The dragonflies are on the move!  The week started off much as it has in the past month, with swarms reported in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio with a few scattered reports in more southern states.  Then the dragonflies apparently all up and moved south as there were a lot of reports of migratory swarms in Kentucky, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina toward the end of the week.  It sounds like there’s been an especially steady stream of south-bound dragonflies on the South Carolina coast, with reports coming in throughout several days from several different people.  Wish I could be there to see it!  Thankfully, a few people have recorded videos and uploaded them to YouTube, such as this one from Cherry Grove, SC uploaded a few days ago:

But the migration isn’t just happening on the east coast!  The annual southward movement of the variegated meadowhawks has started on the west coast, with several reports coming in from Oregon over the last week.  Check out this video from Brooking, OR:

YouTube is a great source of dragonfly swarm videos!  If you’re interested in seeing more, please visit my dragonfly swarm YouTube playlist.  I think I’ve got nearly every dragonfly swarm video available on YouTube listed, and there are some really fun ones there.

On to the list of swarms!  Swarms occurred in the following locations over the last week:

USA:

Miami,  FL (5 swarms)
Front Royal, VA
Lambertville, NJ
Coral Gables, FL (2 swarms)
Galesville, MD
Morningside, MD
Martinsville, VA
Page, WV
Roanoke, VA (2 swarms)
Blacksburg, VA
Lynchburg, VA (2 swarms)
North East, MD
Middlebourne, WV
Baltimore City, MD
Red Lion, PA
Belpre, OH
Leesburg, VA
Clayton, GA
Sinking Spring, PA
Hiawassee, GA
Alexandria, VA
Miami Beach, FL (2 swarms)
Clarksburg, WV
Williamstown , WV
Argilitte, KY
Bristol, VA
Georgetown, KY
Baltimore, MD
Bowling Green, KY
Miami Gardens, FL
Charlottesville, VA
Franklin, WV
Hagerstown, MD
Spotsylvania, PA
Carolina Beach, NC (3 swarms)
Olney, MD
Milton, PA
Lewisberry, PA
Levittown, PA
Lexington, KY
Farmington, PA
Salisbury, MD
Cumberland, MD
Betwee Fayetteville and Oak Hill, WV
Chaumont Bay, NY
Churchville, VA
Greenville, SC
Floyd, VA
Mt Pleasant, SC
Concord, VA
Columbia, MD
Clinton, AR
Buckhannon, WV
Spring City, TN
Mount Sterling, KY
Calera, AL
Manzanita, OR
Myrtle Beach, SC (10 reports)
South Myrtle Beach, SC (3 reports)
Surf City, NC
Knoxville, TN
Sonora, KY
Spring City, TN
Isle of Palms, SC
Ocean Isle Beach, NC
Litchfield Beach, SC
Nashville, TN
Surfside Beach, SC (2 reports)
Pawleys Island, SC (2 reports)
Hilton Head Island, SC
Loris, SC
Kilmarnock, VA
Berkeleys Springs, WV
Imperial Valley, CA
Newport, OR
between El Centro and Brawley, CA
Sunset Beach, OR
Mt. Hebo, OR
Waldport, OR
Burns, OR
Westernport, MD
Eutawville, SC
Oak Island, NC

Canada:

Portcolborne, ON

The Dragonfly Swarm Project made the Scientific American Citizen Science page!  It’s going to bring some great publicity to my project and hopefully get even more people involved.  This last week, I reached and exceeded 1000 reports for 2011, so I am so thrilled that the project is doing as well as it has been.

I also came across a few interesting news tidbits of information about dragonfly swarms in the US last week.  One was a brief blog report of a really big swarm that descended into the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, FL while fans waited for the Miami Hurricanes to take on the Kansas State Wildcats last weekend.  The swarm happened in the south AND right before a storm, which makes the exact cause of the swarm a little hard to discern (migratory swarm?  storm-induced swarm?  both?).  Still, it was a big swarm if the photo in the post is any indication!  There was another article about the recent surge in dragonflies in Miami too, stating that the migration has brought in many more dragonflies this year than in years past.  I suspect that the massive dragonfly populations in the OH/PA/VA/WV area recently may have something to do with that – there are LOTS of dragonflies in the north moving south this year.  There are still a lot of dragonflies in the northeast heading into October too, so Miami will probably experience a protracted migratory season.  Finally, there an article from West Virginia about the heavy swarming the state has been experiencing recently.  Interesting stuff!

Let’s all keep an eye out for dragonflies on the move next week!  It looks like it’s going to be a great migration!

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Have you seen a dragonfly swarm? I am tracking swarms so I can learn more about this interesting behavior.  If you see one, I’d love to hear from you!  Please visit my Report a Dragonfly Swarm page to fill out the official report form.  It only takes a few minutes! Thanks!

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Want more information? Visit my dragonfly swarm information page for my entire collection of posts about dragonfly swarms!

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