The canopy of black spruce trees have never been so important. It is an incredible story of dedication. It is a great story of two species, one human and the other elusive. The Bog Elfin Butterfly now adds to the beauty of Vermont.
The butterfly is a pollinator.
By Billy Baker
The bog elfin (click here) had never been confirmed in Vermont, but Pfeiffer’s gut told him it was there. So the entomologist logged countless miles through isolated terrain swarming with mosquitos and black flies, armed with binoculars and a butterfly net and a determination his friends and colleagues marveled at. He was 44 when his search began; a heart attack and a knee replacement later, he found himself at age 65, wondering the sort of things people wonder as the years race by. “Every year I felt like my window was closing,” he said.
But the quest wasn’t just a challenge; it was about a legacy, not for him but for the butterfly. If he could prove the rare insect was in Vermont — he had initially begun his search as part of a team compiling the first-ever Vermont Butterfly Atlas — then it would be recorded forever as something Vermont must preserve. These things matter to Pfeiffer, who decades ago left a career in journalism to “go outside,” as he says.
For the last several years, Pfeiffer’s search had focused on a single bog with plentiful black spruce trees, where bog elfin are known to lay their eggs. But on this fateful day, he decided to explore a new bog. There were two potentials he’d identified but never been to, and something told him to choose one over the other. He made the drive, and after he parked on a country road and started to suit up for the bushwhacking it would take to get to the bog, a bobcat sauntered past. “That had certainly never happened before,” he said....
