There is news.

Thanks to 8/5 observations from sallypsandpiper and rickbarricklow, Henry County now has over 1,000 observations. This was the last county to reach that goal. So, hurray and thanks!

My thinking was 1,000 observations in a county would get us to 60 species. Almost. We are making progress on all counties with 60 species, but we're not there yet. I'm not sure what the observation goal should be to reach 60 species. We started the year with 16 counties below the 60 goal, now just 11. Those 11, in order of greatest need: Noble, Belmont, Hardin, Allen, Auglaize, Brown, Seneca, Henry, Marion, Monroe, Meigs. Only 3 of our targets have not had new County records this year - Hardin, Monroe, and Meigs. If you're curious, check the county pages on OOS web -

https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/county-species-lists

Observations are still coming in for earlier months, but April and May were very good compared to past years and gave us a big head start. June was also good, but below 2022 and 2023. July was not bad, but starting mid-July, the numbers are averaging nearly 200/day lower than last year. August is following the same lower trend. It's been pretty hot, maybe we're worn out? Maybe other distractions? Dragons in flight seem pretty good.

No movement on County Complete - at this point only Eastern Forktail has all 88 counties. 5 species only need just one more county:

Common Whitetail - Putnam - now complete
Eastern Pondhawk - Putnam - now complete
Eastern Amberwing - Crawford
Widow Skimmer - Fayette
Blue Dasher - Putnam - now complete

Fragile Forktail needs 3 counties - Defiance, Paulding, Putnam - now complete

So, some attention needed in the NW.

Our season species total is now 133 - thanks for the additions of Laura's Clubtail (tuckerc), Black-tipped Darner (laureldoc), and Green-striped Darner (tuckerc). We'll need at least 2 more - most likely after July would be Smoky Rubyspot, Lance-tipped, Striped Saddlebags. Or some other rarity making an appearance (Furtive Forktail, Mottled Darner, Cherry-faced Meadowhawk).

Of our 133 species, 45 species are below their 5 year average. 20+ species have no chance, or a very remote chance, of meeting the 5 year average - flight season is past, or later season numbers are limited. A few that are surprising - Band-winged Meadowhawk (21%), Blue-faced Meadowhawk (11%), Paiute Dancer (34%), Citrine Forktail (37%). The lower numbers for Paiute Dancer and Band-winged Meadowhawk are related to the habitat loss at CJ Brown Spillway.

On the plus side, 69 species are now over their 5 year average, with 10-15 others likely to reach their 5 year average.

Only a week left in the month! Weather is warm and sunny, dragonflies seem to be flying everywhere. Migration south is underway for Common Green Darners, Black Saddlebags, and Wandering Gliders. Watch 20-30 feet up as you drive or walk, predominant direction is south-westerly. Also watch for evening swarms in open meadow areas.

We have 6 species now reported in all 88 counties for 2024. These are Eastern Forktail, Common Whitetail, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Amberwing, Blue Dasher, and Fragile Forktail. We still need 1 county (Fayette) for Widow Skimmer.

Next in line would be Violet Dancer and Common Green Darner. While we have recent reports for these 2 species, we have never gotten them in all 88 counties in a season - so a new goal! It would be cool to add one or both of these. Here are the needed species/counties:

Violet Dancer - Brown, Clinton, Huron, Ottawa, Pickaway

Common Green Darner - Adams, Athens, Defiance, Marion, Perry, Ross, Tuscarawas, Washington

Dancer numbers will decline considerably in September - but we only need 5 more counties. Common Green Darner flight is one of the longest and they're easy to see - so this seems do-able. Even blurry photos can be good for an ID.

Our observation numbers for July and August are still behind the last couple years. As the season begins to wind down, please get any early season observations submitted.

We have had several reports on Smoky Rubyspot, so we are at 134 on the season, we still nee one more to hit the 5-year-average.

If we look at numbers by family, we are at or above 5-year-average for the season - through the month of July. As mentioned in the Aug 6 journal, there are some exceptions. At this point, the most noticeable - in the field and in the data - is Sympetrum. We know the Autumn Meadowhawk comes on strong in the fall months, but keep an eye out for this and other Meadowhawk species.