Yellow Rails and Rice
Last weekend I was able to participate in the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival in southern Louisiana. This is a four day event that began on Wednesday, October 25 and ended Saturday, October 28. Sunday was reserved as a make-up day just in case there was foul weather during the week. However, the extra day was unnecessary as the weather was sunny and hot in the upper 80’s each day.
During the festival I stayed at the Cajun Haven RV Park in Egan. This small park is right off I-10. Most sites are dirt/gravel, but I stayed at a “deluxe” site which had a concrete pad adjacent to a pond. I had full hook-ups, and after taxes and fees I paid $40.59/night. The park was quiet (aside from the loud interstate traffic) and the office staff was friendly. They had a “washateria” where you could do laundry and it appeared in good shape but I did not use it. There were no showers or bathrooms at this RV park. While light on amenities, it was fair value for the price and it had a great location. I could easily hop on the interstate and run east towards Crowley, or west to Welsh, Jennings, or the Thornton rice fields.
My Grech Strada-ion camped at Cajun Haven RV Park. This was my first night so the Strada is still clean. By the end of the festival she was filthy, covered in splattered bugs and dirt from driving down dirt & gravel roads. iPhone 14
Check-in for the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival (YRARF) was on Thursday morning at the Gator Chateau, the tourism hub for Jeff Davis Parish. The festival organizers gave a 2.5 hour presentation to the ~65 participants, telling us how the YRARF started in 2009, where we would be going based on recent bird reports, how the combine and ATV rides would be organized, etc. Since this was an agro-tourism event, a local rice farmer gave a really interesting presentation about rice farming. There were booths set up from the local rice board and various birding and conservation societies. The Gator Chateau itself has alligators (including babies you can hold if so inclined), and the biggest snapping turtle I have ever seen. Staff told me this turtle is about 80 years old and will live to 140 or 150 years.
Entrance to the Gator Chateau. iPhone 14
Snapping Turtle. iPhone 14
Later I was able to go with a group to the Falcon Rice plant where local rice is dropped off by the truckload. The rice is shelled and packaged here.
While at the Gator Chateau I learned there were some Whooping Cranes in the area. I was astonished! Whooping Cranes are a critically endangered species with an estimated 836 birds worldwide. In Louisiana there are 77 cranes that were introduced in an effort to grow the population. So late Friday afternoon I joined a group to go find them. We went down some dirt and gravel roads, something I really didn’t want to do in my new Grech, but bit the bullet and did it anyway. Our local guide had heard from someone else where to find them, and after a bit of scouring the fields with binoculars we found them! Waaaay off in the distance across several fields, at least a mile off, there were three. They were down in a rice field, with levees blocking a full view. Normally I wouldn’t even bother photographing birds that far off, but for whooping cranes I grabbed my 800mm lens and attached a 1.4x teleconverter. The picture is terrible, but they are Whooping Cranes!
Whooping Cranes. Shot far very far away with a Nikon Z9 and monopod-mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens with 1.4x teleconverter at 1120mm, f/9, 1/1250 sec, ISO 1250.
Birding trips were offered throughout the festival but I didn’t take time off from work to participate. Instead, I waited till Saturday to go out to the Thornton rice fields to ride the combine and see the Yellow Rails.
Rice is harvested at midday and all afternoon when the rice has sufficiently dried from the morning dew. The light is really not all that great at midday but that’s the conditions you’ll be operating in. From a photography standpoint, forget about getting any decent pictures while riding the combine. It’s a vibrating, moving, dusty behemoth that the birds fly away from. The only thing you’ll get is bird butts, like this one (and this is one of the few in focus). Still, ride the combine for the experience of it, at least once.
Bird butts are what you’ll photograph from the combine.
A large group of about 15 bird researchers from Mississippi State University were also on site to band birds. These guys would set up long field nets along the farmer’s cut line to catch birds as they were flushed by the combine. They also ran after birds, using hand nets to capture birds that didn’t fly into the long net. It was almost more entertaining to watch the researchers running after birds than it was taking photos.
Combine harvesting rice. iPhone 14
One of the field researchers waiting for the combine to return so she can catch a bird to be banded,
Yellow Rail. Like many photos I missed focus on this bird. But that gives me reason to return next year. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 800.
The researchers would typically wrap the net in an L-shape around the corner of the field that the farmer was cutting. This would corral the birds into the net. In addition to rails, swallows and sparrows would also get caught in the nets. iPhone 14
Savannah Sparrow. Common in this area, this Savannah Sparrow found refuge in uncut rice along a levee. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400.
Cattle Egrets. Egrets would fly into the area just as soon as the combine went through to snag an easy meal. Many frogs were eaten that day. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 1600.
Marsh Wren. This little marsh wren got caught in the nets. The researcher carefully untangled the bird so as not to harm it. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 1600.
Marsh Wren. Safely untangled from the net, this little Marsh Wren is ready to be measured by the scientists, banded, and set free. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 900.
Common Yellowthroat. Researchers would blow on the birds to separate their feathers so they could take their measurements. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 800.
Common Yellowthroat. A scientist from Mississippi State University measuring the feet of this bird. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 360.
Common Yellowthroat. Physical over, this bird is now ready to be released. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 180.
Sora. The Sora was by far the most common rail seen during the festival. Other rails seen were the Virginia Rail, Yellow Rail, King Rail, and the elusive Black Rail. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 2800.
Virginia Rail. A researcher reaches to capture the Virginia rail entangled in the net. Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 3600.
Virginia Rail. This bird managed to escape the nets but not my camera! Nikon Z9 with monopod mounted Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 1600.
My takeaways from the YRARF:
While in the rice fields, you’ll be fully exposed to the sun and the hordes of mosquitos. Wear a long-sleeved sun shirt, douse yourself throughly in mosquito repellant, put on sun screen, and wear a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off your neck and face.
Bring anything you might need because the festival does not provide anything for your comfort in the rice fields. My recommendation is to bring a cooler with water and snacks. Bring a lawn chair if you don’t want to stand for hours. It’s physically taxing out in the field and I noticed most of the older festival participants were not in the field on Saturday.
Bring a vehicle that you feel comfortable driving down dirt and gravel roads, onto levees, and has the clearance to park in heavily rutted fields. A truck is best.
Bring a long lens, teleconverters, and extra batteries. A lens support will make your life more comfortable. I used a monopod and was glad I had it rather than a neck strap weighing me down.
Ride the combine for the experience, not to get good photos. Follow the bird banders to get the best photo opportunities.
Take photos outside of the YRARF. I passed by many fields full of White-faced Ibis, White Ibis, and egrets. I regret not being in the fields at sunrise and sunset to get those photos.
Eat at Fezzo’s Cajun Seafood restaurant in Crowley. It was good.
I look forward to next year’s YRARF. It’s a unique experience that provides an opportunity to see and photograph rarely seen birds in high concentration. For me, it’s worth the $300 registration fee and the workout.
