I found this a very difficult task. I was cold, next time I bring something to sit on. The ground was wet from rain the day before. I did enjoy the bright sunshine though. The birds were busy but I noticed the insects the most. I think the bush I was sitting next to must have been a favorite spot for flying insects of all kinds. Maybe they were enjoying the sun while keeping out of the cool winds. They were smarter than I was. :)

I am familiar with sitting quietly and making observations but it has been awhile since I have done it. I typically focus on bird songs and keep track of how many species I hear, but today I looked more closely and the trees budding out around me. I noticed that they are not all at the same stages, even within the same species. This got me wondering about why this might be. Could it be soil, sun, wind exposure? I very much enjoyed myself and I plan on doing this for a few days.

This is the view of my sit spot, which is from the front porch facing East. I started my first observation today (Mother’s Day 2020). I get the morning sun followed by the shade of the huge saw-toothed oak, a pink crape myrtle, a willow tree, and another unknown hardwood tree. This is also one of two of my bird count spots where I have many different feeders and suet feeders filled with brush dog fur for nesting in the spring. Lots of things come easy to me on observations. I am usually sitting here daily enjoying the nature around me. The things that are more “outside of the box” for me, are adding drawings to my journals. Usually I am putting actual leaves 🍁, flowers 🌸, & twigs in my journals or a display case instead of drawing because I don’t think I can draw what I see well. I’m definitely seeing some improvement.

Unike Nancy (below), it has been snowing here, so sitting outside was a bit chilly; nevertheless, I gave it a try.  The first time a few days ago, I was focusing on birds and had a very difficult time attempting to draw them.  This second time I focused on flowers and tree fungus which sat still!  Very enjoyable, and shows me how very much I have yet to learn.

I’ve been waiting for the temperature to cool down from the 90’s to get outside.  This afternoon, it was 75 degrees and beautiful out for my first sit spot in the backyard.  Loved it!

I had planned to go to a forest and to do the exercise, then I met a friend and she introduces me to another forest close by. I have done the exercise when I was alone, when we left the forest and I was sitting on top of a view so I was able to see the valley and start my drawing. Different noises were present. I felt the wind that was pushing my hair ups and downs. After 10 minutes I was able to hear the different birds. I could see the forest on the right side and different colours of the trees. The valley has got its beauties that can be observed by different perspectives, lights and factors to see. I have noticed different types of green - as a color - and I would like to be able to use different colours in my illustrations.

Having trouble submitting my photo of entire journal page but was able to upload these detail shots.  Spent 15 minutes outside listening, observing, and writing and completed drawings later. I liked letting my mind wander to whatever avenues it was directed to by my observations.  

I heard a lot of different birds singing but could not see any of them except a crow flying and some mocking birds...which made me wish I could recognize birds by their songs. I was sitting in my backyard and drawing my neighbor's tree when the other neighbor started mowing which fairly overwhelmed the rest of the sounds. But it was fun to capture the tree before most of its leaves were on and the structure could be easily seen.

I’ve been observing the sweet barn swallows nesting in my apartment complex. The attached photo is from this afternoon’s journal observation. I hadn’t been writing anything down until this class. I’m absolutely fascinated by our “new neighbors”, a barn swallow couple that moved into the porch of the vacant apartment next door. There seems to be several swallow nesting here this spring. I’m only familiar with cave swallows, so this will be a new experience to really pay attention to a new species so close to my porch. The coloring of these little birds is so dramatic and beautiful. We are in a transitional rental and still under quarantine, so I wasn’t sure if I’d have much to report from my porch, but I do now!

I did 2 'sit spot' locations, keeping notes and being alert to goings on.  Due to CoVID 19 the first location- usually quiet was too busy with walkers.  The second is a spot I often walk to with a stream, a waterfall over a dam, birds and trees.  I liked that better. We also have been "sit spotting" comfortably  in our living room where our window looks out right into a newly made woodpecker nest.  The progress of the Hairy Woodpecker has been amazing.  (Our siding is not wood!!).  I also have enjoyed observing the Decorah eagle nest on live cam the last few weeks and the progression of woodland wildflowers - up to the current Virginia bluebells covering the hillsides. My photos are on my phone and I'll see if I can manage an insert later.  My goal is to take a lot of time with this course.  At present, we have nothing but time!

April 21, 2020  cloudy and rainy I have an observation spot at breakfast each morning.  We sit at a large window and look out on our bird feeders which sits about 3 feet from the window.  This is to allow my husband, who has low vision to see the birds, it also discourage bird strikes into the window. There are four feeders hanging from a porch swing frame,  two tube feeders have a mix of seed, another has only sunflower seed chips, and the third is a 3 suet cake wire feeder.  We also have a larger feeder on a post about 15 feet away.  My husband is the filler of the feeders.  He experiments with different types of suet to see which birds like which flavors.  He also feeds peanuts to "Mr. Squirrel, Red, and Blacky" and a fluxuating number of babies. Our residence is at 1160 feet in elevation, and we are in a temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.  We have a large lawn area surrounded by trees and wild areas.  Native plants of salal and oregon grape, several fern species, wild blackberries, wild strawberries, Douglas fir, cedar, alder, vine maple, maple, hemlock, and berry trees.  There are many wild flowers and I also grow roses within and deer resistant plants outside the fenced area.  We have summer on Thursday during one of the summer months and winter is usually a week long.  These are by midwestern standards, as we moved here from central Illinois.  The rest of the year we have the rainy season October to May and the dry season June to September.  However, the rainy season is generally polite with light rain or mist, which doesn't stop outdoor activities, but still tends to soak one to the skin.  We have few thunderstorms but we do get wind. We see and I am now noting a great number of changes throughout the year.  There are resident birds that stay with us all year like the juncos, nuthatches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, flickers, Stellar's jays, spotted towhees, doves, chestnut backed chickadees and white crowned sparrows who visit our feeders regularly.  Spring and summer residents include robins, of course, varied thrushes, gray jays, gold crowned sparrows, song sparrows, pine siskins,  house, purple and gold finches, black-headed grosbeaks, and hummingbirds, Anna's and Rufus and others I am not remembering at the moment. Depending upon the time of day that I am watching, there are varying degrees of  activity.  The birds definitely have their siesta times, and their social functions, as well as their feeding frenzies.  It is interesting to watch the interactions between birds of the same species and those between different species.  There is a definite hierarchy.  Claw is highest, with raptors in the area stimulating hiding behavior.  The squirrels also get deferential treatment. Next on the hierarchy is  beak length or pointed-ness.  It's amazing how the little nuthatch can always find a perch at a feeder.  General size of the bird plays into the pecking order as well but also aggressiveness , especially with individuals within the same species.  Another interesting behavior in some species that mate for the season or for life, is that the males will protect the females while they eat at the feeders; I often see the male grosbeak sitting on a branch above the feeder while she eats. I have this written in my journal but my hand writing is difficult to read sometimes so I decided to type this.  I will try to post my journal pages with illustrations in the furture.

