crayfish – The Hermits' Rest

Today I took every possible chance I had to go outside and take a break. I was rewarded with some fun and educational sights. First thing this morning, I went out to check the rain gauge. To my delight, I spotted a pair of Great Egrets under the willow tree in the pond.

I enjoyed them for a few minutes. Then I got my binoculars out of the birding hut to see them better. I quickly realized there was also our Great Blue Heron on the shore, sitting on his favorite grass tussock.

I looked back over at the willow tree and found a third and fourth Great Egret! I wonder if they’re related?

Just as I thought I was finished I heard a familiar squawk. Yes! A third egret! One of our nesting pair of Green Egrets came over to check out the action.

That was enough for me, but when I came back to the porch, Lee spotted our loudest summer resident, a Superb Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen superbus). These buddies sure make my bird listening difficult.

When I went out to check the mail, I stopped to look at our little mud pond by the driveway. I spotted a very busy crawfish moving mud around to build its home. I was fascinated.

Red Swamp Crayfish (***Procambarus clarkii)***

I’ve always loved these guys, which we called crawdads in Florida. They’re mud bugs in many parts of Louisiana. They eat mud and filter nutrients out of it. Fascinating crustaceans!

After work, feeding animals, and eating a yummy dinner (ironically, featuring crawfish—Kathleen did not know I’d been looking at them), we went for a walk. Kathleen made it to the dumpster with a bag of trash, but I got all fascinated by the crawfish again.

We realized there are dozens of crawfish in the little muddy pond, big ones and small ones, all busily doing whatever they do.

There was a small puddle being guarded by a larger one, who busily herded small intruders. Those claws stuck out above the water menacingly! We just stood there and laughed delightedly. We needed that.

Then we witnessed crawfish mating, which came as a surprise. It starts with the female fighting the male, then they settle down to laying eggs and fertilizing. The female will carry the eggs until they hatch out as tiny versions of the adults.

Kathleen wondered why we didn’t see any shed exoskeletons in the water. I also was curious, so I looked it up. Turns out they eat them! they recycle the nutrients and skeletal material. Uh, they also eat their poop. I think I’ll do a longer article on crawfish for the Master Naturalist blog. I’ll be sure to share the link.

That was plenty of nature fun for one day. We are definitely easy to entertain, but that’s part of our charm, our husbands would say!

It’s been a good weekend. Yesterday was spent driving to Houston and back for a family errand. It reminded me that I’m glad to live outside of a small town. But it was a change of pace that still let me get all my animal stuff done.

Houston always reminds me of getting closer to bayous, so here’s a crawfish that somehow ended up in the swimming pool.

The men in my house and I spent a lot of time this morning sitting by the pool. It was a nice, cool morning, the kind there won’t be many more of this year, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

Goldie and Penney also enjoyed the morning.

I weeded the pool planting bed, which of course has many volunteer plants coming through the landscape cloth. It’s mostly morning glories, nut grass, and the dreaded spurge. Yuck. That’s one native plant that’s totally a weed for me.

Weeding was made much more pleasant by the presence of the portulaca (or moss rose) plants that we put in just two weeks ago. I just love these cheerful succulents! They’ve already more than doubled in size.

This is the only plant that I’ve found that thrives here in the dry, hot summers. Last year, I had three plants, and they grew huge, but died in the big freeze. If only I’d known you can take cuttings and root them over the winter for next year!

Two pieces fell off. I stuck them in the pot with my sad bougainvillea that barely made it over winter. Both are growing.

Next year, I’ll be all set for more beauty! And wow, they are so lovely. Lee is very happy that they aren’t plain pink and yellow, as he feared. But I think the yellow ones are fascinating.

Note a morning glory is trying to sneak in.

It turns out that the portulaca grandiflora that we grow as an ornamental is related to the edible plant purslane, which chickens love and is full of vitamin A.

I don’t see any in your poop pile, Suna.

All in all, this plant is a winner and I don’t even feel too bad planting a non native. At least it’s food for someone. And it’s not showing signs of becoming invasive.

I’m not feeling bad about planting them, since they’re surrounded by red yucca, which seems to please all sorts of pollinators. We enjoyed hummingbirds this morning, plus many types of wasp visiting the yucca, which aren’t native here, but grow not too far away.