Last sit spot view                             First sit spot view

I went to my sit spot in the early afternoon, at 3:04 I sat in the chilly fall air at my sit spot to have my final observation period.

The sky was blue but the air was crisp. So many things has already changed in the short time since my last sit spot session. All of the bugs are gone. There were no water striders, mosquitos, or ants anywhere at my location. There were also not many animals, even though last time there were at least fish and salamanders, today there was none of these. The only animals around were the occasional squirrel and some snails crawling around rocks on the stream bottom. While this is slightly different than the amount of animals I saw at my last session, it is drastically different from my first session.                                                                                                 Last view of rock              First view of rock

 

My first session was warm, which meant that there were so many bugs. I remember this because of the sheer number of bug bites that I received sitting even five minutes at my sit spot. There were also many more animals, along with the crayfish being out, there were the fish, squirrels, salamanders, and many birds. Todays session was quiet. Peaceful, but like the garden was slowly emptying of life to make way for winter. I watched a group of four snails sliding around the rocks, their little antenna feeling out the surrounding. This was the only thing to watch in the stream, there was no other movement accept the water. It was nice though since I got to focus on the sound of the little waterfall that is right behind my spot. I had never really paid that much attention to it before, so the quiet brought it right into focus.

First view of tree                                    Last view of tree

My three objects are vastly changed from the states that they started out in at the beginning of the semester. The willow tree has grown longer boughs and has lost almost all of its leaves, leaving it to look like a skeleton reaching out towards the water. The algae that had spread so far in the last few months is almost completely gone. It started out as a small patch but spread all along the embankment in the last several months. Now however, the cold has driven it back, most of it is dead and the only living algae is now futilely clinging to the rocks on the bottom of the stream, desperately trying to survive. My rock is also much changed. It was once an island of all different types of mosses and small plants, as the semester went on it became greener and greener as the moss spread along the side of the rock. At this session however, I noticed that while the front of the rock still has most of its mosses and plants, the whole side of the rock has plants that are turning brown and dying off.

This whole sit spot assignment has been a really interesting experience for me these last several months. At first I was really hesitant of what this experience could do for me, but now I am really happy that I did it. I feel more in tune with nature, and I feel like I notice more things about the environment when I am outside. It also allowed me to hone my observation skills, as sometimes the animals moving were so small that I really had to focus to see them. The experience also gave me a retreat from the stresses of the semester since it forced me to disconnect for awhile and just focus on myself. I will definitely be spending more time outside when the weather gets warmer.                                                                                                                 snails

Last algae view                                 First algae view

The coolest thing that I experienced is tied between two different sessions. The time that a squirrel ran right in front of me on my tree to drink upside down from the stream was so cool. I had never been that close to a squirrel that noticed me, but just didn’t seem to care that I was there. The second would definitely be the first time that I saw a crayfish. I had never seen one before and so the first time that one popped its head out from under a rock and started crawling around, I was so entranced. I remember just watching that one creature for a good thirty minutes since it was so interesting to me.

Those images and the sound of the rushing water from my latest sit spot are what has defined this experience for me, and what leaves me excited to spend more time outdoors.