- Feb 5, 2002
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At times it can seem that some humans are just born to play the piano or run long distances, but natural talent isn’t limited to beauty or competition, some talent comes in subtler ways.
Take 65-year-old Bryan Pfeiffer, a man born seemingly for the purpose of hunting a little brown butterfly the size of a penny in the bogs of Vermont for 21 years.
Pfeiffer attempted, almost certainly in vain, to communicate what his final accomplishment meant when he wrote in his substack, Chasing Nature, that “Vermont is now a better place for having Bog Elfins—up there in the spruce where they belong.”
If Vermont is a better place for having bog elfins, then Earth is a better place—humanity is in better condition—for having people like Bryan Pfeiffer, who sought this tiny brown insect—not because he was discovering a new species he could name Pfeiffer’s elfin, but merely to confirm that it indeed inhabited his native Vermont; just that, and nothing more.
An entomologist, Pfeiffer has been compiling a butterfly species atlas for the state of Vermont, and he had a hunch that the elusive bog elfin could be found within its borders. The elusive insect dwells up among the high canopy of spruce trees most hours of the day, which has meant 21 years of wading through knee-deep bog water and clouds of biting, swarming insects.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
Take 65-year-old Bryan Pfeiffer, a man born seemingly for the purpose of hunting a little brown butterfly the size of a penny in the bogs of Vermont for 21 years.
Pfeiffer attempted, almost certainly in vain, to communicate what his final accomplishment meant when he wrote in his substack, Chasing Nature, that “Vermont is now a better place for having Bog Elfins—up there in the spruce where they belong.”
If Vermont is a better place for having bog elfins, then Earth is a better place—humanity is in better condition—for having people like Bryan Pfeiffer, who sought this tiny brown insect—not because he was discovering a new species he could name Pfeiffer’s elfin, but merely to confirm that it indeed inhabited his native Vermont; just that, and nothing more.
An entomologist, Pfeiffer has been compiling a butterfly species atlas for the state of Vermont, and he had a hunch that the elusive bog elfin could be found within its borders. The elusive insect dwells up among the high canopy of spruce trees most hours of the day, which has meant 21 years of wading through knee-deep bog water and clouds of biting, swarming insects.
Continued below.
After 20 Years He Finally Spotted the Elusive North American Butterfly Beauty in a Nearby Bog
If Vermont is a better place for having bog elfins, then Earth is a better place for having people like Bryan Pfeiffer
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
