Crayfish & Cricketers

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Crayfish, crawfish, crawdaddy, freshwater lobster, yabbie*.

This little fellow was out in the middle of Mundhank road, near the Really Big Church on Easter Sunday. Fortunately, the heavy traffic of the departing Faithful had passed an hour earlier, sparing the critter from being run over.

As i approached, he went on the defensive...

...flipping himself onto his back...

....covering his belly with his tail and brandishing his formidable claws.

The creature was -to me at least- of impressive size; about 7 or 8 inches long. i've only seen one other crayfish in the wild near that size. When i was a kid, we would hang out an the south breakwater at Rainbow Beach, tie a dead minnow to a string and dangle the bait under rock ledges to catch 2 inch long crayfishes. i tried to keep one for a pet, but was convinced by my mom that it really wasn't a good pet candidate, and dropped it back to the pool i'd gotten it from.

As i've related in earlier posts, i hate encountering roadkill. Figuring that this guy would soon be crushed or otherwise become some crow's meal, i nudged him to safety back into the nearby wetland. And no, i didn't try to pick him up- those claws meant business- but as gently as possible pushed and flipped him along with the tip of a Silca pump.

A couple of miles later, i stopped to watch an impromptu cricket practice:

Since South Barrington lacks a proper cricket pitch, this team took over a tennis court for awhile.

The fellow playing at silly mid-off** (yes, i looked that up,) invited me to join in, but since i know so little of the game, i passed.

A few miles down Penny road is a large county forest preserve. About a quarter mile off the road is this:

(Not the clearest picture- i use a cheap second-hand camera.)

The county forest preserve district has raised a pole to provide an osprey nest.

Overhead, its resident:

She had a catch in her talons:

(At the limits of my camera's resolution)

She was very aware of my presence, and circled me warily, not returning to the nest until she was sure i had moved on.

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 Someday i will either carry my better camera or learn how to take better photos with the pocket model. i have gotten to the point where i feel almost under equipped if i'm not carrying a camera on a ride, although i'm reluctant to carry one that's expensive (or heavy,) given my propensity for dropping and breaking things. For now, these snapshots will have to do. i hope you've enjoyed them all the same.

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(*Not "yabbie" in the sense that BSNYC speaks of!)
(**or perhaps, simply "mid-off" but what do i know?)