Tagged: IRFD
International Rock Flipping Day!
Just wanted to remind everyone that September 9, 2012 is International Rock Flipping Day! This is the 6th annual IRFD.
Go outside, and spend some time with your inner kid (or an actual kid). There are beautiful and amazing things in the world, despite the best efforts of humans. Rediscover them. Rejoice in the joy of secret complexity hidden under a rock.
If you’re joining in for the first time, here’s a quick rundown of the procedure:
- On September 9th, find a rock or rocks and flip it/them over.
- Record what you find. “Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry.”
- Replace the rock as you found it; it’s someone’s home!
- Post your photos online; it can be on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group. (You don’t need a blog to join!) Send Wandering Weta a link to blog posts. If you’re on Twitter, Tweet it, too; the hashtag is #rockflip.)
- There is a handy IRFD badge available here.
Important Safety Precautions: A reminder from Dave:
One thing I forgot to do in the initial post is to caution people about flipping rocks in poisonous snake or scorpion habitat. In that case, I’d suggest wearing gloves and/or using a pry bar — or simply finding somewhere else to do your flipping. Please do not disturb any known rattlesnake shelters if you don’t plan on replacing the rocks exactly as you found them. Timber rattlesnakes, like many other adult herps, are very site-loyal, and can die if their homes are destroyed. Also, don’t play with spiders. If you disturb an adjacent hornet nest (hey, it’s possible), run like hell. But be sure to have someone standing by to get it all on film!
About Respect and Consideration: (from Wandering Weta)
The animals we find under rocks are at home; they rest there, sleep there, raise their families there. Then we come along and take off the roof, so please remember to replace it carefully. Try not to squish the residents; move them aside if they’re big enough; they’ll run back as soon as their rock is back in place.
International Rock Flipping Day
Just wanted to remind everyone that September 11, 2011 is International Rock Flipping Day! This is the 5th annual IRFD, and I think it could not happen on a better day.
What better way to remember the events of 10 years ago? Take a break from the constant, disturbing images and voices in the media about 9-11. Go outside, and spend some time with your inner kid (Or an actual kid).
There are beautiful and amazing things in the world, despite the best efforts of humans. Rediscover them. Rejoice in the joy of secret complexity hidden under a rock.
If you’re joining in for the first time, here’s a quick rundown of the procedure:
- On September 11th, find a rock or rocks and flip it/them over.
- Record what you find. “Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry.”
- Replace the rock as you found it; it’s someone’s home!
- Post your photos online; it can be on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group. (You don’t need a blog to join!) Send Wandering Weta a link to blog posts. If you’re on Twitter, Tweet it, too; the hashtag is #rockflip.)
- There is a handy IRFD badge available here.
Important Safety Precautions:
A reminder from Dave:
One thing I forgot to do in the initial post is to caution people about flipping rocks in poisonous snake or scorpion habitat. In that case, I’d suggest wearing gloves and/or using a pry bar — or simply finding somewhere else to do your flipping. Please do not disturb any known rattlesnake shelters if you don’t plan on replacing the rocks exactly as you found them. Timber rattlesnakes, like many other adult herps, are very site-loyal, and can die if their homes are destroyed. Also, don’t play with spiders. If you disturb an adjacent hornet nest (hey, it’s possible), run like hell. But be sure to have someone standing by to get it all on film!
About Respect and Consideration: (from Wandering Weta)
The animals we find under rocks are at home; they rest there, sleep there, raise their families there. Then we come along and take off the roof, so please remember to replace it carefully. Try not to squish the residents; move them aside if they’re big enough; they’ll run back as soon as their rock is back in place.
Rock Flipping Day 2009: Mark the day!
International Rock Flipping Day will be Sunday, September 20th this year! Wandering Weta will be the coordinator this year.
“Here’s a quick rundown of the procedure:
- On or about September 20th, find your rock and flip it over.
- Record what you find. “Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry.”
- Replace the rock as you found it; it’s someone’s home.
- Post on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group.
- Send me a link. My e-mail address is in my profile, or you can add a comment to any IRFD post.
- I will collect the links, e-mail participants the list, and post it for any and all to copy to your own blogs. (Maybe we can Tweet it, too, this year. Use the hashtag #rockflip.)
There is a handy badge available for your blog, here.”
Join in!!
International Rock Flipping Day Results
We had an absolutely lovely day for rock flipping today–
I started with a bit of fence repair and garden cleanup. Here’s the view over the back fence toward our house–I planted hyacinth beans this year to try to dress up our boring wire fence. (Yes, we are still trying to sell our house.)
As a bonus to the nice day, I saw a hummingbird scouting around the blooms.
Alas, when I flipped my rocks, I didn’t find one of the garter snakes that are very common in my garden. I did find Pillbugs and Ants aplenty, though!
It’s not surprising that I found lots of ants–they are important in almost all terrestrial systems. Some estimates put them at 15-30% of the total biomass in ecosystems. That’s a lot of ants!
In the US, they are as or more important in turning soil and recycling debris as earthworms. (You did know most of the worms you see in the US are introduced species, right?) Ants are also important predators and biocontrol agents.
Your fun factoid about pillbugs is that they are land-living crustaceans–they have more in common with a shrimp than an insect! Because they breathe through gills, they must be in an area where they can stay damp. This is one of the reasons they are so common under rocks 
What did you find in your rock flipping? Don’t forget to add them to the Flickr group!
IRFD Reports from around the World:
Pohanginapete (Pohangina Valley, Aotearoa/New Zealand)
Blaugustine (London, England)
Nature Remains (Ohio, USA)
Pensacola Daily Photo (Florida, USA)
KatDoc’s World (Ohio, USA)
Notes from the Cloud Messenger (Ontario, Canada)
Brittle Road (Dallas, Texas)
Sherry Chandler (Kentucky, USA)
osage + orange (Illinois, USA)
Rock Paper Lizard (British Columbia, Canada)
The Crafty H (Virginia, USA)
Chicken Spaghetti (Connecticut, USA)
A Passion for Nature (New York, USA)
The Dog Geek (Virginia, USA)
Blue Ridge blog (North Carolina, USA)
Bug Girl’s Blog (Michigan, USA)
chatoyance (Austin, Texas)
Riverside Rambles (Missouri, USA)
Pines Above Snow(Maryland, USA)
Beth’s stories (Maine, USA)
A Honey of an Anklet (Virginia, USA)
Wanderin’ Weeta (British Columbia, Canada)
Fate, Felicity, or Fluke (Oregon, USA)
The Northwest Nature Nut (Oregon, USA)
Roundrock Journal (Missouri, USA)
The New Dharma Bums (California, USA)
The Marvelous in Nature (Ontario, Canada)
Via Negativa (Pennsylvania, USA)
Mrs. Gray’s class, Beatty-Warren Middle School (Pennsylvania, USA)
Cicero Sings (British Columbia, Canada)
Pocahontas County Fair (West Virginia, USA)
Let’s Paint Nature (Illinois, USA)
