The White Ibis are here!

We have lived in our ranch house here in Katy, Texas for over twenty years now and I have never seen these birds, White Ibis, visit our yard. I did have the opportunity to be blessed with their visit this past week.

My sister, the Birder says that the ones with the brown feathers are immature and the white are the elder. They flew together and moved together; slowly piercing their slightly curved, long orange beaks into the soft soil to feed.

Staying less than five minutes, they flew away together. I tried to move so close to them to get a good shot surely, I am the reason they left so soon. This last week there have been lots of sighting of water birds up and down my street. My neighbor had a few hundred ducks in his yard last night. I love to be surrounded in a natural environment that allows these visitors. There is so much construction going on around us they must have had their natural environment destroyed and are looking for food and nesting areas in new places.
I will have to look into what the city is doing to preserve natural pockets of habitat ...

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The Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

Passiflora caerulea is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae butterfly. The Gulf Fritillary butterfly is native to Texas and can be found fluttering about in the warm Summer sun feeding on floral nectar in your garden. The Passion flower vine is the specific host plant for the female butterfly, Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae . It can be found at plant nurseries state wide. The Passionflower has a beautiful bloom and it is quite astounding in its intricacies. Many artists have delved into its spectacular characteristics. This specific passionflower is a favorite of the Gulf Fritillary butterfly. Healthy offspring, caterpillars (larva) can be reared on this specific vine. The fertilized female Gulf Fritillary butterfly will light upon the tips of new growth or its tendrils to lay her eggs. The eggs are cylindrical in shape and are colored a soft orange. In just about five days the eggs will hatch and an ...

Lemon Icebox Pie

Today I made a Lemon Icebox Pie. I got the recipe from a cookbook published for Katy First Baptist Church's 100th Centennial Celebration. Its a breeze to make and quite delicious with a warm cup of tea. Whenever I have the opportunity to squeeze fresh citrus juices and freeze them for later use I do so. I utilized the lemon juice I had previously frozen for this recipe. I cheated and used a store bought crust. Here is the recipe: 1 can condensed milk, 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, 2 egg yolks Mix all the ingredients on low speed with elec. mixer less than one minute. Put the ingredients in a precooked pie pastry shell(400 degrees for 10 minutes) and top with three egg whites whipped until light and fluffy. Whipped Egg White Topping: The egg whites should be room temperature and to the three egg whites you add 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar and two table spoons of sugar. Mix the egg whites until they form peaks and the sugar is dissolved. Once you have added the egg whites f...

The Butterflies are back!

Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae nectaring on Eupatorium odoratum. This butterfly gardening nectar source is a butterfly magnet in the month of October. Many different species stop by to feed as they make their way south for the winter. SURPRISE!!! It is a Dyras iulia, Julia Longwing in Katy, Texas feeding on the mistflower mentioned above. A rare sight for this part of Southeast Texas . We saw this species last year and this year feeding on the same plant as well as a Heliconius charitonius, Zebra Longwing also seen last year and this year. And of course, lots of Monarchs and Queens visited in the month of November. Plant mistflower in the fall months. Once it blooms profusely and the butterflies visit it on their journey the blooms will brown and set seed. Once this happens, you should cut it back to about 10 to 12 inches above the crown of the root zone. It will shoot back ...

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