South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center

Project architects, David Richter of Richter Architects of Corpus Christi, and Dr. Terry Chase, Director of Chase Studios of Cedar Creek, Missouri presented design concepts and architecture of the new South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. 

Within the Birding and Nature Center exhibits will depict various aspects of life on South Padre Island.  Visitors will be able to walk through the dunes and see the interaction between the beach and dunes and flats and lakes on the Island.  There will be a 45’ Gulf of Mexico diorama, a three dimensional cross section of the Gulf from the jetties to the deep blue waters of the Gulf.  The migration of birds and sea life can be tracked real-time while overhead many artifacts suspend from the ceiling.  A forty square foot topographical map will help orient visitors to the Island while the 450 gallon saltwater aquarium will be the home of over forty species of fish typically found in the Laguna Madre Bay.  The history of the Island will be depicted by a series of exhibits that will allow visitors to travel back in time to the Ice Age when wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers roamed the area. 

The Center will become a “must see” attraction for birders and eco-tourists, which already recognize the Rio Grande Valley as the premier birding and butterfly watching location in the United States.     Finally, there will be a forty foot long eight foot high wave tank illustrating the geology of the Island.                

To make a pledge of support for this project download the pledge form and fill it in.  Then mail or bring it to the EDC office at 600 Padre Blvd.

Pledge Form (Microsoft Word format)
Pledge Form (Adobe Acrobat format)