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

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

We are at 113 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

Registration for the Dragonfly Society of the Americas meeting this June in Marietta is now open. This is the first time Ohio has hosted DSA, so it's an event! We hope to see you there.

Connect at https://www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/ohio2024

We've had a big jump in Odonata numbers over the last week.

April is officially our best survey April. Nearly 900 research grade observations, 30 species, 120+ contributors. There will be several new County Records and at least a couple new Early Flight dates.

Only 13 counties did not have observations reported. See the map below. 2024 counties are the darkest. We only have three ciunties now with no April records.

2023 had our most ever April observations (367), counties (46), and species (20).

So far for 2024, we now have the most observations (500+) and the most counties (50+ so far). Also, now, the most species (23). Still possible on 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.