Today: Winter Wildlife Expo on SPI

Nature takes center stage today at the annual Winter Wildlife Expo at the South Padre Island Convention Centre.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the expo closes at 4 p.m. Admission is $2 per person.

"It started 16 years ago at St. Andrew’s By The Sea Episcopal Church (in Port Isabel) when some Winter Texans asked where they could go fishing and what they could catch," recalls Ralph Ayers, one of the expo founders. "So we set up a little seminar to tell them, and from those humble beginnings, it has grown."

Ayers said 1,400 people attended last year’s event and with increased advertising, more are expected today.

It has evolved into much more than fishing advice. It now celebrates the region’s natural wonders.

Highlighting the festival will be raptor shows by Jonathan Wood of The Raptor Project.

Although fishing remains a big part of the expo, there are plenty of other activities.

Seminars include: native plants, sea beans and seashells of the Gulf, bay fishing parts I and II, dragonflies, fly fishing and the Texas reef program.

Other seminars include:

> How weather affects nature by a meteorologist;

> Ask a game warden presented by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department;

> Gardening and native plants;

> Surf fishing.

Programs include urban wildlife in the manmade jungle, Rio Grande Valley ocelots, the SPI Birding and Nature Center, sea turtles, nature art, butterflies and butterfly plants, sea turtles and the northern aplomado falcon — back from the brink.

There will be numerous booths, exhibitors and vendors, including Sea Turtle Inc., the Sea Life Center, Tip of Texas Embroiders Guild and Gulf of Mexico Foundation.

There will also be a raffle and silent auction.

St. Andrew’s By The Sea Episcopal Church in Port Isabel, the sponsor, will serve free coffee.

"The purpose of the festival has never been to raise money," Ayers said. "From the beginning it has been a service of the church for people who want to learn about the ecology and preservation of the area."