Stealthily crawling through a field of wildflowers, a 9-year-old boy with dirty knees and hair peppered with pollen searches for a butterfly to catch.
Students may remember the thrill of bug hunting as a child — summer days spent stalking the wilds of the backyard, eyes alert for the flutter of wings and the heart-pounding excitement of capturing an elusive butterfly.
The University community will have the chance to relive such memories today when author and butterfly expert Robert Michael Pyle visits the University to promote his new book “The Butterflies of Cascadia.” The author will be speaking and signing copies of his book at 7 p.m. in the Adelaide Church Memorial Reading Room in the Knight Library.
Pyle has been obsessed with collecting since he was a young boy, but his first love wasn’t butterflies. Growing up in Colorado, Pyle said he devoted his free time to collecting seashells. However, when he was about 11 years old, Pyle realized there was a shortage of seashells in Colorado, but it had a surplus of butterflies to study.
“It was a case of being interested in everything around me, like most kids are,” Pyle said.
That boyhood hobby led Pyle to a lifetime career of working with butterflies as a lepidopterist — a person who specializes in the collection and study of butterflies and moths. He even worked as a butterfly conservation consultant in Papua New Guinea, home to the largest butterfly species in the world, the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly. Pyle was hired as an ecologist to devise a strategy for preserving the endangered species, which can grow to be as big as dinner plates.
Brian Juenemann, author event coordinator at the University Bookstore, said community members should be able to appreciate Pyle’s presentation even if they’re not avid butterfly watchers. He added that Pyle’s slideshow presentation of local butterflies will offer students a reprieve from the winter doldrums.
“We thought people might enjoy getting a reminder of spring,” Juenemann said.
Bruce Newhouse, one of the founding members of the Eugene-Springfield chapter of the North American Butterfly Association, said “The Butterflies of Cascadia” is a valuable in-depth field guide for butterfly enthusiasts. The book identifies nearly 200 butterfly species in the Northwest, with full-color photographs and illustrations. He added that Pyle’s book is better than many other field guides because it focuses on local butterfly populations.
“Most authors try to cover a large geographic area so their book will have a more widespread appeal,” Newhouse said. “But that dilutes the information in the book.”
Pyle added that his book will be an ideal introduction to butterfly hunting for the uninitiated. Besides properly equipping yourself for an extended outdoor exploration, Pyle said the most important thing you must do when butterfly hunting is be attentive.
“Watch for the flicker of wings that says ‘here’s a butterfly’ and be like a pussycat and prowl very slowly until you get near,” he said.