Cattle egrets gather to follow Pete Hearn of Vicksburg as he uses his John Deere tractor to disk a field off U.S. 61 North on the old Blakely Plantation Wednesday. The birds were sifting through the freshly tilled soil for bugs. Hearn, who was preparing the ground for planting corn, said the wet weather has backed him up this year because he normally would already have planted by now. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)