We've had about four and a half inches of rain here in the last two days. So all our paths between the ponds and across the fields have turned into little rivers, when it's actually raining. And because of that, the running water, the crayfish are leaving their burrows in the banks of the ponds and going along with the flow.
Problem is, for the crayfish, that when it stops raining and the rivulets disappear, they are left high and dry, so to speak--i.e. they become bird food.
See, that's how it goes. Crayfish are obviously programmed to follow flowing water but they can't tell the difference between a stream and a sodden path. Probably because they are running on automatic and there's not enough room in their brains for memory cells.
Which may be the shrub's problem as well. His memory function seems impaired.