The Urban Butterfly Initiative will host the 5th Annual Charleston Butterfly Blitz.
This is a week-long event that begins from Saturday, July 22nd, and continues onto Sunday, July 30th.
The initiative of the Blitz is to help record the data of the butterfly population in Coles County, and see how it has either progressed or declined over the years.
Individuals who choose to participate in this event are encouraged to download the free iNaturalist app either on their phone or use the program through a computer.
iNaturalist is a unique program that allows the butterfly to be identified just by a singular photo, so the need to be able to determine the type of butterfly.
During the final week of July, all the photos that are received will be tallied and added to the pre-existing data.
In the previous year, a total of nearly 1,400 photos of butterflies were submitted into the Butterfly Blitz, with 47 different species being identified.
According to Dr. Paul Switzer, the Director of Urban Butterfly Initiative, says that every photo truly counts.
“Even if a person only submits one butterfly, that one butterfly is an important data point for us,” Switzer said.
Want to participate but have no idea where to start?
No worries!
There are many butterfly hotspots that members of the Urban Butterfly Initiative have created, with the most local flower gardens being in Charleston and Ashmore. Some of the other great locations to search for butterflies include Whiteside Garden, Fox Ridge State Park, Warbler Ridge, and Douglas Hart Nature Center.
For more butterfly hotspots within the area, visit inaturalist.org/projects/butterflies-of-the-urban-butterfly-initiative-butterfly-hotspots.
The best thing about this program is that everyone’s a winner.
Charleston Bike & Hike will be providing prizes for everyone that chooses to participate in this event. But they must be redeemed by August 31, 2023.
Whoever is able to snap a photo of the most diverse butterfly species, and whoever can make the most observations of different butterflies will also be awarded a special prize.
$100 off any bike purchase from Bike & Hike, $75 off labor for Bike & Hike-Charleston, a free water bottle, or a t-shirt.
These grand prize winners are asked to contact the Urban Butterfly Initiative after August 1st to set up a time to pick up their prize. You can also contact the group through Facebook at ubutterflyinitiative@gmail.com.
Overall, this program is meant to help the members of UBI keep an eye on how the butterflies have been doing.
“Once we get this year’s results, we can compare them to those of previous Blitzes to get a good idea of trends in butterfly populations,” Switzer said.
The event is co-sponsored by the City of Charleston, Bike & Hike-Charleston, Douglas-Hart Nature Center, Coles County SWCD, Eastern Illinois University, Fox Ridge State Park, Grand Prairie Friends.
For more information about the Butterfly Blitz and how to snap the perfect butterfly photo, please visit https://www.urbanbutterflies.org/butterfly-blitz or email ubutterflyinitiative@gmail.com.
Want to keep track of how many butterflies you have submitted? Check out the current standings and the overall progress of the initiative at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/charleston-butterfly-blitz-2023.
