Yellow Rails & Rice Festival Provides 'Once In A Lifetime' Thrills

By Kane Webb

USA Rice

THORNWELL, LA -- As with many annual events that were postponed or canceled in 2020, the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival got back on track this year. The festival, in its twelfth year, took place the last weekend in October, and the perfect weather was a bonus as yellow rail enthusiasts gathered to see this elusive little bird in its natural habitat, the rice fields of southwest Louisiana.

Retired rice farmer Kevin Berken and his wife, Shirley, were instrumental in creating the festival along with Donna Dittmann and Steve Cardiff of the Avian Events Support Team. They host birders from near and far, with participants this year from 27 states and two countries.

As always, the festival begins with a welcome and educational session on rice production and the benefits rice farmers provide by creating habitat for many species of birds, specifically the yellow rail. Being as rare and elusive as it is, the yellow rail is a perfect candidate for cutting-edge research initiatives and wildlife experts give a hands-on demonstration of how to band the rail's leg with a tiny radio transmitter, which then pings off of radio towers across the country and gives researchers a clearer idea of avian migration patterns.

“The festival has grown over the years into more than we could have imagined,” Berken said. “It gives us the unique opportunity to share the story of the U.S. rice industry and showcase the benefits of our conservation and sustainability practices that provide critical habitat for numerous species, including the yellow rail. Our attendees get to see firsthand what we do, dispelling a lot of myths and misinformation they may have about production agriculture, and then they share their experience here with others when they return home.”

Birders not only get to add the yellow rail to their Life List, but they get to see it from the cab of a combine that’s harvesting second crop. This year’s rides took place in one of rice farmer Paul Johnson’s jasmine fields, where he and Berken had their combines, providing double the chance for birders to ride and spot rails flushed from the canopy.

“Where else could I experience two ‘once in a lifetime’ things, seeing a yellow rail and riding a combine,” said one attendee.