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<b>Noted Author Robert Michael Pyle Begins the First Butterfly Big
Year<br>
</b> <br>
On the first day of January 2008, award-winning author and lepidopterist
Robert Michael Pyle began a grand year-long adventure to find,
experience, and identify as many as possible of the 800 species of
butterflies in the United States and Canada. When Bob’s journey is
complete at the end of 2008, Houghton Mifflin will publish his encounters
with butterflies, people, and landscapes as a book entitled
<i>Swallowtail Seasons: The First Butterfly Big Year</i>.<br>
<br>
You can support The Xerces Society’s butterfly conservation efforts by
making a pledge to the <b>2008 Butterfly-A-Thon</b>. Individuals can
pledge a certain amount for each butterfly species that Bob Pyle
positively identifies, or may instead choose to pledge or donate a fixed
amount. <b>All proceeds from the Butterfly-A-Thon will directly benefit
the Xerces Society’s efforts to protect endangered, threatened and rare
butterflies.</b> To make a pledge, or to track Bob’s progress and read
his stories from the road, please visit the Butterfly-A-Thon webpage at
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/Butterfly_Conservation/butterflyathon.html">
www.xerces.org/Butterfly_Conservation/butterflyathon.html</a>. <br>
<br>
Bob Pyle founded The Xerces Society in 1971 and has published fifteen
books, including such butterfly classics as the Audubon Society <i>Field
Guide to North American Butterflies</i>, <i>The Handbook for Butterfly
Watchers</i>, and <i>The Butterflies of Cascadia</i>, as well as
award-winning literary works such as <i>Wintergreen</i>, <i>The Thunder
Tree</i>, <i>Where Bigfoot Walks</i>, <i>Walking the High Ridge</i>, and
<i>Sky Time in Gray's River</i>, which recently won the National Outdoor
Book Award for Natural History Literature. A lifelong butterflier, Bob
envisions this undertaking as a chance to aid butterfly conservation
while gaining a broad perspective on the state of butterfly habitats
across the continent and their response to climate change. <br><br>
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*************************<br>
Scott Hoffman Black<br>
Ecologist/Entomologist<br>
Executive Director<br>
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<br>
4828 SE Hawthorne <br>
Portland, OR 97215 <br>
Direct line (503) 449-3792<br>
sblack@xerces.org<br><br>
<i>The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit organization that
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their
habitat. <br>
</i> <br>
To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, <br>
please visit
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</a>.<br><br>
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