The South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center has sponsored the event since around 2015, when it was handed over to them from the event’s founders, St. Andrew’s By the Sea Episcopal Church.
This year the expo, the 27th annual expo, will be held from Feb. 9 to 11 and also has added a number of field trip options.
“We’ve hosted it here at the birding center until this year, but it’s kind of outgrown our site,” said Javi Gonzalez, naturalist educator at the birding center. “So we’re moving across the street to the Hilton at the convention hall where we can accommodate more people in bigger rooms.”
Each day at the convention hall will be filled with vendors, exhibitors and programs on a variety of nature-related topics with an emphasis on the coastal ecosystem.
“The event used to be five days long, but we’re condensing it into three days this time,” Gonzalez said. “We have about nine speakers every day presenting about all topics on coastal nature. We’ve got university professors presenting on the research they do here. We’ve got coastal conservation biologists talking about their work in the area. We’ve got fishing guides talking about how to catch fish here in the saltwater in the Laguna Madre, and they’re also going to be sharing their stories about their lives as guides here.”
“We’ve also got Texas Master Naturalists talking about the flora of the area and some of the birds and butterflies that are special to the Valley,” he added.
The field trips have been beefed up this year and include tours of nearby Bahia Grande and the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, boat birding tours in the Laguna Madre and tours of Cactus Creek Ranch.
The field trips cost between $50 and $60 each. Tickets can be purchased on the birding and nature center’s website.
“We’ve been adding more field trips to this event over the years as we learn how to do it better,” Gonzalez said. “It’s kind of an iffy thing to do in the wintertime because of the weather, but we’ve been figuring things out a little bit better over the last couple of years.”
Gonzalez added that part of the solution to field trips has been to partner up with local tour charters for the excursions.
On Thursday, Feb. 9, the first day of the event, local nature writer and filmmaker Richard Marx will present his documentary on Bahia Grande, the coastal ecosystem which now is part of the Laguna Atascosa NWR.
WOWE also is hosting its first photography contest this year.
“The Laguna Madre area is such a photogenic place, and everybody around here seems to carry a camera to capture its beauty, so it’s really going to be interesting to see it portrayed through the lenses of all the people who enjoy it so much,” Gonzalez said.
Another first this year is the addition of a keynote speaker.
“She’s a local birding guide, Tiffany Kersten, who broke the Lower 48 Big Year record a few weeks ago, and she’s going to be sharing that with the audience,” Gonzalez said.
News Source: https://myrgv.com/local-news/2023/01/23/27th-annual-spi-winter-wildlife-expo-set-for-feb-9-11/
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