Event Info

South Texas is a region rich in both biodiversity and cultural heritage, and language plays a powerful role in how we experience and understand the natural world. Join Ernesto Garcia-Ortega for an interactive and engaging presentation where participants will learn the Spanish names for common trees, plants, flowers, animals, birds, and insects found in the region.

While prior knowledge of Spanish is helpful, it is not required, this program is designed to welcome learners of all levels.


Ernesto Garcia-Ortega is a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department at Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He has worked with TPWD since 2017, beginning as a seasonal technician in the Trans-Pecos region before serving as a wildlife biologist providing technical guidance on range and wildlife management to landowners and communities in the Permian Basin. More recently, his work has focused on Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy counties. Garcia-Ortega holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas and a Master of Science from Sul Ross State University, where his research centered on scaled quail ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert.