Currently we are just over at 25,000 observations and 130 species. These numbers are ahead of 2023. At this point 2023 had just under 24,000 observation and 126 species.

April and May both have new high numbers by considerable margins. We're still receiving June data, but behind 2022 and 2023. We have 10 days yet in July, and are considerably behind the last couple years for July.

Top counties include the usual - Summit, Lucas, Montgomery, Ashtabula, Franklin. On the low end are Putnam, Vinton, Paulding, Fayette, Clinton, and Wyandot - all with fewer than 50 observations.

Most reported species are Eastern Forktail, Fragile Forktail, and Common Whitetail. Eastern Forktail has now been observed in all 88 counties. Common Whitetail and Eastern Pondhawk just need observations in Putnam Co to have all 88.

So far there are 82 new county records. Comet Darner, Variegated Meadowhawk, and Emerald Spreadwing have all been documented in 5 new counties.

Special mentions on species go to tuckerc for Brush-tipped Emerald, and dhochadel for Golden-winged Skimmer. These are both rarities in recent years.

Our 5-year numbers on species/year is 135-140. We'll need at least 5 more - hopefully Black-tipped Darner, Green-striped Darner, Laura's Clubtail, Smoky Rubyspot, Striped Saddlebags.

Many dragons in the air, over 1,700 observations last week from over 200 people. 76 species recorded. We're past the peak diversity of the previous week (88 species), but still pretty cool.

Even cooler is the response to the request for Columbiana Co observations - 180 observations arrived (thanks mmp133 and tuckerc). Columbiana now well over the 1,000 observation goal. Let's try this again - counties that now need the most help in observations are are Mercer, Hardin, Auglaize, and Van Wert.

There was a question related to the low species counties and what the most likely targets are. This info is on the OOS web, but more specifically for the lowest counties:

Noble - 51 - Wandering Glider, Banded Pennant, Carolina Saddlebags, Dragonhunter, Citrine Forktail, Shadow Darner

Belmont - 55 - Spangled Skimmer, Shadow Darner, Comet Darner, Dragonhunter, Stream Cruiser, Banded Pennant

Hardin - 55 - Swamp Spreadwing, Elegant Spreadwing, Swift River Cruiser, Emerald Spreadwing, Spot-winged Glider

Marion - 56 - Lancet Clubtail, Shadow Darner, Ashy Clubtail, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Comet Darner

The number is the current documented species for the county. Almost all of these are still "in flight" or coming in. Any would be new County Records. Go get 'em!

There is progress on County Complete. This is another success - a week ago Clinton Co had the most needed species with 6 - smwhite went to Clinton and got all 6! Next in line is Marion with 5, and Knox and Putnam, both at 3. Still waiting on an Eastern Forktail in Adams. We're down to just Putnam for Common Whitetail. We should have our first County Complete real-soon-now.

Current list:

Eastern Forktail - Adams

Common Whitetail - Putnam

Fragile Forktail - Defiance, Marion, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky

Eastern Amberwing - Crawford, Marion, Pike, Scioto

Blue Dasher - Hancock, Knox, Marion, Putnam, Van Wert, Vinton

Eastern Pondhawk - Columbiana, Huron, Knox, Marion, Putnam

Widow Skimmer - Columbiana, Erie, Fayette, Knox, Marion, Pike, Sandusky

Big picture - approaching 23,000 research grade observations for the season. 128 species. These numbers are both ahead of our record-setting 2023 season. For 2023, Mar 1 - Jul 14 was 20,902/123. Species we had in 2023 that we've missed (so far) include Stygian Shadowdragon, Northern Spreadwing, Chalk-fronted Corporal, Boreal Bluet, River Bluet. We're likely past flight on these.

Black-tipped Darner, Green-striped Darner, and Smoky Rubyspot seem likely to turn up somewhere.

Still hopeful for sightings of Gilded River Cruiser, Lance-tipped Darner, Laura's Clubtail, and Striped Saddlebags. We'll need all of these and/or some rarities to match our 5-year average.

The data suggests 60 species are possible in every Ohio County. Most counties that have over 60 species have over 1,000 observations. So our goal was to get enough observations to push every county to a cumulative 1,000. We started the year with 25 counties short of the 1,000 mark. We're down to 9 counties. These counties and their current totals:

Columbiana - 856
Mercer - 905
Auglaize - 917
Hardin - 918
Van Wert - 943
Highland - 951
Henry - 970
Allen - 989
Fulton - 996

You can see, 3 of these are very close. Several others probably only need a day or two. All are in range if we can get someone to spend some time in Columbiana Co.

We've down well with eastern counties and DSA meeting attendees, providing the needed observations for Noble, Belmont, Monroe, Meigs, Gallia, Morgan.

We also started the year with 16 counties short of the 60 species. With new county records, we've moved Fayette, Huron, Mercer and Putnam to 60. 12 counties still need species:

Noble - 51
Belmont - 55
Hardin - 55
Marion - 56
Allen - 57
Brown - 57
Auglaize - 57
Seneca - 57
Henry - 58
Monroe - 58
Meigs - 59
Van Wert - 59

60 species per county will likely still be a goal for 2025. Picking up 1 or 2 species seems do-able. 3 to 9 will require time and effort.

You can check the county pages on the OOS web site at https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/county-species-lists - this has a clickable map. Click on the county you have in mind, then scroll down to see the Target Species table. The default view is sorted by species seen in nearby counties - but you can click on the headers to sort.

County Complete - once again looking for those species that we document in every county in a season. These species are numerous and have been found everywhere. In recent years we've had 7 species in every county - Blue Dasher, Eastern Forktail, Eastern Pondhawk, Fragile Forktail, Common Whitetail, Eastern Amberwing, and Widow Skimmer.

For 2024, we're really close on a couple, and getting closer on our others. Here's the species list and needed counties:

Eastern Forktail - Adams

Common Whitetail - Clinton, Putnam

Fragile Forktail - Clinton, Defiance, Marion, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky

Eastern Amberwing - Adams, Clinton, Crawford, Knox, Marion, Pike, Scioto

Blue Dasher - Clinton, Columbiana, Hancock, Knox, Marion, Putnam, Van Wert, Vinton

Eastern Pondhawk - Clinton, Columbiana, Hancock, Hardin, Huron, Knox, Marion, Putnam, Vinton

Widow Skimmer - Athens, Clinton, Columbiana, Erie, Fayette, Huron, Knox, Marion, Pike, Richland, Sandusky, Wood

Most references are for Clinton Co (6) - likely sites include stops around Cowan Lake.

Just behind is Marion Co (5) - Killdeer Plains and Big Island would be targets.

Next up would be Knox Co (4) - check Knox Lake or Apple Valley Lake sites.

Happy Hunting.

Cruising past the 21,000 mark for the year. Wow. 126 species, over 1,000 contributors. Challenging to keep up. Currently at 3,493 research grade observations for the last 10 days of June. This is very close to last year's high mark, and with a better species diversity.

Successful completion of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas meeting in Marietta last weekend. Good socialization, a bit exhausting. We had small but enthusiastic pre and post field trips. All good.

Given our meeting proximity in SE Ohio counties, we pushed all the needy local counties (Monroe, Noble, Belmont, Guernsey, Meigs, Morgan) past the 1,000 observation mark. Also a number of new County Records, helping boost those numbers.

The last 10 days of June are typically our high point for observations and diversity, so while observations remain high, diversity begins to decline. There are still things to see.

Our 5-year average on species/year is 135ish. We're at 126 currently. For some, we're now past - Boreal Bluet, Chalk-fronted Corporal, Northern Spreadwing. A couple others, pretty slim history - River Bluet, Rambur's Forktail. Thing seen last year, but not yet this year:

Black-tipped Darner
Elusive Clubtail
Gilded River Cruiser
Green-striped Darner
Laura's Clubtail
Shadow Darner
Smoky Rubyspot
Stygian Shadowdragon

We'll need most of these to be in the zone. Some can be expected, others will need a bit of luck. Past that, we'll be hoping for Striped Saddlebags.

Headed for a big weekend to finish the month. DSA meeting in Marietta.

We now have over 17,000 observations for the year. While June 2024 isn't yet at the high mark set last year (11,487 last year, just over 8,000 this year), we are ahead of 2023 at this point year to year. And we still have a few June days.

120 species have been observed. Glad to get Riffle Snaketail, Common Sanddragon, and Golden-winged Skimmer - those are a few we missed last year. 3 species are now reported in 80 or more counties (Eastern Forktail/85, Common Whitetail/83, and Fragile Forktail/80). We only need Eastern Forktail observations from Adams, Brown and Trumbull counties to be complete.

39 species have new county records in 42 counties, for a running total of 66 new county records. Leaders are Spatterdock Darner, Variegated Meadowhawk, Emerald Spreadwing, and Comet Darner - all with 4 new counties. Lawrence, Medina, Mercer, Seneca, and Van Wert all have 3 new species.

We started the year with 25 counties below 1,000 total observations. That count is now 14, and 5 counties are now very near the mark. So making progress. close ones are Noble/998, Allen/989, Brown/988, Guernsey/988, and Belmont/982. We've also moved 4 counties to 60 species - Fayette, Huron, Mercer, and Putnam. Noble is still on the low end at 51 species.

Nearly Summer on the calendar, certainly summer looking at the temperatures.

And we're rolling with Odonata observations. Now over 15,000 for the 2024 season. Over 600 research grade contributors. This highlights a good effort by our naturalist community.

We are at 115 species - not bad. Surprising numbers on some of the Clubtails. Splendid, Handssome, Cobra, Dusky, Plains, and Rusty Snaketails are all having really good seasons.

Early fliers that we have missed so far are Marsh Bluet, Chalk-fronted Corporal, Boreal Bluet, Northern Spreadwing, Frosted Whiteface, American Emerald, and Riffle Snaketail - no surprises here as these are never reported in big numbers, and several seem to be on the decline. We had a few Four-spotted Skimmer that survived the Ohio summer (2023) and winter. We were hoping for more, but nice to have a few.

37 species have new county records in 40 counties, for a running total of 61 new county records. This is a good number, behind the glory years of 2018-2019, but the low-hanging fruit is mostly gone! Leaders are Spatterdock Darner and Variegated Meadowhawk, both with 4 new counties. Lawrence, Medina, Mercer, and Seneca all have 3 new species.

The early season (warm weather) has produced 40+ new early flight dates. I'll have to start looking at late flight dates as we transition to departures.

It's also time to start the "County Complete" reporting. I was surprised to see that Eastern Forktail only needs 2024 observations in Adams, Brown, Trumbull, and Washington to have records in all 88 Ohio Counties. Fragile Forktail and Common Whitetail are next in line. Fragile Forktail is the current leader in number of observations, followed closely by Eastern Forktail, then a gap to Common Whitetail. Blue Dasher and Eastern Pondhawk are gaining as we get into the heart of their flight.

May 31, 2024 is now our top day of observations - ever! 730 research grade observations have been entered to the project for that day, representing 63 species from 60 observers. This edges out July 14, 2023 (727, 56, 62). Pretty amazing, and maybe more to come.

We now have June observations in all counties except Belmont, Huron, Monroe, Noble, and Washington. (note - we now have Huron observations). These are also some of the low counties for the year. Maybe we can fix some of that with the upcoming DSA meeting in Marietta - I hope to see you there!

We're off to a roaring start, and will now be hitting our peak diversity in the next two weeks.

May now has 7,959 observations, for 102 species - this is well ahead of 2023, which was a new high at the time (4,255 obs, 86 sp).

On the year we're now over 12,000 observations. Every county has 2024 observations, over 500 contributors.

So far we have 38 species with new early flight dates. We also have 49 new county records. 15 of the new county records are in target counties, so yay.

We started the year with 25 counties below 1,000 total observations. That count is now 17, and 3 counties are now very near the mark. So making progress. Thanks to all contributing.

Great weather and 3-day weekend boosted numbers. We're over 6,000 observations for May, and over 7,000 for the year. We picked up a couple of the early rare species, now at 101 species for the state this year.

All 88 counties now have 2024 observations. Yay. Only 6 counties have not had anyone looking in May - Pike, Harrison, Paulding, Van Wert, Mercer, and Putnam. Edit - bennysaylor made it out to Harrison Co, jimlem made it to Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, and Putnam CO’s - so we’re only missing Pike Co for May. There’s still a day!

We're only a month away from Dragonfly Society of the Americas meeting in Marietta.

There's still a week in May, and we're over 5,000 observations, 89 species. This is well ahead of 2023. Warm days and no flooding have helped boost observations. Also, no smoke (yet).

Still waiting on first-of-the-year observations for Williams and Wyandot Co's. Additional counties that need May observations are Columbiana, Gallia, Harrison, Henry, Mercer, Paulding, Pike, Putnam, and Van Wert. Any help in these locations would be appreciated.

The Four-spotted Skimmer is being reported - continuity from last year's irruption. Pretty cool. Also a number of new locations for Dusky Clubtail, and a couple for Handsome Clubtail.

Early flyers we'll need observations on from specific sites include Riffle Snaketail, Southern Pygmy Clubtail, Frosted Whiteface, Marsh Bluet, Northern Spreadwing, River Bluet.

Off to a great start!

Dragonflies are in the air in increasing numbers now. The number of observers is also on the rise.

We are on pace with 2023 (which set new high records) for numbers and species. For 2024, there are over 3,000 observations, over 250 observers, over 70 species. The weather for the next 10 days is also favorable.

There are a number of new County Records and also some new Early Flight dates. It's challenging to keep up with everything when I want to be in the field!

We have three counties without 2024 observations - Crawford, Williams, and Wyandot. Any help there would be appreciated.

With 2024 numbers so far, six counties have met the 1,000 observation goal: Gallia, Harrison, Holmes, Huron, Morgan, and Wood. Fayette had a new County Record, which puts it at 60 species, meeting that target.

Don't forget about DSA meeting https://www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/ohio2024