2023 had our most ever April observations (367), counties (46), and species (20).
So far for 2024, we now have the most observations (420+) and the most counties (50+ so far). We're just short on species (19). Still waiting on Southern Spreadwing, Painted Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Skimming Bluet, Red Saddlebags, and Lancet Clubtail - these have all April records in the last three years.
Our final April days include warm weather and and a weekend - both good signs for submissions.
We're seeing increasing Odonata numbers, especially Apr 18 - where we had warm sunshine and lighter winds. Today (April 20) also appears to have been good, even though the temperature was low.
37 counties have observations so far this April, with first ever April reports from Belmont and Defiance Counties.
We're now at dozen species. As expected, Common Green Darner is a clear leader, followed by our Forktails. The Darners are flying in, same with the Saddlebags. The Forktails, Common Whitetail, Blue Corporal, and Baskettail are all emerging from our local wetlands.
There are two new County Records for Variegated Meadowhawk, in Scioto and Coshocton Counties. Variegated Meadowhawks are migrants for the south and west - brought to us on the recent storm fronts. They should be possible anywhere in the state.
Conference update - Registration for the Dragonfly Society of the Americas conference should be open soon. Watch for conference details on the Ohio Odonata Society web (https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/news/2024-meeting-updates)
This from Dave McShaffrey: With any luck, registration will be up next Wednesday (April 24th) for the DSA meeting including the meeting registration, housing (dorms), t-shirts and workshops.
The call for abstracts has been extended to April 30. Information on proposal submission is at: https://mailchi.mp/fbb3b86d6af0/dsa-meeting-call-for-abstracts?
The April 2024 Ohio Dragon Flyer Newsletter (33-2) is now available on the Ohio Odonata Society website.
This is the link to the newsletter archive:
https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/dragonflyer-newsletters
The newest issue is at the top of the list. Notice too that you can get to all the past issues.
We have had Common Green Darners in the state for a little over a week. 9 observations recorded in iNat from Greene, Montgomery, Hamilton, Franklin, Logan, and Champaign Counties.
Logan and Champaign were both counties with first-ever March observations. Yay.
The near term weather is a bit cool, but warmer days are coming. Check out the OOS website on species with early flight at
https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/species-flight-range-by-early-date
Many of you will be out with your cameras for the eclipse - keep an eye out as your waiting - maybe you'll see a dragonfly!
Note - along with my first Dragon of the year, there was also my first tick. It's not too early for protection and checking the usual places (hairline, crevices).
Here we go!
Mar 25 goes down as our first photos of Common Green Darner in Ohio. The day was warm with strong southern breeze.
iNat Observations include Montgomery, Hamilton, and Greene Counties. Yay.
Also, note iNat observations on Stream Cruiser, Blue Corporal, and Springtime Darner in Kentucky. These will soon begin to emerge in Ohio.
Check the Ohio Odonata Society web for details on and and flight for the species.
Newly emerged Common Green Darners (Anax junius) are being reported in southern states. Variegated Meadowhawks (Sympetrum corruptum) in good numbers now in Texas. The first Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) was recently reported in Tennessee. So it won't be long until we have adult Odonata in Ohio.
We're past our early Common Green Darner date, which was Mar 6. Today, Mar 12, is our early date on Variegated Meadowhawk. The early Ohio date on Fragile Forktail is Mar 20. Our other March flier is Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros), with an early date of Mar 29.
Other early flight dates can be reviewed on the Ohio Odonata Society web site at:
https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/species-flight-range-by-early-date
I would note that our 2023 early observations were on Apr 3&4 with Common Green Darners and Variegated Meadowhawks.
Also, current wind patterns look good for pushing Dragons from Texas.
This is the next step on thinking about our survey. Based on input, here is a new plot of observation and species data.
First individual days.
The dataset is all days from 2017-2023, Mar-Nov. 1,470 datapoints. The x axis is the number of observations on a day divided by the number of observers. The y axis is the percent of species recorded of the possible species maximum for the three distinct day periods for a month.
Relatively linear to start, up to about 8 observations/observer/day. This gets us half of the possible species.
Now a composite by calendar day. 246 datapoints - days with data summed across the 7 recent years.
Numbers are pretty scattered on the low end of observations, but close the gap at the upper right.
Now into March! Our earliest flying Odonata are recorded in March. Data indicate 34 adults, mostly Common Green Darner (27), then Variegated Meadowhawk (4), Fragile Forktail (2), Swamp Darner (1).
Watch the weather for south wind stormfronts that bring us the first wave of CGD. You can also anticipate by looking at iNat observations for states to the south (KY, TN, AL).
Here's the map. Darker counties are most recent (2017-2022). Note there were zero March observations in 2023.
Still thinking about survey and the number of observations to represent species. A different look is to start with individual days and plot number of species against number of observations on those individual days. Using recent years data (2021-2023), for our busier months (Apr-Sep), this is 524 days. There is data for every day for all three year in Jun-Sep, some missing days in Apr-May. Here's the chart:
The dots are color coded: Blue is Apr-May, Green is Jun-Jul, Orange is Aug-Sep. Remember that this is the same number of days (183) for Jun-Jul and Aug-Sep. Slightly less for Apr-May (158).
As expected, Jun-Jul show the highest numbers. Good diversity on the wing and people looking.
Apr-May is clustered on the lower left. While not much to see early on, there are some higher numbers in late May.
Aug-Sep is clustered generally higher than Apr-May, but well below Jun-Jul. No days above 50 species, even with higher numbers of observations.
Days are increasing in length. Spring flowers are off to an early start. Maybe a dragon soon? We're only a couple weeks away from our earliest Common Green Darner observation (March 6).
This got me thinking on what and when. As noted, CGD gets us started, then followed by Variegated Meadowhawk, Fragile Forktail, and Swamp Darner as possibilities in March. Check out the early flight date chart at https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/species-flight-range-by-early-date
I updated the chart on observations and species count for our season intervals. This is based on all the data.
The peak for both occur in the last 10 days of June - the scales here are adjusted to match the peaks. Interesting that our species count generally outpaces our observations in this charting. I think it holds that the more observations we make, the more species we will see, but there's some wiggle room here. Things ramp up quickly starting in late April, then species hold on a little better in late September.
