County-Complete

Eastern Forktail, Blue Dasher, Eastern Pondhawk, and Eastern Amberwing are now County-Complete.

We still need Widow Skimmer and Fragile Forktail for Wyandot County, and Common Whitetail for Putnam County.

There is progress on the next five, maybe not reachable, but we can try - we know these are all there, we just need someone to take a look:

Many of the counties listed have multiple needs, and are towards the low end on observations and observers.

Numbers Update

We are over 25,000 RG observations on the year. Franklin Co has the most observations (> 2,400), Montgomery Co has the most species (71).

Eastern Forktail still with a lead in observations. Eastern Pondhawk and Blue Dasher rising quickly - these two species have been at the top each of the last five years.

Mapping the Needs

We haven't had a new map for awhile. For the big picture, here is a revised map showing where we need observations - green mean Go! The plus sign show the approximate number (in hundreds) to reach a database total of 1,000 observations. This might seem like a lot, but our top 10 counties average 8,610 observations.

Counties with fewer than 80 observations on the year are all northwestern: Wood, Mercer, Paulding, Allen, Auglaize, and Wyandot.

We've looked at the year by county - and we'll come back to that. But, we now have enough data on the year (2023) to compare to the previous 5 years (2018-2022).

Start with the record count by year:

2018: 19,741
2019: 32,694
2020: 20,621
2021: 26,695
2022: 35,517

This is an average of > 27,000/year. We are momentarily at > 27,000 for 2023. So, good!

When looking at things by percent change, numbers can be crazy - best example this year is the Four-spotted Skimmer with 248 observations in 2023 with a single record in the previous 5 years. So I'm limiting the over/under metrics to only those species that have more than 100 observations over the last 5 years. That would be 89 species common enough to be seen routinely.

OVER

First, which species are over - those already considerably above the 5 yr ave (+33%). This is in order of percent over. Bluets are doing well, 6 of the 24. Then Clubtails with 5. Note that these Bluet species are not among our our most common, while the Clubtail species are our most common. Just more looking? Overall Bluet numbers are similar to past years, with the big numbers still to come for Familiar Bluet and Orange Bluet. Clubtail numbers, as a whole, are nearly double the average, so a good year for Clubtails.

Vesper Bluet
Ashy Clubtail
Pronghorn Clubtail
Aurora Damsel
Blue Corporal
Turquoise Bluet
Rainbow Bluet
Lancet Clubtail
Westfall's Slender Bluet
Spot-winged Glider
Common Baskettail
Unicorn Clubtail
Spatterdock Darner
Midland Clubtail
Eastern Least Clubtail
Dot-tailed Whiteface
Spangled Skimmer
Stream Bluet
Cyrano Darner
Elegant Spreadwing
Eastern Red Damsel
Skimming Bluet
Sweetflag Spreadwing
Prince Baskettail

UNDER

Next, species that are under, with 2023 count less than half 5 yr ave - many of these are autumn species, so there's a likelihood of increase. Note that Great Blue Skimmer and Carolina Saddlebags have big declines (2023) from previous years.

Spotted Spreadwing
Shadow Darner
Great Spreadwing
Arrow Clubtail
Green-striped Darner
Russet-tipped Clubtail
Blue-faced Meadowhawk
Great Blue Skimmer
White-faced Meadowhawk
Plains Clubtail
Band-winged Meadowhawk
Carolina Saddlebags
Fawn Darner
Citrine Forktail
Wandering Glider

UNSEEN

Here we go - these are the species documented in the last 5 years with no 2023 data (yet) - in order of survey years count. Again, several of these should turn up. Note the season is likely over for Common Sanddragon, Belted Whiteface, Hagen's Bluet, Riffle Snaketail, Frosted Whiteface, Marsh Bluet, and American Emerald. Our 2023 species count is at 131. The 5 year average is 138, we'll need 7 from this list to meet the average. Other than the first 5, these occur in very limited numbers - either quite rare or only occasionally arrive on the wind.

