I sat in my back yard in Oakland, California on March 1st 2022 and just listened to the birds. I used MerlinID to identify each voice and provide fixed images to supplement my fleeting glimpses of the live birds. Drawing the birds helps me remember details that will help with identification in the field, where you often get only a second to view a bird on the wing.

I sat outside in my backyard in Garden City, Idaho on 3/7/2022.  It was a partly cloudy day with some warm sun and about 55 degrees.  I heard birds chirping and ducks quacking on the small lake behind our backyard.  I felt the warmth of the sun on my face.  I noticed the lake has ripples on it from the ducks chasing each other.  The sage plant leaves are gray green and the mint is still brown.  The grass is turning green with spots of yellow.  I felt the wind blowing gently.  I see the green tips of the daffodils starting to poke up from the earth about 3 inches high.  The grape hyacinth leaves are green and very full on the edges of the bark.  The clouds are white and very soft and round.  The roses have dried green/gray leaves.  The lake has sparkly diamonds shimmering from the sun and light breeze.  The cottonwood trees across the lake are dark brown and look very stark.  I drew in pencil the grape hyacinth poking up from the bark and the lake shimmering in the sunlight with cottonwood trees in the distance.

As you can tell from the date, this is from 2021, but I'm finally uploading it. One thing that was more outside of the box for me was looking at the ground. I typically only look out for birds, so it was definitely new to look to the ground for  critters as well.

I sat on the balcony and saw a jackdaw standing on the fence of the windowsill, and I took a picture and drew this against that picture. I just sit there and draw regardless the past of time. When I finish my drawing, I suddenly realized that it's beed 40 minutes. It's quick pleasure and relaxing to sit there and spend a while for looking out of my balcony and catch one moment of the nature.

The plans for my sit spot changed quickly! My initial plan was to sit at a pile of decaying wood to observe the fungi and wood forms of non-moving subjects. That plan was scrapped as the sounds of Canada Geese arriving at the pond in front of my home grew louder and more hysterical. So much was happening… a n d … very quickly. I’m used to having a camera in hand and shooting rapidly when Nature drama unfolds. This time, all I had was a pencil and my sketchbook. At first, I feared that I would be unable to capture any of the events that were quickly unfolding in front of me. Then little scratch marks started to appear on my sketch page… then more… then more. As the scratch marks were annotated I began to appreciate the story I was capturing.  

A lovely warm day in Houston and decided to sit in the backyard with my dog. It is hard to draw a black dog who doesn't sit still for long! Enjoyed the activity and will start to do more regularly. 

My SIT SPOT EXPERIENCE plans for today, were automatically changed when i recieve an unexpected visit located on the terrace wall. First sensation was surprise, as allways, an irremediable curiosity about what I found, and of course, very lucky. I took several photos in differents angels, and at last, I worked in the drawing that I present as exercise. Data of interest: Menophra Abruptaria.  

This was very meditative, and I enjoyed how so many different species of birds I was able to observe in just a few minutes. I confess I looked up a picture of a hawk in flight as they didn't linger and had the sun directly behind them. I also prefer using a pen, as the pencil marks tend to smudge for me.

It was really cold and snowy, too much so to sit outside. Instead I sat by the window and noted what was just outside of it. The sketching came easier than knowing what observations to write down. I kept wanting to edit my thoughts before jotting anything onto paper. This is good practice for me! 

1.  I visited a small local nature park that I have only been to a couple of times recently.  I noticed lots of broken branches and tree limbs from an early winter storm that happened a month ago. 2.  I am used to noting what birds and plants I see.  I also notate birds that I identify by sound.  I do notice the scent of things but don't always think to write it down.  Same with taste.  Since I am an experienced wild forager I am always nibbling the wild edibles that I find, but I have not recorded the tastes until today.  I will make an effort to include these in the future as the tastes are distinctive and I would like to remember them.

I love watching birds, they have beautiful colors, their voice is so relaxing. Observing a northern cardinal was amazing!

Color was easy, shape and spatial was hard to explain

Sitting on the edge of the river ravine, hearing birds, water below, city sounds in distance, fall is coming and colors are less vibrant, less smell of showers and more of aging leaves, flowers, as well as the water now lower and a dull brown versus the verdant green/white of earlier in the summer.  Sight sense easiest for me, then smell and hearing slower, almost as it has dulled over the years.  Slowing down is a challenge however if I add in breathing exercise, mindfulness meditation it has been much easier and much richer an experience.

