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Dale Kernahan, co-director of Wings to Soar , shows the crowd at the Patterson Area Civic Center a red-tailed hawk during a 2017 presentation to a group of students as part of the Eagle Expo & More. (The Daily Review/Zachary Fitzgerald)

Eagle Expo & More is Feb. 22-24

Inaugural Water & Nature Expo will be held in conjunction

The Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau will host its 13th Eagle Expo & More in the Morgan City area Feb. 22-24.

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. Feb. 24 at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.

The Water & Nature Expo will feature exhibits and presentations on outdoor recreation, wildlife, safety on the water and protecting St. Mary Parish’s resources, a news release said.

St. Mary Parish is surrounded by water and nature, so organizers decided to add the Water & Nature Expo to promote “environmental stewardship and getting people outside to enjoy nature,” said Cajun Coast Executive Director Carrie Stansbury.

“We’re very fortunate, and we may not always appreciate the beauty that surrounds us,” Stansbury said.

Included in the Eagle Expo will be boat tours into various waterways to view eagles, a birds of prey educational program, presentations on the American bald eagle and other wildlife, a walking and hiking trail and a photography workshop. Admission and registration are required for the tours. Separate registration is required for the photography workshop.

The expo will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at Patterson Area Civic Center with Wings to Soar presented by Morgan City Rotary Club.

Wings to Soar is a non-profit birds of prey environmental education organization founded by John Stokes and Dale Kernahan . Their mission is to educate people about the birds of prey, or raptors, of America.

They do this by bringing a variety of live birds of prey to locations for fun and informative presentations, the release said. The presentation will feature a falcon, hawk, black vulture and a bald eagle.

Wings to Soar will have another presentation at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 24 at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium during the Water & Nature Expo.

Both presentations are free and open to the public. Also at the Water & Nature Expo, LSU Wildlife Hospital’s resident birds and students from the veterinary school will be in attendance. The Water & Nature Expo will be in the ballroom and west concourse of the auditorium. Additionally, a photography exhibit by John Flores will be displayed in the east concourse.

At 10 a.m. Feb. 21, private schools, parochial schools and home-schooled students will also have the opportunity to attend a Wings to Soar presentation at Patterson Area Civic Center. There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required. The raptor presentation will visit several junior high schools across the parish, too.

At 9 a.m. Feb. 23, there will be a photography workshop with C.C. Lockwood at Everett Street Gallery. The class is limited to 16 students and costs $195 per person. Lockwood will share tips on how to capture the American bald eagle and other wildlife. The workshop includes class instruction and field trip. At noon, participants will leave to go to Bayou Black Marina and board a boat at 2 p.m. to view eagle’s nests.

To register for the workshop, contact 225-245-5008. As of Thursday, five spots remained for the workshop, Stansbury said.

Also on Feb. 23, the expo will have a dinner and presentation at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City. The featured speaker is John Snell of WVUE, FOX 8, who has worked in the TV news business in New Orleans since 1983, the release said. 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 and made the 2012 award-winning documentary, “Disappearing Defenses.”

Guest speakers Feb. 24 in the west concourse of the Morgan City Auditorium include Phillip Vasseur with an update on the whooping crane in Louisiana at 7:30 a.m., Katie Percy with the Louisiana Audubon Institute at 8:30 a.m., and Curtis Walker with the Coastal Louisiana Array Project, which radio tags birds throughout south Louisiana wetlands, at 9:30 a.m. A breakfast will precede the speakers at 7 a.m. The cost to listen to these speakers is $25.

Boat tours take place Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 to view birds and other wildlife. There are limited spots left for the tours, Stansbury said.

Capt. Ivy St. Romain with Blue Dog Charters will host a boat tour on Bayou Long at 9 a.m. Feb. 23. Then, at 1 p.m., St. Romain , Capt. John Burke of Captain Caviar Swamp Tours and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, known as LUMCON, will all host boat tours.

Burke’s tour will take place in the Atchafalaya Basin, while the LUMCON tour will be on Turtle Bayou.

Feb. 24 boat tours will start at 9 a.m. with Burke and St. Romain .

St. Romain will also host a boat tour at 2 p.m. Feb. 24. Burke, LUMCON, and Captain Billy Gaston will each hold separate tours at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24. Gaston’s tour will be on Bayou Black.

For more on the Eagle Expo & More, including prices for boat tours, visit cajuncoast.com/ eagleexpo or call Cajun Coast at 985-380-8224.

ST. MARY NOW

Franklin Banner-Tribune
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Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255