I love to hike and find a spot to sit and journal and have been using this method for a few months (before the pandemic stay-at-home hit). I love exploring spots I normally hike through by taking the time to stop and sit and observe and journal...I find that I notice so many small details and evidence of interactions between critters and their environment. Many questions pop into my mind and I love sketching, writing my immediate questions and observations to dive into later. For example, I had a goal of visiting the same stretch of Mendocino coast beach and observing the beach wrack/strand line over time. I managed two of these and I will be happy to be able to do more of this when the virus shelter in place is safely lifted. For now I am very happy exploring my back yard garden and local Mt Tam hills. My biggest challenge is that I tend to get so absorbed that I could easily spend hours on one journaling event (!)... not practical! I am a slow sketcher, especially birds and animals that are moving around. But I am loving it and striving for ways to practice my journaling that allows me to capture the essentials while coming back to add details, more info and color.

The first day (left) I went to the garden surrounding my building to do a sit spot. I don't have many options around given the current virus situation, and to make it a bit worse, children were screaming and running around, making the whole 'silent' thing of the activity quite useless. But I persevered and in the second day (right) I decided to go back quite early, when no one was around. It helped, and I was able to admire the flight of two large bees, and realise that two different flower species were actually probably the same one, given they are exactly the same in shape and leaf type, only one was white and the other pink. A nice day!

My sit spot was on January 19, 2020. It was a warm 39 degrees, sunny and melting snow. I was in my back yard. The Winter Jasmine had several birds on it and they flew back and forth to the bird feeder. Across the yard a calico cat was sitting on the fence. Sitting in the same spot, during our quarantine, I've noticed the arrival of the white- throated sparrows by hearing them and then watching them. Every day there is a little more color and a lot more bird and animal activity.    

Below is my submission.  A bit messy for a first try but it was a very enjoyable experience.  It took 3 tries - the first two times were too noisy with human activities - leaf blowers, chain saws, etc.  Grrr...  When I first sat down the third time on the dock at the lake (across the street from my home), there only seemed a tiny bit of activity.  But soon enough, I saw there was lots going on.  From tiny winged bugs of some sort, to a large vulture flying overhead.  And I was very surprised to see a huge snake curled up in the lake grass quite near me.  Didn't even notice it at first.  I think it's a rat snake.  I look forward to being better at identifying what I am seeing.  Most of the birds I did know.  We're lucky in this part of Michigan to have sandhill cranes.  They were calling out while I was sitting there.  A very fun time!

Sat on my front bench at 12 noon when it was 90 degrees and then next to the pond behind my house at about 5 pm, just as a light rain began to fall. It was interesting how quiet both experiences were, and how almost free of birds, as we always enjoy birds year round both in front and back. Probably too hot for birds at Sit #1 and too drizzly for birds at Sit #2 ☺️ I had a lovely sense of quiet delight when returning indoors - very much enjoyed taking time to notice many little details in new ways. Intentionally wrote notes rather than sketching, but I love seeing everyone’s sketches here ... inspires me to do much more of this and just DRAW.  

I found it hard to keep my eyes closed for more than three minutes because I wanted to see as well as hear what was going on around me. I could feel relaxing, then when I picked up my phone to record a sound, the stress went back up again. I heard soft sounds I might not have heard when walking. I could definitely focus in on different sounds, then move onto the next. For the days presented here, my eyes remained open. I seem to be more comfortable with my pencil the second day. The sense of spring arriving was felt and heard, though there was little in the way of greening happening here.h

This is my first journal entry.  

This is drawing of a photograph I took in 2009.  This mother brought her twin fawns into our backyard shortly after they were born and stayed in the area all summer and fall.  I was able to stand outside on my back door stoop while this little one nursed and take several photos.  This experience was probably my first sit spot.

Day 6 and 7 and today was too windy to  be under tall trees outside.  

This next one I had trouble depicting the yard art cardinal. I changed its position from the day before. I actually plopped it in a flower pot so it would be facing me. What I had trouble with was its left wing. Some how the way it was positioned that wing was straight out but somehow lifted a bit so I could partially see the underside. I tried sketching that but instead of it being raised it was more like it was hanging down...so erased and just quickly filled it in so that one is a do again.  

Day 3 and Day 4 This Day 4 was by far the most exciting and fun day so far.