I arrived at my sit spot Monday, November 18th, 2019, in the early morning; 8:44 am. I left at around 9:50 am from my place. I chose to make my observations at this time for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to try and do my sit spot on a weekday to see if there were any changes when the school is open, and people are going to classes. Two, I chose the morning because I wanted to compare an hour difference from my last sit spot blog. The other reason is not all the environmental, but I was not comfortable going and sitting somewhere in the dark. Notably, while in the news, there is a murder on the loose at around this area.

It was vastly different, even though it was only an hour difference. To start the weather when I went out the first time at around 9:45 am it was sunnier and windier as it was this time when I went out at around 8:45 am. When I did get closer to 9:30, the sun started to creep out more and more. It was probably still early enough that the early morning that usually comes across Roanoke was still there. That did make sense since it was even old sufficient out. Sadly I did not get a picture of the mountains as it went away while I did my observing.

I did, however, see fewer animals, but I heard plenty of different kinds of birds. Due to its being a workday, there was a loud lawnmower near my spot. So it was hard to understand, but I did listen to them. The funniest and more exciting encounter I had while overserving for my fifteen minutes was between two squirrels. They were chasing after one another up a tree that was down the hill from my sit spot. I believe it was a fantastic example of interspecific competition. As it was two of the same species fighting over territory or food. I sadly could not tell what they were fighting over, but it looks like they started fighting on the tree, so assume it was over the tree for a spot of shelter. If I get experiences like this, I may begin to do the last blog early in the morning so that I can experience more of these exciting experiences.

This session was better than the last one to me, because of the interactions that I got with animals. Since it was cloudy this time, it looked like the birds were hiding more, or I could not see them due to the clouds being in the way. Also, the clouds covering looked like it changed the attitude of the squirrels as well. At times there were tons more and at other times a lot less. I did think of a hypothesis for both. One when the sun was behind the clouds, and there was no sun, they came out probably because predators could not see the ground as better. Then, when the sun came out a little bit, they all went to hide again, it was just exciting to see how they operate. In the other sessions, it has always been sunny, so it was fascinating to see how my sit spot interacts with clouds. So who knows my last sit spot will be in the early morning!