all other organisms avoiding my sit-spot.