Reporting on two weeks of data again – and a day later than I’d like – but here’s the latest update! Swarms were reported from the following locations over the last two weeks:
USA:
Napa, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Erie, CO
Ansonia, CT
Branford, CT
Colebrook, CT
East Hartland , CT
Guilford, CT
Norfolk, CT (2 swarms)
Woodbury, CT
Ellijay, GA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Davenport, IA
Muscatine, IA
Springdale, IA
Swisher, IA
Waukon, IA
Galesburg, IL
Skokie, IL
Bloomfield, IN
Hamilton, IN
Terre Haute, IN
Olathe, KS
Burlington, KY
Colrain, MA
Ipswich, MA
Manchester, MA
North Adams, MA
Pittsfield, MA
Plymouth, MA
Raynham, MA
Rowley, MA
Sandisfield, MA
Scituate, MA
West Brookfield, MA (2 swarms)
Williamsburg, MA
Winchendon, MA
Lebanon, ME
Portland, ME
Waldoboro, ME
Ann Arbor Township, MI
Twin Lake, MI
Troy, MO
Webb City, MO
New Bern, NC
Oak Island, NC
Elk City, NE
Omaha, NE (2 swarms)
Amherst, NH
Portsmouth, NH
Asbury Park, NJ
Voorhees, NJ
Bearsville, NY
Brooklyn, NY
Gouverneur, NY
Hancock, NY
Napanoch, NY
New York, NY
Waterloo, NY
Woodstock, NY
Chillicothe, OH
Poland, OH
Quincy, OH
Downingtown, PA
Shinglehouse, PA
Susquehanna, PA
East Greenwich, RI
Warwick, RI
Austin, TX
Kingsville, TX
Seminole, TX
Colchester, VT
South Newfane, VT
Black Earth, WI
Brookfield, WI
Burlington, WI
Canada:
Tatamagouche, NS
Dwight, ON
Hamilton, ON
Hamilton, ON
Germany:
Dresden, Saxony
And this one didn’t happen in this two-week period, but I can’t help but post it anyway because I’m really excited about this one:
Kazakhstan:
Astana
And here are the US maps for the last two weeks:
Click the maps to enlarge!
Not many migratory events have been reported yet, but I think that’s coming soon, sometime in the next week or two. The activity over the past few weeks is the sort of conditions we normally see right before the migration of the common green darners – lots of reports from the Great Lakes region, a few in Nebraska (that’s always a good indicator for some reason!), and dragonflies massing in New England. Next week or the week after, I’d expect those masses to start shifting southward so that we’ll see a lot more activity in Virginia, the Carolinas, Missouri, and Arkansas as the dragonflies start following the eastern coast and the midwestern rivers toward the Gulf of Mexico.
No indication that the western migration has begun at all yet! I start looking for reports of dragonflies swarming in Montana, Idaho, and southern Canada and you’ll usually see the Washington-Oregon migration of the variegated meadowhawks shortly afterwards. No sign of anything so far this year though!
All this means that we’re heading into the prime swarming season very soon. If you see a swarm, please report it. We can follow the big swarms down the coasts and rivers if people report the swarms they see!
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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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The Dragonfly Woman 
We have had large dragonfly migration events recently on the Texas Coast. This happens when we get north winds. Would you like to know about all of them?
I would be happy to take any and all information you’re willing to share about your swarms! If you have not already submitted any reports, you can do so here any time: https://thedragonflywoman.com/dsp/report
Exciting that you get reliable swarming each year! Consider yourself lucky.
My back yard was humming with dragonflies on Thursday evening! I had never seen anything like it. There were probably between 80 and 100 dragonflies, at varying heights, flitting across our 2 acres. Beautiful, aerial acrobats that caught my eye, they reminded me of my brother, Bob who, in the last years of his life, was fascinated with dragonflies. That small “swarm” is why I ended up on your site – trying to find out why I was visited by these beauties. Thanks for sharing what you know with the rest of us!
I’m so glad you were able to see a swarm! I think they’re magical and I am still, even after 6 years of collecting data on the behavior, excited to hear about every one of them. Thanks for sharing your story! Any chance that you filled out a report for your swarm? Would love to add a few more details of your swarm to my database if you’re willing! You can find it here: https://thedragonflywoman.com/dsp/report
Chris, I’ve yet to see more than a couple of dragonfly or damsels together at the same time. I meant to ask earlier but forgot so –
Any idea when I might expect to see a swarm in my area which is 122.19W – 49.9N? Then, I’ll start hanging out in appropriate spots around then with my camera.
A couple of questions as you’re quite knowledge and I can’t find easy answers.
1. We’re entering our rainy season – sometimes heavy rains but when it comes, almost always days will be cloudy, dreary and drizzly. Are dragonflies active on the drizzly damp days? Or only non-raining days?
2. Where are the best places for me to find swarming (since it sure isn’t in my large slightly wild backyard)? In large open meadows or perhaps sloughs and reedy spots?
3. Is any particular time of day better to find them swarming?
I’d dearly love to see a swarm since, as I wrote, I’ve never seen more than two dragonflies at a time and never still more than a couple of seconds – though I did have a damselfy alight on my hand for a good minute or two. My eyes misted up over the experience and its delicate beauty.
(I apologise for my long comments. I really am enchanted with all things in nature and the words bubble out of me.)