The weather continues to feel atypical. Some cooler days now - my yard was in the 30's this morning. And a long dry spell for my area. Some warmer days next week, but continued dry. Odonata numbers are in decline, but I'm enjoying the afternoon swarms of migrating Darners out over meadow areas. Watch for Mosaic Darners - it would be good to see a Lance-tipped Darner - thank you laureldoc for the 9/9 observation of Lance-tipped. 2024 is now at our 5-year-average on species (135).

Widow Skimmer made it to 88 counties - thank you jessicalowery for the stop in Fayette County! The County Complete list is now Eastern Forktail, Common Whitetail, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Amberwing, Blue Dasher, Widow Skimmer, and Fragile Forktail. This measure helps indicate adequate survey.

As noted previously, next in line are:

• Violet Dancer - need observations in Brown, Clinton, Huron
• Common Green Darner - need observations in Adams, Marion, Ross, Tuscarawas, Washington

Observations are still arriving, and numbers are good. 2024 has a slight lead over 2023 in comparing both years through August. Recall that 2023 set new high numbers for 6 different months, so far in 2024, only April and May set new high numbers on observations. Through July, our 2024 year and individual months are now ahead of the 5-year-average. So, a bit hard to complain.

2024 has 15 days with more than 500 vetted observations. High days were May 31 and June 24, both with 732 observations. June 28, had 729. These three days are now at the top of all days in the survey.

Eastern Forktail has been the high count species for several months, that looks to continue. Blue Dasher and Eastern Pondhawk both had good runs in July and August, but daily numbers are starting to decline for them and Eastern Forktails keep turning up. If Eastern Forktail maintains the lead, it will be two years in a row. The prior years were Blue Dasher.

Autumn Meadowhawk numbers are increasing, but are still considerably behind recent years. Autumn Meadowhawk usually ends up in the top 10 for the year - currently at #34. Note also that Autumn Meadowhawk is the most observed species in September, October, and November. Several people have noted that Sympetrum seem hard to find so far this year.

We are currently at 114 new County Records. The leading species are Comet Darner (6), then Dragonhunter, Emerald Spreading, and Variegated Meadowhawk (all with 5). Morrow and Van Wert Counties both have 5 new species.

Ashtabula and Franklin Counties are the top in observations - at or near 2,300. Both had over 3,000 in 2023.

Summit County has an impressive 84 species this year (75 last year). The previous high number of species for a county in a year was Montgomery County in 2022 with 79 species. Way to go Summit Co observers - all 177 of you.

On the low end: Fayette County has 36 observations. Defiance, Vinton, and Gallia Counties have 21 species. Putnam County has a single observer.

Weather conditions continue to be dry across much of the state. Many wetland areas areas that normally hold a bit of water are now dry. Odonate larvae are dependent on water.

We've all suspected our seasons this year have been early. Comparing 2024 observations against historical data, this year will establish 43 new species early flight dates. Over half were damselflies - things that typically emerge locally. While the season isn't yet over, there are 0 new species late flight dates. Many 2024 species were gone weeks ahead of their normal flight distribution.

Thanks to laureldoc finding a Lance-tipped Darner, we have 135 species for the year. This equals our 5-year-average. Nice to see some of the other Mosaic Darners being seen.

With the 2024 observation data, all counties will now have over 1,000 observations. This was a goal for 2024, happy that is complete. Note that prior to the current survey (<2017), only 4 counties had more than 1,000 records in the OOS database.

59 species have new 2024 county records. This represents different 54 counties and 46 different contributors. More on this later as the season winds down. There are still some opportunities for late flying species - check the maps at https://www.ohioodonatasociety.org/distribution-maps