Fiddle Faddle

Here are a couple of shots from a short trip to South Lido Beach this weekend. Part of the beach on the bay side was covered in these little fiddler crabs. When I approached them, they scurried off en masse into the tall grass and weeds, making an odd rustling noise. If I hurried along and cut them off, they'd run the other way into the water, but they prefered the grass. I suppose it offers more protection against predators. If you aren't familiar with fiddler crabs, the males feature one large claw, which you can clearly see above, and one smaller claw, which is visible in the photo, but just barely. Most of these crabs were about an inch long, but the one above was a giant among crabs at almost an inch and a half.