Rare Butterflies at LAX
Something very special is happening at LAX.
Best known as one of the biggest and busiest airports in the whole of the US, but right now it’s also home to one of the most rare butterflies in the whole world – the endangered El Segundo blue butterflies.
Claiming their space in some bushes near the end of an LAX runway, the thumbnail-sized insects have become residents of the third busiest airport in the States, thanks to the airport’s Buckwheat growth which sustains the butterflies. But they aren’t just surviving there; they’re actually thriving on the environment.
New colonies are being found some distance from the airport, showing that they are spreading, and the clever people think there may have been as many as 25,000 butterflies around the airport last year – and that was with a drought! In comparison, there were less than 1000 butterflies at LAX in the 1980s.
The butterflies only exist in Southern California, and they lay their eggs on coast buckwheat, on which they also feed.
The best time to see the El Segundo butterflies is in the late summer, when thousands take flight.