There is news. Our Dragonfly Project went over 200,000 submissions on 9/4. We also crossed over 32,000 research grade observations for 2023. 200 thousand is amazing, I don't think any of us thought in those numbers when we started this project for the 2017 season. 32 thousand records puts us well ahead of our 5-year average, trailing only 2022 - and we might be able to get close to 2022.

Common Whitetail joined the County-Complete list. Orange Bluet and Prince Baskettail are only 7 counties short of being County-Complete. But days are getting shorter, numbers are still OK, but diversity decreases with each day from now on. More details to follow.

Early flight dates should now be complete unless some early season observations arrive. We set new early flight for 11 species this season. We also have 2 species (Jade Clubtail and Painted Skimmer) that set new late flight dates - there may be more depending on our fall weather.

With the sightings of Smoky Rubyspot, our species count is now 134. This is 4 below the 5-year average. Hurricane winds may have sent us some southern species - be on the lookout!

Eastern Forktail is maintaining a lead over Eastern Pondhawk as most reported species. The 2022 leader, Blue Dasher, is #5 for the year. The top 20 species all have more than 500 observations. Halloween Pennant and American Rubyspot are close. Autumn Meadowhawk will also be in the running by the end of the year.

Franklin Co went over the 3,000 mark for 2023 observations. Franklin/2023 is now very close to Lucas/2022 for the most observations in a year. Franklin and Ashtabula now have as many observations as the bottom 42 counties. 9 counties have fewer than 100 observations. Lowest is Wood, then Paulding, Allen, Highland, Huron, Monroe, Meigs, Defiance, Clinton.

County-Complete

Eastern Forktail, Blue Dasher, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Amberwing, Widow Skimmer, Fragile Forktail, and Common Whitetail are now County-Complete.

Here are the next four species. These have all been observed at some point, so it's possible one or more could be our next County-Complete. Opportunities here - all around the state. It's been a while since we've had a Violet Dancer in Ottawa Co (1967) or a Blue-fronted Dancer in Geauga Co (2015).

Other things - still looking for a Powdered Dancer in Carroll Co, a Blue-tipped Dancer in Belmont Co, a Halloween Pennant in Seneca Co, and an Azure Bluet in Sandusky Co. These observations would be county records and place these species in all 88 counties.

Following are revised numbers for 2023 season. This follows the Aug 23 journal. There were questions related to how does 2023 compare to historical numbers. So this table lists all species in the database, the number of observations in the current year, then how that compares to the recent 5 year average (2018-2022), then how 2023 compares to the historical peak (year with most observations for the species). The * indicate 2023 surpassing the 5 year average, and then where 2023 sets a new peak year. The far right column lists the most recent year the species has been observed.

At this point (Sep 8), 76 species are ahead of the 5 year average, and 40 species will have a new high season number for observations. New * may be added as the season continues.

Daily submissions have been pretty steadily declining. Cooler days and nights contribute to reduced Odonata numbers and diversity. But there are still things to be seen - so maybe also a bit of observer fatigue! I would remind everyone to look while you can - we won't have much to see in January.

We have a number of new County Records for Great Spreadwing - especially west-central Ohio. I'm not sure if we're having an influx or we're just looking. But 2023 will mark new Great Spreadwing occurences for Logan, Van Wert, Allen, and Miami Counties. If they're getting blown in, then we could maybe have more new records - maybe have a look. Here's the map.

Updated 11 Nov 2023

Daylight hours are retreating quickly now, but there's still some sunshine. It seems many things have been late this season, I'm wondering if this will extend our Odonata flight also - maybe?

We have made progress on targets, both numbers and county species. Species diversity is connected to observations, which means people and days in the field. Here's a mapping of where we need observers. The blue counties are where we have fewer than 100 observations for 2023. The green counties are where we have the fewest number of total observations in the OOS database. Each plus sign means a need of 100 observations - so Monroe needs around 300 new records, etc. The blue/green counties that don't have a plus only need 25 or so to hit our minimum. We'll do what we can! Thanks to all the contributors.

Updated 11 Nov 2023