Bird watchers can be obsessive when it comes to finding target birds. When they bag a ”lifer”—a new bird they’ve seen for the first time—they are provided the opportunity to put another check on their life list. Some birders are competitive and want bragging rights about the number of birds they’ve seen; other birders just want to see new birds. But every bird watcher wants to see the elusive Yellow Rail.
The Yellow Rail’s elusiveness is part of its appeal. These secretive birds are seldom seen or heard, making that check mark even sweeter when a fleeting look finally occurs. With an estimated population of only 10,000 to 17,500 globally and a listing with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a species of concern, some birders consider a sighting of the Yellow Rail the holy grail of bird watching.
Acting more like a mammal than your average bird, Yellow Rails prefer to run or hide in vegetation instead of taking flight. When approached, they are more likely to stay still and become camouflaged. They maneuver through the marshes and fields silently, keeping out of sight and submerging themselves if necessary…until they encounter a rice combine.
Just a little larger than a sparrow, the Yellow Rail migrates to the southeastern coastal U.S. for winter. In late October, birders flock to the marshes and rice fields of Louisiana’s southwestern parishes to spot a Yellow Rail at the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival (YRARF), where participants can ride a combine during the second—or “ratoon”—harvest; huge machines, rice combines can flush the rails from the grass. Rail glimpses are brief, so staying focused is important. Besides the Yellow Rail, Sora and Virginia Rail are numerous. A few King Rails can be seen, and even the occasional Clapper Rail. Though the probability is low, the possibility exists that a rare Black Rail might also be flushed. Additional marsh birds and various hawk species are around as well.
After watching combines flush rails out of rice fields, Donna Dittmann and Steve Cardiff, collections curators at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Baton Rouge and obsessive birders themselves, conceived the YRARF with their rice farmer friends Kevin and Shirley Berken. According to the YRARF pamphlet, the festival is intended, among other things, to ”educate the public about how important working wetlands such as rice crops are to bird populations as well as to encourage cooperation between agricultural and bird conservation interests, in a joint effort to preserve these relatively bird-friendly agricultural systems.” Now in its fifth year, the YRARF has attracted bird watchers from across the U.S. and abroad.
At present, the attendance is capped at 130 people. Birding fieldtrips are also offered to areas outside of the rice fields, including excursions to the LSU Museum of Natural Science’s ornithology collection and to a local rice mill to witness the process of rice milling. Activities on the menu include birding by kayak, which provides alternate ways to see Louisiana’s birds and landscape.
As one might suspect from the festival’s name, rice and its history in the region play a prominent role. Great Louisiana food, such as jambalaya, gumbo, and ice cream loaded with homegrown ingredients, keeps bird watchers calorically fueled throughout the festival.
Speaking of calories, the saying “thin as a rail’ comes to mind. In his book on Louisiana birds, emeritus LSU professor Dr. George Lowery says the expression comes from the rails’ ability to compress their bodies “to such a degree as to…force a passage between two stems so close…to squeeze themselves through.”
Being an obsessive birder myself, I traveled to the Texas coast years ago to find a Yellow Rail. While the YRARF may have been percolating in Donna and Steve’s head at the time, it wasn’t yet in existence. So when the first YRARF was announced, I—along with the entire bird watching community—was thrilled. I wanted to support the fledgling festival and the hobby of bird watching; but I had also been dying to ride a combine after hearing of Donna and Steve’s combine escapades!
My wish was fulfilled; and did I mention I also saw two more Yellow Rails? Check.
Description: Sexes and ages similar. The back is brown, streaked with black and buff and with delicate white crossbars. The breast is yellowish-brown, belly whitish, and flanks barred black and white. The short, thick, dark bill turns yellow in males during the breeding season. In flight, the prominent white patch on the inner wing is a key field mark.
When: Winters in Louisiana in freshwater and brackish marshes and also rice fields, arriving by October.
Breeding: Wet meadows and shallow marshes across Canada, east of the Rockies; also the northeastern United States. The nest is a shallow cup built with marsh vegetation on damp ground under a canopy of dead plants.
Feeding: Yellow Rails eat plant seeds of sedges and grasses as well as small invertebrates such as beetles, spiders, and snails.
Interesting facts: The male’s call during the breeding season is usually made after night falls completely. It sounds like two stones being tapped together.
Happy birding! Comments or questions are welcomed at harriett.pooler@gmail.com.
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For festival information, check out the website: snowyegretenterprises.com/Snowy_Egret_Enterprises/Yellow_Rails_%26_Rice_Festival.html
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