Art Shapiro (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

He recorded 12 species of butterflies in the dry vegetation. (He's been monitoring the butterfly population in Central California for some four decades and he shares the information on his website.)

Frankly, we're surprised he went monitoring at all, especially after he emailed friends and colleagues about the bad news. Subject line: "Breaking Bad."

"At 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept.11, my world turned upside-down. So did I.

"I was just into the crosswalk from the NW corner of Oak and Russell in Davis, heading south toward my lab, when I was struck from behind with great force by a bicyclist. I flew through the air and landed on the pavement head-first, with the right side of my face bearing the worst of the impact. The wife of a departmental colleague arrived on the scene a moment later; I believe she called 911. I was never unconscious, which is strange. My neck could easily have been broken, resulting in either death or paralysis, but it wasn't (the EMTs had assumed it was!). I was rushed to Sutter Davis Hospital and thence transferred to the UC Davis hospital trauma unit in Sacramento....Every bone on the right side of my face was pulverized. I had no more eye socket (orbit) and no more right cheekbone."

It was not a hit-and-run, as some folks speculated. The bicyclist stayed for the police report.

Through it all, Shapiro retained his sense of humor and is now back at work in his Storer Hall office after surgery on Sept. 12 and a repeat visit to the UC Davis Medical Center today.  And he can see again.

"...my right eye is swollen shut, I am all black and blue and look like I've been in the ring with Mike Tyson. I look like a ghoul in a zombie-apocalypse movie, with caked blood, blah blah. I'm not sure I've ever felt worse, though, oddly, there hasn't been all that much pain."

So, immediately after the Medical Center appointment, he trekked over to his North Sacramento study site. His appearance did not go unnoticed. "Looking like I do is an invitation for street people, homeless, and down-and-outers to talk to you, as I learned today. There were only two campers at North Sac, but I had a dozen such conversations...most of them assumed I had been in a fight." One guy said said 'I hope you gave the other guy as bad as you got!'

True to form, Shapiro appeared to be most interested in monitoring butterflies than monitoring his physical condition.

"North Sac: 88F, clear, very light S wind. No new fires. Veg very dry, less of everything in bloom except Euthamia (goldentops) Hemizonia (tarweeds), and Epilobium (willowherbs/fireweeds) all peaking. No coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) yet. With all the Euthamia I expected (Atlides) halesus (Great purple streak), but didn't see it; with all the Epilobium expected (Ochlodes) sylvanoides (Woodland skipper), but didn't see it, either; and there were no Poanes melane (umber skipper)."

The species he recorded:

• Junonia coenia, 11, Buckeye
• Pyrgus communis, 18, Common Checkered Skipper
• Plebejus acmon, 5, Acmon Blue
• Pieris rapae, 19,  Cabbage White
• Strymon melinus, 4, Gray Hairstr.eak
• Brephidium exile, 1. Western Pygmy Blue
• Atalopedes campestris, 4, Field Skipper
• Phyciodes mylitta, 10, Mylitta Crescent
• Everes comyntas, 1, Eastern Tailed Blue
• Hylephila phyleus, 7, Fiery Skipper
• Limenitis lorquini, 3, Lorquin's Admiral
• Agraulis vanillae, 1, Gulf Fritillary

Twelve different species. Eighty-bugs. 

And what did Shapiro have to say about his field trip? "Me and AH-nold: we're b-a-a-a-a-a-c-k."

"It feels good," he added.

And we're all feeling good--whew!--that he's feeling good.

That was a close one.