Top Photo: Red swamp crawfish stands its ground when confronted. On a morning following a very wet night, I encountered a crawfish hiking its way across the path adjacent to our wetlands. In typical red swamp crawfish fashion the decapod reared up and challenged me. Red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) are bold creatures, but over the years I’ve seen that boldness get them into trouble. They get eaten by frogs, snatched up by red-shouldered hawks and barred owls, nabbed byRead more
Posts tagged: #crawdad
Walking Crawfish
It has rained the past two weekends. After a rainfall the Wetlands’ crawfish get up and have a walkabout. I’m not quite sure what the reason is for these expeditions, although I believe it to be a search for new areas to colonize by the crawfish. Since their gills need to stay wet in order to function (The gills are at the base of the walking legs) the animals can walk around in the wet grass following the rain asRead more
Gulp!
It was just after noon on the first Friday of August. It was hot and humid. Earlier that morning Wayne, Camp Counselor, had reported seeing a large crawfish walking across the pavement in Explore the Wild. Over the past couple of months many of these large arthropods have been observed walking the paths of both Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind. Today was no different, or so I thought. I was just about to make the turn out of theRead more