Urban Butterfly Initiative

Urban Butterfly Initiative Nonprofit org that helps improve biodiversity, enhance lives, and promote science in urban areas

Donations Needed! 100% of all donations go to furthering the mission of our organization: beautifying urban areas and increasing environmental awareness by creating butterfly habitats and working to educate community members about nature and science. To donate via PayPal, Credit Card, Venmo, or Check, please go to: https://www.urbanbutterflies.org/donate

Fox Ridge-Cabin Pond butterfly hotspot looking great right now! Butterfly w**d, foxglove beardtongue, and Ohio spiderwor...
05/30/2026

Fox Ridge-Cabin Pond butterfly hotspot looking great right now! Butterfly w**d, foxglove beardtongue, and Ohio spiderwort are all putting on a show.

💙🧡💙






Fox Ridge Foundation

05/30/2026

🌸🦋🌸 Great job, Duane! Butterfly hotspot and Butterfly Blitz mention starting at 0:53 - Thanks for the shout out!

Fox Ridge Foundation
EIU Biological Sciences

05/27/2026

A beautiful red-spotted purple puddling on the Eastern Illinois University campus, at the Secret Garden UBI butterfly hotspot near the Life Science Building.

🦋 Adult red-spotted purples mimic the toxic pipevine swallowtail and get nectar and/or nutrients from a variety of flowers, rotten fruit, tree sap, and animal p**p.

🐛Their caterpillars mimic bird droppings and feed on a variety of trees and shrubs, including willow and wild cherry.

🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸




An amazing new butterfly habitat now exists on the north side of the Charleston Carnegie Public Library! Approximately ...
05/24/2026

An amazing new butterfly habitat now exists on the north side of the Charleston Carnegie Public Library!

Approximately 2500 plants of 25 different native species were installed and are now in the process of getting their roots down so they can provide food and shelter for butterflies all year long (an impressive 50 different butterfly species have been seen at the Charleston library!). Plants are planted as small plugs, which is both cheaper and increases their likelihood of success. Some of these plants will bloom later this year, but it will take a couple of years for most of them to become fully established.

HUGE thanks to the library for supporting this important project and to NAC Industries for doing a fantastic job on the site prep and plant installation!

The Charleston Public Library was our first public library site and we’re so fortunate that it continues to grow and inspire!

Pics: before, during, and after photos!

🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋




BIKE & HIKE Charleston! It’s been one year since we planted this inaugural site with native plants and it’s looking gr...
05/09/2026

BIKE & HIKE Charleston! It’s been one year since we planted this inaugural site with native plants and it’s looking great!

Pictured: Bradbury’s monarda and pale beardtongue. These blooms are happening at the same as golden alexander and wild geranium, and they followed Virginia bluebell and Jacob’s ladder. When they’re done, other native species will bloom in succession, filling the season with pretty flowers - and therefore resources for butterflies and other pollinators - from spring thru fall!

🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋




Expanding the Crestline Veterinary Clinic ‘s butterfly habitat with 550 additional native plants and native grass seed...
05/05/2026

Expanding the Crestline Veterinary Clinic ‘s butterfly habitat with 550 additional native plants and native grass seed! Pale purple coneflower, northern and button blazing star, aromatic and smooth blue aster, heartleaf golden alexander, hairy beardtongue, butterfly w**d, prairie dropseed, and little bluestem will now help make their hillside habitat a boon to butterflies all season! (And provide pretty flowers to look at for the passersby along hwy 16)

🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋




Congratulations to Lora and Tim & Micro Market-New Leaf Microgreens (1505 18th St., Charleston) for becoming our newest ...
05/02/2026

Congratulations to Lora and Tim & Micro Market-New Leaf Microgreens (1505 18th St., Charleston) for becoming our newest member! The small space around their signage now has 11 species of native plants that will be beautiful, require minimal maintenance, provide valuable resources for butterflies, and come back year after year!

What a great match - The Micro Market provides tasty food for our people community and the native flowers provide tasty food for our butterfly community.

Stop by to check it out!

Pics: Before/During/After photos with captions

And as an aside, landscape fabric and river rock is a horrible choice for landscaping - awful stuff to maintain and a pain to get rid of!

🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋




Four butterflies and an awesome bonus Polyphemus moth from last weekend.IDs and locations with individual pics (25 April...
04/29/2026

Four butterflies and an awesome bonus Polyphemus moth from last weekend.

IDs and locations with individual pics

(25 April 2026, Coles Co., IL)

🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸🦋🌸






Grand Prairie Friends
Warbler Ridge Conservation Area

Big thanks to St. Elmo Elementary and Fox Ridge's Duane Snow for spending Earth Day 2026 improving the UBI Butterfly Hot...
04/28/2026

Big thanks to St. Elmo Elementary and Fox Ridge's Duane Snow for spending Earth Day 2026 improving the UBI Butterfly Hotspots at Fox Ridge State Park! The native plants they added will provide valuable habitat for butterflies and other creatures. 🌼🦋🌼





Fox Ridge Foundation

🦋 Butterfly Short Film Debut! 🦋‘Butterflies & You’ is a short film created by M.E. Colby, focusing on butterflies in Ill...
01/13/2026

🦋 Butterfly Short Film Debut! 🦋

‘Butterflies & You’ is a short film created by M.E. Colby, focusing on butterflies in Illinois and butterfly-related activities in the Charleston, IL area. (Link to film is below)

Colby is an Eastern Illinois University student and has been an integral part of the Urban Butterfly Initiative since they were a freshman. If you’re in the area, you may have seen Colby working at the Urban Butterfly Initiative hotspots, taking photos of butterflies and other creatures, or perhaps have participated in one of their talks or nature walks. Colby is now a senior and this film is their honors thesis project.

Development of the film took 1 ½ years as Colby traveled the entire length of the state of Illinois, filming over 60 different butterfly species! In addition to showing butterflies, the film also covers how and why the Urban Butterfly Initiative has made Charleston, Illinois a butterfly oasis.

Watch the short film to learn about UBI’s impacts on their community and explore the relationship between butterflies and you!

🦋 Please watch and share! 🦋

https://youtu.be/KFrpX2PTHVg

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Eastern Illinois University
BIKE & HIKE Charleston
Douglas-Hart Nature Center
Camp New Hope
Charleston Illinois Tourism Office
EIU Wesley Foundation
EIU Biological Sciences
Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District

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Charleston, IL

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