Notice a lot of Gulf Fritillaries in your yard?

Gulf Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary

I've been noticing a lot of Gulf Fritillary butterflies in my yard, particularly on nectar-laden, native flowers like Turks Cap and Lantana. In north Texas the orange variety is prevalent. We're about as far north as their range goes, since they need to fly to a frost-free area for the winter.

Allow me to say what many of you already know; butterflies are insects.  So if an insecticide you use says something like "kills mosquitoes" on it, it almost certainly kills other insects too;  and it clearly won't do Gulf Fritillaries any good. The host plant for Gulf Fritillaries are several varieties of Passionflower. Having several around your yard should bring you even more than what's here now.

OUR "DUCK FACTORY":     Some areas of north Texas are fortunate enough to host ducks, be they Mallards, Wood Ducks, Canvasbacks, Mottled Ducks or whatever.  Some may even have been born here, but almost all ducklings are born in the Prairie Pothole region of the northern great plains - North America's "duck factory". Unfortunately, the climate is slowly changing so this area is getting drier. Coupled with man-made intrusions, the result is a lot fewer ducks (and other birds) for everyone.