Bonus butterfly posts of some of my favorite sightings after a great year of seeing butterflies. #3 of 6. The complementary colors and details of both flowers and the butterfly made this an easy selection for this post. I enjoyed trying to compose a nice photo of this Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) which frequently visited these flowers at my campsite at Diamond Lake, Oregon.

Bonus butterfly posts of some of my favorite sightings after a great year of seeing butterflies. #5 of 6. I included this moth in this series because this is not just any ordinary moth. I imagine most people respond how I did the first time I saw the White-lined Sphinx moth (Hyles lineata). While walking along a trail at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, the immense size of the moth, its extremely long proboscis, and incredibly fast wingspeed immediately caught my attention. They have been wrongly called hummingbird moths due to their size and how they hover at flowers but they are amazing creatures to observe meandering through the world of butterflies.

Bonus butterfly posts of some of my favorite sightings after a great year of seeing butterflies. #2 of 6. Capturing a butterfly in flight is so often a goal. The flight of this Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae) through what appears to be a lavendar forest in Bend, Oregon and the deep contrasts made this one of my year end favorites.