Convenience Big Store: Why does Katy love geese so much?

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Here are some fun bird stories to kick off your week

Somehow today's top stories are both about birds, and I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but I kind of love it.

In our first story, a family of ducks found themselves stranded on the Westpark Tollway.

No one knows exactly how the mother duck and her babies ended up on the 65-miles-per-hour roadway, but it makes me feel better about my parenting. The story has a happy ending; motorists and first responders managed to rescue the displaced waterfowl, and hopefully the mother duck learned an important lesson about Houston traffic.

The best part of this story is that a Katy Insider filmed the rescue and allowed me to share the video. Check out the story for the heart-warming video.

The next bird-related story is about geese and how they came to be Katy's unofficial mascot.

It seems a bit non-sequitur that a city in the coastal prairie would pay homage to a Canadian bird, but there's a good reason for it. Despite the fact we spend our summers in what feels like a constant state of heat-advisory, snow geese are a very real part of Katy's history and identity.

I crossed an Interstate 10 underpass on foot to get one of the many photos of our geese statues, so please check out my story to learn about the reason behind our geese obsession.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the duck rescue and our geese obsession, so shoot me an email and let's chat about it. Bonus points if you have another bird-related story to share.

Claire Goodman, Katy reporter

claire.goodman@houstonchronicle.com

Growing Katy

A lazy river was added to the amenities in the Sierra Vista community along Texas 288 south of Houston.

Photo by: Starwood Land

2 new lazy rivers are coming to these Houston suburbs, including Katy

Two lazy rivers have opened in the Houston area, at Sunterra in Katy and Sierra Vista south of Pearland, where developer Starwood Land is unveiling other community features.

Openings and Closings

Project Halo Brewing in Fulshear has reopened in its new larger space. The brewery is now open at 6510 Farm-to-Market 359 South.

Shout out

Cheers to the 52 Katy ISD student-athletes who have signed their national letters of intent. These exceptional students from Katy ISD's nine high schools have shown unwavering dedication and excellence in their respective sports.

One last thing ...

The Houston Zoo was ranked in the top 10 Most Instagrammable Zoos, my colleague Octavia Johnson informs us. The Houston Zoo has been listed at No. 4 with 173,334 hashtags.

I'm not big on Instgram, but I do have about 496 photos on my camera roll of my kids at the zoo in front of various critters, so I see how we arrived at No. 4.