Our 6th annual Charleston Butterfly Blitz (July 27-Aug 4) was amazing, with 58 participants submitting almost 2000 observations of a record 51 different butterfly species from Coles County! Our previous Blitz record had been 47 species.

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The top prize and a $250 gift certificate to Bike and Hike Charleston went to Maddy Colby, who found a record 47 different species during the Blitz.  Kathryn Bulver had the most observations and received a $200 gift certificate, and Tom Canam was runner-up for his impressive total of 36 different species.  All Blitz participants received an embroidered patch for helping with this year’s Blitz.

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The results this year were really interesting. Pearl crescents were the top submitted species for the first time, with common buckeyes and pipevine swallowtails being second and third, respectively.  Hackberry emperors, wild indigo duskywings, common sootywings, little glassywing, and Delaware skippers were also unusually common compared to previous years.

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Surprising finds included funereal duskywing, red-banded hairstreak, and ocola skipper. Funeral duskywing and red-banded hairstreak had not been found in previous years’ Blitzes; in fact, red-banded hairstreak had never been recorded in Coles County prior to being discovered during this year’s Blitz. The funereal duskywing and ocola skipper Blitz submissions are the only records on iNaturalist from Illinois this year for those species.

Monarchs were disappointingly low this year. Typically, monarchs are one of the most submitted butterflies, being the top submitted species in 3 of the first 5 Blitzes. This year, monarchs came in 26th. Also low this year were cloudless and clouded sulphurs, northern broken-dash, and silvery checkerspots.