Curious holes

Yesterday on the trail, about 50 feet north of and about 20 feet higher than the surface of the existing pond, I came across a simple, smooth hole in the ground. Within 100 feet I found two more. Each is less than 2 inches across. They are all alike, and I found even more after taking these pictures:

   

I have seen these before but never took the time to investigate what they are. Today I did. They are burrowing crayfish! They do not live in water, which explains why they were so far away from and above the pond.

Even more to my surprise, there is a Burrowing Crayfish Project underway at the Indiana Biological Survey Aquatic Research Center in nearby Bloomington. Their home page even promises: "Coming Soon: Crayfishes of the Ohio River Floodplain."

I'll be checking back every day. Yeh, right!