They’re Back! Don’t be Surprised if You See One of these in Your Yard

Watch out, because these claws might be coming to a yard near you. Once again Hudson Valley residents are seeing what at first seems impossible: little lobsters crawling in their back yard.

To learn that these pinch-loving creatures are crayfish doesn't do much to explain what they're doing on residential lawns (no, they're not an escaped pet or science project), but the reason might have to do with the massive weather events currently happening in our area.

Claws on the Lawn

"Can anyone please tell me what this is in my yard?", came a recent Facebook post from a New Paltz, NY resident. The accompanying video shows a pretty large crayfish crawling across her property. This isn't the first time someone in the Hudson Valley was stumped by land-loving crustaceans.

Crayfish in Hudson Valley, NY Yards

"Weirdest thing!!! CRAYFISH in our yard! And two of them!!", said a Facebook status posted almost exactly a year ago in July 2022. The author also wondered the same thing as the more recent post, asking, "is it normal for two crayfish to wander off from water?" As it turns out, it is.

Terrestrial Crayfish in the Hudson Valley, NY

In certain regions, crayfish will burrow in local yards if the ground is particularly wet. Although no one reported seeing crayfish mounds in these two posts, it can be common for these Cajun delicacies to go real estate shopping far away from streams or rivers. Labeled "terrestrial crayfish", there isn't a specific lawn issue that they cause (other than making some small dirt mounds), so it can be up to the property owner whether they want to "keep" them or not.

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There have been massive rainfalls in the Hudson Valley in recent days, and the overly-wet earth likely has something to do with the crayfish migration. The question is, will you welcome the traveling crayfish with open claws, or will you try and find enough of them in your yard to make some special dinner plans?