International Rock-Flipping Day 2008: 1

It’s IRFD today!

earthworm and cricketI warmed up with a quick look in my back yard. Under the cinder block that holds the back gate closed (long-deferred project) I found an earthworm (order Haplotaxida) and what I take to be a ground cricket (order Orthoptera). I didn’t even see the cricket until I downloaded the photo: I was watching something smaller in the field that doesn’t come out in the image.

The Glade after HannaI then moved down to the patch where I usually census for the Great Backyard Bird Count, a stretch of The Glade upstream from Twin Branches Road. The vegetation along the stream bank was still flattened by the runoff from storm Hanna, which passed through yesterday.

land slugI found fewer flippable rocks in this area than I expected, so I fudged a little and looked under some logs as well. Hence this nice example of a slug. Land slugs that breathe air get their own order, Pulmonata.

termitesOn the way back to the car, my last flip turned up some tiny pale worker termites, order Isoptera. If we count the pillbugs that I didn’t photograph, then my tally for the day is five orders.