Charleston Butterfly Blitz 2025
July 26 - August 3
It's fun!
It's free!
It's easy!
Prizes!
The Charleston Butterfly Blitz 2025 is a community effort to record as many butterflies as possible in the Charleston, IL area from Saturday, July 26th to Sunday, August 3rd, 2025.
All photos of butterflies submitted to iNaturalist that are observed in Coles County during that time period will count toward the Blitz.
To sign up for iNaturalist, click on the button or download the iNaturalist app. Using the app is free & easy - check out our short tutorial video (below) and look at the video tutorials available on the iNaturalist website!
Step 1: Get iNaturalist app and watch our 4 min video on how to use it!
Step 2: Find and take pictures of butterflies in Coles County!
Good places to look are the UBI butterfly hotspots, unmown roadsides with flowers, Douglas Hart Nature Center, The Whiteside Garden, Warbler Bottoms (part of Warbler Ridge), and Fox Ridge State Park.
Step 3: Submit your butterfly photos to iNaturalist and follow your progress!
It's easy!
Submitting even one butterfly from Coles County found during Blitz week helps!
Click here for a map showing the location of these and other UBI Hotspots.
The map of all the sites is at the bottom of our iNaturalist page.
By participating in the Blitz, you are helping identify and track the variety of butterflies in our area as well as contributing valuable, publicly accessible, scientific data on our butterfly populations!
Prizes!
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$250 gift certificate for most butterfly species submitted to iNaturalist
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$200 gift certificate for most butterfly observations submitted to iNaturalist
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free water bottle or t-shirt
Visit the UBI table at the Butterfly Festival at Lake Charleston on Saturday, Aug 2nd from 11am to 3pm to pick up your patch!
Everyone who submits at least:
-
one butterfly observation
-
from Coles County
-
during the Blitz
to iNaturalist will receive this
Commemorative Embroidered Patch!
Results of Previous Blitzes
The Charleston Butterfly Blitz is co-sponsored by the Urban Butterfly Initiative, BIKE & HIKE-Charleston, Grand Prairie Friends, Douglas-Hart Nature Center, Coles County SWCD, the Grand Prairie Butterfly Club (join the group on Facebook!), the City of Charleston, Eastern Illinois University, and Fox Ridge State Park.