15 Day Sit Spot Challenge: Days 9 and 10, November 15 and 16

15-Day Sit Spot Challenge

Days #9 and #10

November 15 and 16, 2018

The adventure travels on.

Please see my first posting in this series for an explanation.

Day #9

November 15, 2018

Late morning

My Sit Spot Log

Prompt for Day #9: Focus as much attention on your sense of sight as possible. What colors, textures, shapes are you seeing? Try practicing viewing the world through “Owl Eyes” as much as possible. What do you notice?

Owl Eyes: Focus your vision on a central point. Soften your vision and attempt to see what is in your peripheral vision, without moving your eyeballs. Keep that central focal point and try to see as much surrounding it as possible. You will see motion much better – Owl Eyes is very helpful for spotting wild visitors.

It was another cold, overcast day – but not as cold as before. Snow and ice had happened overnight, covering every branch and twig, and the ground. There was no wind on this day. The creek in the bottom of the woods looked like a dark amber ribbon meandering through the white floor.

Leaves, heavy with ice, were falling with “plop” sounds on top of the snow. Water was starting to drip from the trees where there was enough direct sun to melt ice. Bits of ice were also falling. I thought I heard the sound of squirrels or birds rummaging in the leaves of the forest floor, but it was probably the collective sound of the water and bits of ice dropping.

Sugar Maple leaves

Designs in the snow where ice pieces had slipped off the log

Birds were more active on this day. I could hear Blue Jays, Crows, Woodpeckers, and others. Was the increased activity due to the lack of wind?

I practiced using Owl Eyes – a technique new to me.

Looking north from the Sit Spot

I noticed a large leaf waving wildly on a Sycamore tree far to the west side of the woods. It was noticeable among the surrounding “quiet” leaves. Maybe it was curled just right, and positioned just right, to catch what little breeze there was high in the canopy.

I noticed leaves falling, and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker darting around in the trees.

I noticed patterns made by the light snow.

The Four Trees (Sugar Maple, Tuliptree, Black Cherry, Chinquapin Oak) seen from the Sit Spot

I noticed dark patches – spots of forest floor where snow did not accumulate.

I saw small animal tracks on my Sit Spot log! They were evidence of a great deal of frantic activity. In fact, as I walked through the woods after leaving my Sit Spot, I saw the same tracks on practically every log and fallen tree I passed. They all told a story of exploration, slipping, grabbing, scampering.

A little bit slick there!

Ooops - slipped!

I am not very practiced in recognizing animal tracks. Later, I posted some track photos to a Facebook page called “Animals Don't Cover Their Tracks”. I had noticed before that people are very helpful to each other on that page. And, they were very helpful to me! They not only told me it was a squirrel (it would be a Fox Squirrel, in my woodland), they helped me to look at them in more detail, and learn how to recognize squirrel tracks. Here is how:

A squirrel "leap pattern"

- 4 toes on front feet, 5 toes on back feet

- Back feet tracks are to the outside of front feet tracks

- Claw marks

- Pad behind toes shows 4 marks

- Behind those another, smaller pad with 2 marks

Day #10

November 16, 2018

Starting about 9:00 am

Looking east from Sit Spot

Looking southeast

Looking south

Looking north

Prompt for Day #10: Take a deep dive into your senses of smell and taste today. These two senses are closely tied.

It was wet and cold, but not as cold as the day before, with so little change that I could clearly see my tracks from yesterday as I headed into the woods.

The sky was clear and blue, the sun bright.

The sun reached the higher parts of the trees, causing more snow and ice to drip, thus more polka-dots on the snow below. It was raining – but only in the woods!

On some trees, ice and snow melting above had dripped down the side of the trunks, then re-froze in the lower, colder area, glistening off the bark in the morning light.

In the lower parts of the woodland, snow remained on logs, sparkling in the light.

There was evidence of earlier animal activity, such as someone digging through snow into the ground.

A squirrel had been scampering along the very log where I sit.

 I don't know what to make of that pair of larger prints impressed on the side of the log, but they look like somebody's hind feet. Maybe.

There were more squirrel tracks on another log nearby.

As I stood quietly near my log, I heard a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Crow, and a few calls of other birds, as well as the plopping of the “rain” from the trees. I could also hear a train in the distance, and the roar of highway traffic.

But, what of today's prompts?

I breathed deeply, but it was hard to find a scent or taste from the air. Maybe I need more time, more practice – or a better nose.

From the ground below me, I pinched some snow between my fingers and tasted it. I have always loved the taste of snow. I ate snowballs when I was a child and caught snowflakes on my tongue. It is easy to say that it tastes like rain, or that it tastes wintry. But, to me it also tastes of faraway places. I had that sense of it when I was a child, but knew too little then to realize that I really was tasting faraway places.

Now, I can taste snow and wonder where the water has been that became the snowflakes. What lake, river, puddle? It could have come from the far north, from Canada, or the Arctic. Yes, I could taste that, and imagine polar bears, whales, ice floes, glaciers. It could have come from Norway. I imagined fjords and mountains, and icy blue lakes. It could have come from further south. Or from just several miles away. I could study air current maps to get a better picture, and them imagine some more.

I look forward to using my sense of smell throughout the seasons, being more aware in that way. Smells will arrive via the action of beings in the soil, from growing plants and blooming flowers, from traveling and resting animals, from opening mushrooms, from rain, and from whatever the breezes bring, from wherever.

Sit Spot (far upper middle) as seen from the opposite edge of the woods. We can see Cottonwood Pond down there (just above the creek) – a place I frequently visit to record what is going on and how it changes - a little bit like a Sit Spot. 

See my blog for that: https://cottonwoodpond.blogspot.com