Aerial application of urea fertilizer (125 pounds per acre of 45 percent nitrogen) came a little earlier than expected today. It was supposed to be made at 10 a.m., but it was moved up an hour earlier. In the top photo, pilot Dennis Vega loads the fertilizer into his airplane at a nearby airstrip before making several passes over the field.

Larry White, manager of the seed program at the Rice Station, is hoping it will rain today to help flood the field and to allow the fertilizer to permeate the soil so it can be absorbed by the plants. Rain is predicted, and any moisture would mean less water that would have to be pumped to flood the field, but as of noon today, only .02 inches of rain had fallen in the past 24 hours.

Different wings were also flying over the field earlier. At right is a heron in midflight over a levee. (Click on the picture to get a bigger image and you can see a killdeer on the levee.) Thousands of insects similar to mayflies were also buzzing in the air over the field.