Shangri La Beats the Heat with Hummingbird Presentation,

August 5, 2008

ORANGE, Texas, August 5, 2008 – Temperatures may be high, but Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is encouraging the public to enjoy the outdoors with its Beat the Heat presentation series. The first installment, to be held Tuesday, August 26 at 7:00 p.m., is titled Watching Hummingbirds in Texas, Better than Reality TV, and will be led by Clifford Shackelford, an ornithologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife and co-author of the book Hummingbirds in Texas. The presentation is free of charge and will be held at the Stark Foundation Education Building, 812 Green Avenue, Orange, Texas, which is located adjacent to the parking lot for the Stark Museum of Art in downtown Orange.

Shackelford will introduce the audience to hummingbirds found throughout the state and ignite interest in watching hummingbirds as a pastime. He will also share tips for attracting hummingbirds to backyards and gardens.

“This presentation is a wonderful opportunity to learn the ins and outs of attracting one of nature’s most beautiful creatures to your own home feeder,” said Michael Hoke, Managing Director of Shangri La.

Following the presentation, Shackelford will sign copies of his book Hummingbirds in Texas, which will be available for purchase at the presentation. Additional hummingbird merchandise, including feeders and jewelry, will also be sold at the event.

For more information, please visit www.shangrilagardens.org or call 409.670.9113.

About Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center

Nestled within 252 acres in the heart of Orange, Texas, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private foundation whose mission is to improve and enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas and encourage and assist education. The unique ecosystem of Shangri La presents an ideal opportunity to further that mission as well as carry on the vision of H.J Lutcher Stark, the man who originally developed the gardens more than 60 years ago.

The formal Botanical Gardens contain more than 300 plant species in five formal "rooms” as well as four sculpture “rooms.” The Nature Center includes Adams Bayou boat excursions to educational outposts, a 15-acre Beaver Pond, a state-of-the-art bird blind, a bat house, thousands of nesting birds in Ruby Lake, and more up-close encounters with nature.

Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first project in Texas and the 50^th project in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum Certification for LEED^®-NC, which verifies that the design and construction of Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures. Shangri La offers a glimpse of how people can live in harmony with nature, as it strives in its mission to Mentor Children of All Ages to Be Kind to Their World.

Shangri La is located at 2111 West Park Avenue, Orange, Texas.

###