pyle3.jpgTake a butterfly expert, a 1982 Honda named Powdermilk with an odometer reading 350,000 miles and a quest to count as many of the 800 butterfly species in the U.S. and Canada and you’ve got Robert Michael Pyle’s Butterfly Big Year.

Robert Michael Pyle’s year-long mission will bring him to Severson Dells Nature Center on Friday, June 27, road willing. You’ll want to save the date.

Pyle, a noted author with more than a dozen books to his credit, is chronicling his adventures on the web He’s planning to write a book on his adventures, entitled: Swallowtail Seasons: The First Butterfly Big Year.

Here’s Pyle’s description of the adventure.

“My objective, as you know, is to encounter as many of the 800 species of North American butterflies north of Mexico (based on the new Pelham Catalog) as I possibly can in the year 2008. I don’t intend to merely tick them off, but to indulge in deep and revealing encounters with the butterflies, their habitats, and the landscapes and people and stories that make up their whole continental context. Of course I’ll be looking at the state of habitats and how traditional ranges are responding to climate change. It is these stories and perceptions and findings that will make up the pith of Swallowtail Seasons.”

You can keep track of Pyle’s travels here: http://www.xerces.org/Butterfly_Conservation/butterflyathon.html#notes