Pyle's latest book details lively quest

Grays River naturalist Robert Michael Pyle has published another book linking two of the themes that matter most to him--butterflies and the environment.

"Mariposa Road" tracks Bob Pyle’s journey across the United States in a race against the calendar in a search for as many of the 800 American butterflies as he can find.

Through the 558 pages, he shares his joys, observations, challenges and frustrations.

He explains his purpose in the introduction, saying, "...after 40 years of close involvement with butterfly conservation, I saw this as a grand habitat transect: an opportunity to gain a broad sense of how our butterflies are faring versus development, climate change, exotic biota, and our own land management choices, such as burning and big agribiz."

"Mariposa Road" recounts his adventures, high and low, in tracking down butterflies in his own low-tech, individual way. Accompanied by Marsha, his cottonwood-limb butterfly net, Powdermilk, his 1982 Honda Civic with 345,000 miles on the odometer, and the small Leitz binoculars he has carried for more than 30 years, Pyle ventured out in a series of remarkable trips from his Grays River home.

From the California coastline in company with overwintering monarchs to the far northern Alaskan tundra in pursuit of mysterious sulphurs and arctics; from the zebras and daggerwings of the Everglades to the leafwings, bluewings, and border rarities of the lower Rio Grande; from Graceland to ranchland and Kauai to Key West, these intimate encounters with the land, its people, and its fading fauna are wholly original.

Intertwined through the account are his interactions with the people he met along the way.

Pyle is the author of fourteen books, including "Sky Time in Gray's River," "Chasing Monarchs," "Where Bigfoot Walks," and "Wintergreen," which won the John Burroughs Medal.