During the 2010 festival, weather and field conditions were excellent for rice harvesting and rail viewing. Thursday was brisk and windy; Friday was still rather cool but not as windy. Saturday, humidity was higher and the rice was wetter in the morning from dew, which delayed cutting (as well as contributed to some combine problems and further cutting delays.)

    Yellow Rail numbers during the 2010 festival were unprecedented. On Thursday, participants were treated to a minimum of about 150 Yellow Rails with fair numbers of Sora, Virginia, and a few King rails.  Friday’s fields were just as productive, perhaps 125 or more Yellows! Saturday, even with combine problems that delayed the amount of acreage cut that day, there were still more than 20 observed. Everyone at the festival was able to great looks of Yellow Rails -  most were seen in flight, but some participants were even treated to a few on the ground (see photograph below).  A whopping 566 Yellow Rails were counted in the area 31 October-20 November.

One might speculate that the high numbers of Yellows in 2010 (there was a serious drought) may be due to drier field conditions, which may offer better Yellow Rail habitat.

Other species of local interest reported during the festival included Cinnamon Teal, Redhead, Bald Eagle, Swainson's Hawk, Crested Caracara, Sandhill Crane, American Golden-Plover, Franklin's Gull, Scissor-tailed and Vermilion flycatchers, and Yellow-headed Blackbird. Tens of thousands of geese and ibis were present each evening at the western end of Marceaux Road near Hwy. 99. Farther afield, a rare-for-Louisiana Ferruginous Hawk was at Johnsons Bayou.

2010 evening receptions featured local tourist venues and good food: Thursday night at the Tupper Museum (Emily Doucet’s sweet dough pies accompanied by Kleinpeter Dairy ice cream - yum!); Friday night (delicious appetizers catered by Carla Johnson) at the Zigler Museum; and, to conclude the festival on Saturday night, although a bit chilly, dinner under the stars at the Lake Arthur Pavilion (Carla Johnson prepared jambalaya and red beans & rice) while enjoying authentic Cajun music by Les Freres Michot.