Smoky Rubyspot
Common Sanddragon
Lance-tipped Darner
Belted Whiteface
Laura's Clubtail
Golden-winged Skimmer
Striped Saddlebags
Hagen's Bluet
Riffle Snaketail
Ocellated Darner
Duckweed Firetail
Rambur's Forktail
Frosted Whiteface
Marsh Bluet
American Emerald
Little Blue Dragonlet
Smoky Shadowdragon
Cherry-faced Meadowhawk
Brush-tipped Emerald
Scarlet Skimmer
Band-winged Dragonlet
Furtive Forktail
Skillet Clubtail
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

MISSING

Finally, species with historical records but with no records in previous 5 years - in order of historical count. It's good to look at this every now and then. This is in the order of historical numbers. Some of these were vagrant when observed, some were here and are now gone.

Canada Darner
Mottled Darner
Wabash River Cruiser
Hine's Emerald
Plains Emerald
Allegheny River Cruiser
Riverine Clubtail
Northern Pygmy Clubtail
Umber Shadowdragon
Taiga Bluet
Appalachian Jewelwing
Taper-tailed Darner
Spine-crowned Clubtail
Georgia River Cruiser
Variable Darner
Kennedy's Emerald
Incurvate Emerald
Atlantic Bluet

Survey numbers continue to climb, maybe a bit slower than June-July. Overall Odonata on the wing seems relatively good compared to days earlier in the season. Hopefully our season will be extended along the lines of our late start (10-14 days).

I'm seeing the start of the migration - Common Green Darners, Black Saddlebags, and Wandering Gliders headed south-westerly in the late afternoon. If you're out on country roads, watch for them 15-20' above the corn and soybeans.

We're now approaching 29,000 research-grade observations - on par with 2022. We've picked up a couple species, so our species count is at 132, behind 2022 and short of the 5-year average. I'm optimistic we'll soon see Smoky Rubyspots. Then maybe a Lance-tipped Darner or Laura's Clubtail. Things tail out after that.

No change on our County-Complete list. We need someone for a day in Wyandot Co to find Fragile Forktail and Widow Skimmer. Then a Common Whitetail in Putnam Co - and those 3 will be sorted for the year. The next 5 are much the same as reported in the Early August journal. Prince Baskettail is at 80 Counties, so that may be do-able if someone makes it a project. Familiar Bluet and Autumn Meadowhawk are coming on strong but have long way to go.

The low-observation County list remains the same as reported earlier. There is some progress, but slow.

As we pass Labor Day, Ode numbers begin to decline. Species diversity also begins to drop - and fairly quickly. So, get your Ode days while you can!

Numbers - We're heading for 30,000 research grade observations - probably by month-end. This still trails 2022 a bit in both observations and species. 2023 now has 133 species recorded. Over 1,000 people have submitted Odonata observations for Ohio. Reported numbers as of 8/22/2023.

Here are current numbers by County

Franklin and Ashtabula Co's are clear leaders on number of observations. Montgomery has the most species. Lucas, Franklin, and Summit Co's have observations from over 100 days. Summit, Franklin, and Cuyahoga Co's all have 90+ different observers.

On the low end, Allen, Paulding, and Wood Co's have the fewest number of observations. Paulding has the fewest species. Monroe, Mercer, Marion, Auglaize, Putnam, and Paulding all have fewer than 5 days of attention. Paulding, Mercer, and Auglaize Co's have only a single observer - that is apparently me.

Everything else is somewhere in the middle.

Here are the current numbers by Species

Eastern Forktail continues to maintain a lead over Eastern Pondhawk. 6 sp (Eastern Forktail, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Amberwing, Widow Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Fragile Forktail) have been observed in all 88 counties (the 7th - Common Whitetail - will hopefully turn up). Common Whitetail and Ebony Jewelwing are once again the species reported by the most people - relatively numerous and showy. The Forktails (Eastern and Fragile) have been seen the most days.