Last chance to register for KPC’s Unplugged Adventures: Let’s Go Fly a Kite! On Saturday, April 16, KPC will host kite enthusiasts at our Indiangrass Preserve from 1 PM – 3 PM. We’ll have an afternoon of flying kites in the clear skies of the windy prairie, plus an exclusive kite-making lesson with experts. We’ll be giving away free kites to the early birds. After the lesson you can take a short hike around our Indiangrass Preserve, where the Native Seed Nursery is in the full flush of spring. Feel free to bring a picnic lunch!

Date: Saturday, April 16 from 1 PM to 3 PM

Where: Indiangrass Preserve 

Space extremely limited and registration is required. Email info@katyprairie.org or call 713.523.6135 for more details.

Wondering how to dress for trips to the prairie? Remember to always wear closed-toe shoes and long pants. A long-sleeved shirt and a hat are also recommended.     

Are you worried that your child may turn into a couch potato this summer? The Katy Prairie Conservancy’s new Summer Science Nights program is a great way to promote your child’s understanding of science in the best laboratory of all: The great outdoors. Each session includes hands-on, minds-on activities and an action-packed hike on a wildlife-rich preserve.

Classes include Summer Serpents: Exploring snake diversity and feeding habitats. There are few things that can get your heart pumping like the sight of a wild snake. The Katy Prairie is home to over 20 species of these fascinating creatures and even one legless lizard that mimics snakes. Students will see a few summer serpents, learn about snake safety and feeding habits before heading out on a safe but adventurous hike.

Another class is Just Stay Cool!: Discovering how animals, people and plants stay cool during the summer. Blazing Texas summers can be tough on wildlife, plants, and people. Animals and plants have developed amazing ways to stay cool under soaring temperatures. Living underground, panting, and hunting at night are just a few ways to beat the heat. Students will take their cue from the animals and wait until the cool of dusk to take their hike!

The third class is: Prehistoric Prairie: Exploring the giant extinct mammals and prehistoric people of the Katy Prairie. Trumpeting wild elephants, roaring lions and speedy cheetahs. Africa? No! Students have just stepped back into the ice age on the Katy Prairie; a time when giants roamed the land. The prairie has been home to both awe-inspiring mammals and people for thousands of years. Children will discover how ancient creatures and Native Americans used the Katy Prairie for food, medicine, and shelter.

All the classes are offered in both June and July. For more information, see the KatyPrairieConservancy.com website.

For information about all Katy area homes, you can search the entire Houston MLS from this blog. For questions or to tour any area homes, contact me directly at 713-818-2404 or via email. I have specialized in Katy real estate for over 20 years. Experience does count!

The 34th annual Cypress Creek Christmas Bird Count will be held on Friday, January 1st. Each year dozens of bird-watchers, both inexperienced and seasoned, venture out onto the area’s prairie remnants, farms, creeks, and wetlands to catalog the remarkable and dazzling bird life of the Katy Prairie.

Katy Prairie Conservancy will lead a group of Christmas Bird Count participants on an expedition to record birds on the area’s diverse preserves. Katy Prairie Conservancy anticipates that this year’s count will be as exciting as ever with opportunities to potentially see or hear Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, Bobwhite Quail, waterfowl, and over one hundred other species.

If you’d like to assist with the count this year please contact Jaime Gonzalez at 281.660.6683 or by email at jaimegonzalez72@gmail.com.

Date: Friday, January 1, 2010 from 6:00 AM – Afternoon

Location: Meet at KPC Field Office

What to Bring: All participants should wear appropriate outdoor clothing, including closed-toe shoes and long pants. A long-sleeve shirt is also recommended. Participants should bring their own water and insect repellent.

Registration required. Call 281.660.6683 or email us at jaimegonzalez72@gmail.com for more details.

Price: $5 per participant

For information about Katy area homes, you can search the entire Houston MLS from this blog. For questions or to tour any area homes, contact me directly at 713-818-2404 or via email. I have specialized in Katy real estate for over 20 years. Experience does count!

Guest Author Mary Anne Piacentini                                                                        Executive Director of Katy Prairie Conservancy (KPC)

The sights on the Katy Prairie are getting better all the time.  Visitors this December saw three Bald Eagles flying over Warren Lake and then touching down in a field nearby. Fortunately, one of the eagle-eyed visitors had a camera in hand and managed to shoot some incredible photos, which will be posted on our website soon.

After the event, KPC staff started fielding calls asking how others might visit the lake while the eagles were still soaring overhead.  For the time being, the answer is: you can park on the side of Warren Ranch Road at Site 99 on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and set up your scope/binocular/eyes approximately 600 feet from the lake, but you can’t get closer to the water without making special arrangements, as our eagle “scouts” did.  But we hope this will not be the case for too much longer.  Plans are already underway to develop the capability of admitting nature lovers to a choice spot close to the lake during daylight hours on selected days with no special arrangements needed.

This past year we’ve been doing our best to share more of the prairie more often with more people and more conveniently than ever before.  We planned or hosted more than 70 events, from guided and self-guided tours, to classes, to plant rescues, to conservation project days, to photography expeditions.  We led special group tours and introduced families and special audiences to fun-filled activities on many of our preserves.

Although we can’t guarantee eagles on demand, KPC does maintain a wildlife-viewing platform that is open from dawn to dusk 365 days a year at the edge of its Nelson Farms Preserve. So, when the mood moves you, whether it is 6 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon, on a weekend or a weekday, you can visit the platform, set up your scope, rest on the benches, eat lunch, or just enjoy the outdoors.

This year we will be pursuing new ways to get you on the prairie, when and where you want.  So keep your eyes peeled and your e-mail address current.  With luck, you may not have to be all that patient.

To contact KPC:  713-523-6136 or their website.

For information about Katy area homes, you can search the entire Houston MLS from this blog. For questions or to tour any area homes, contact me directly at 713-818-2404.I have specialized in Katy real estate for over 20 years. Experience does count!