Sit Spot Journal - Day 16

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog up to day with my sitting, but some days it's a choice between sitting and blogging, and I've chosen sitting.

Saturday's sit was a fun one. It was raining, but not pouring, as was the forecast, and I took the opportunity of something less than a downpour to do my sit just before lunch, instead of waiting until evening when the rain might well be heavier.

So I gather up my rainjacket and rain hat, wipe off my chair and Sit. It is foggy and drizzly, with lots of bird action, both vocal and visual. Spring singing is going on in earnest right now, especially the cardinals and Carolina wrens, who never seem to tire of the sound of their own sweet voices.

So I'm sitting still, just taking in the drizzle and the birds, when suddenly a black-capped chickadee lands right next to my shoulder on the deck railing. This bird is easily within arm's reach and likely not more than 2 feet away. I sit unmoving, not even a blink, and for an instant the little one just sits there, too. Then something told it to move, and it flew off, startled. It landed in the pine tree that's perhaps 5 feet away and proceeded to look at me, as though it can't figure out who/what I am. It doesn't scold. It just sits and stares, as though waiting for me to do something so it can figure me out. I don't move. After a minute or so of this, a second chickadee joins the first and the two fly off together. A close encounter of the chickadee kind.