Spent a half hour on beach at Ediz Hook beach. Mostly Olympic Gulls, but I lucked out when a tiny group of Least Sandpipers flew in. It is as hard as hell for me to see and record what I see because the little buggers move so fast and are too tiny to see well in the first place. So I had to shift between viewing with my eyes and through my binoculars. Add to that the incredible & gorgeous details of the peep's plumage (all bright rust and gold, to my eyes at least).

I have done sit spots not in a park, but in my house near the corner of a window.  Birds sometimes are shy but I have done a couple of sketches.

My journal was all written observations. I was doing a sitting survey of American Pikas, as a Citizen Scientist. They have been moving as glaciers are melting. The Oregon Zoo is supporting a project to monitor the movement of pikas into the Columbia River Gorge, and in some lower elevations around Mt. Hood. I was in the Gorge this morning. I did not spot any pikas, but heard their very characteristic "long" calls. If I had seen them, I would have taken a photo, although I do not have a powerful lens. I am comfortable with recording GPS locations, temperature, other weather conditions, time, date, etc. On my hike in (2 hours) I also recorded other observations - plants I saw, other small mammals I encountered, and birds. It was all in words. Out of my comfort zone would have been to draw or sketch these observations. I would like to do that, but haven't figured out how I could do so quickly. The actual PikaWatch part involved 20 minutes of intense searching with my binoculars. But I was on the spot for about 45 minutes, recording and observing what else was there. It was on a narrow trail, though, and other hikers occasionally came through.

1. I loved my Sit Spot experience.  I was amazed at how much was going on.  I enjoyed watching the chickadees bathe in my fountain and my "awe" moment was seeing 2 Mississippi Kites in my oak tree. 2. Watching the birds came easily to me.  Trying to use my other senses was more difficult.

My sit spot was from my back deck looking out to yard and woods behind.  Liz was so right sitting and being quiet in my space opened senses. Even though it has stormed and continued to rain for days, I wondered if perhaps I should pick another day. The rain probably made the time of observation a little more focused.  At first no birds heard or seen but noises in the environment were more easily picked up… and even noticed the quietness.  So I observed some cone flowers and hydrangeas that are fading from the early summer glory. After about 30 minutes I heard some birds and “ Merlin “ helped me identify red bellied woodpecker and the a blue jay.    And then as I was looking for the woodpecker, some movement mid way up a vey tall pine (30 ft or more) caught my eye.  I grabbed my binoculars and there sitting in a pine branch was a barred owl 🦉 AMAZING!  A mockingbird looked like it was harassing the owl and the owl took flight. It kept low, and swooped into the woods. So cool to see — and I would have missed it if I hadn’t been doing “sit/observe”.

My sit spot was my back yard in particular the garden. I would like to try a different sit spot but today are smoke levels are dangerously high so I am staying close to home. I will try other sit spots at a later date. I do sit in my backyard and practice mindfulness, similar to what you taught us and yes I do notice that things change over the course of a few days even; plants, animals, insects, smells, weather and sounds. I like trying all the observations but I think what I forget about the most or have to remind myself to do is touch and taste and I never thought to do measurement. I have included part of my journaling and some pictures. The bees caught my eye today, I know they are there but taking the time to just sit and observe I saw so many of them in all sizes. I found out bees are hard to draw. I attempted to draw the bee from this picture several times but couldn't seem to get started.

I did my sit spot in my backyard. It was a little noisy since we have construction being done. I was surprised by the amount of bird activity after the first 10 minutes. Insects seemed unaffected. The insects were easy for me to spot but my challenge was getting observations before things left. There was a lot of quick fly-bys. I hadn't noticed the twisting of a vine around a support cable for a power pole in the back of the yard. It was a beautiful pattern and the light was coming through the thin base of the leaves but not filtering through the thicker tips. I go in my yard every day and the sit spot helped me experience things I haven't seen before.

A very rainy day here in the UK today for my very first sit spot, so an observation of the garden from inside. I managed to get a bit of time in between the rain showers where birds visited the feeders. My niece had earlier helped me to fill the feeders so I was so happy a pair of bullfinches came to visit! One of my favourite to visit the garden and not often seen in this little space of mine. I have a small wildflower patch which hums with the sound of bees and has a lot of yellow flowers at the moment. It was hard to hear a lot even with the window open but I shall repeat this outside when the weather allows :)