By James Reddoch
Picking a “sit spot” and visiting it regularly has become one of my favorite ways to connect with nature. I always cherish my time in the woods, but returning to the same location again and again adds something special.
I first experienced this approach during my Maine Master Naturalist Course where we were asked to choose a location to visit each month for a year and document our observations. It was a challenging assignment, but incredible. I chose the bank of a beaver pond and got to know its inhabitants - beaver, mink, racoon, moose, turtles, frogs, woodpeckers, geese, and dozens of other birds and their young – and how they managed the seasons and weather over the course of the year.
Picking a Sit Spot
If you are interested in this technique, pick a spot to visit regularly. You do not have to commit to a full year. It can be in your back yard or a spot along your favorite trail. A word of advice, keep it simple. Choose a place you can reach quickly and easily. This will increase the likelihood that you will visit it regularly. Once you have picked a spot, decide how long you plan to visit. It may take only seven to ten visits before you start to get to know your spot more deeply. Some choose to go the same time each day. Others mix it up. Even 10 minutes spread over a few visits is bound to reveal something about the flora and fauna at your spot.
My 2025 Sit Spot
For this year, I have chosen a sit spot along Mahoosuc Land Trust’s newest trail, the Flint Mountain Wildlands Trail in Albany Township. I made four visits between December 31 and February 1.
My sit spot is just below a shattered granite cliff, which rises 200 feet above me before sloping up to Flint Mountain’s summit. From my perch, I can see both the woods below and the cliffs above. Red oak dominates this part of the forest.
One of my early observations is that the area just below the granite cliffs has significantly less snow coverage, with large bare patches persisting late into winter. This seems to provide a windfall for squirrels and other rodents whose tracks crisscross the snow, leading to disturbed piles of leaves where they have been foraging for acorns. But this bounty comes with risks. On one visit, I found a fresh owl pellet at the base of a red oak filled with fur and small bones. My guess? A barred owl has discovered this is good hunting grounds.
This is my first report from my new sit spot. I hope to do more over the course of the year. Watch for my future updates in Small Things as I continue to observe and learn. And if you haven’t already, I encourage you to pick your own sit spot—you might be surprised by what you discover.
Suggested Reading:
The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature - David George Haskell provides an engaging account of his observations on a square meter plot in a rare Eastern old-growth forest.
What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World - Jon Young explains how readers can visit an easily accessible spot for at least 10 minutes regularly to learn the baseline calls and songs of birds.
What a wonderful practice! Thanks, James. I realized, after reading this, that I have been doing this for years. One of my past sit-spots was a long the Sanborn. I got to know the rocks well enough, that I knew when one of "my" rocks had been turned over.