Eagle Expo & More begins Thursday

The 13th Eagle Expo & More officially kicks off Thursday evening with a presentation featuring appearances by different types of birds of prey at Patterson Area Civic Center, and the expo continues through Saturday in the Morgan City area.

The expo is hosted by Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau.

Wings to Soar, a nonprofit birds of prey environmental education organization, will have a presentation at 6:30 p.m. at Patterson Area Civic Center. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.

Co-directors of Wings to Soar, John Stokes and Dale Kernahan, travel to different areas to educate people about birds of prey, also known as raptors, with an interactive presentation.

The presentation features rescued birds including an American bald eagle, barn owl, screech owl, American kestrel, peregrine falcon, red-tailed hawk and black vulture.

Stokes and Kernahan, who are based near Chattanooga, Tennessee, gave a presentation Wednesday to private, parochial and home-schooled students at the civic center. They also visited several public junior high schools in the area.

This year’s Eagle Expo will also be held in conjunction with the inaugural Water & Nature Expo, which is a free event that will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.

Another Wings to Soar presentation will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the auditorium. This presentation is also free to the public. All of the Wings to Soar presentations in the area are sponsored by Morgan City Rotary Club.

The Water & Nature Expo will also feature exhibits and presentations at the auditorium on outdoor recreation, wildlife, safety on the water and protecting St. Mary Parish’s resources. Additionally, there will be speakers beginning at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the auditorium, as part of the Eagle Expo. The cost to listen to those speakers is $25.

Included in the Eagle Expo will be boat tours Friday and Saturday into various waterways to view eagles and other wildlife and a photography workshop Friday with C.C. Lockwood. Admission is charged for the boat tours and photography workshop and spots are limited.

Tours will take place in the Atchafalaya Basin, Bayou Black, Bayou Long and Turtle Bayou.

At 6:30 p.m. Friday, John Snell of WVUE, FOX 8, will be the featured speaker at a dinner and presentation at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City. Snell made the 2012 award-winning documentary, “Disappearing Defenses” about south Louisiana’s storm protection. The cost to attend is $45 and includes dinner.

Since the 2005 storms, Snell has focused on south Louisiana’s storm protection, including natural features, such as barrier islands, marsh and cypress swamps

For a full schedule of events and additional information on the Eagle Expo & More, visit cajuncoast.com/ eagleexpo .