April 3 Update! No longer waiting -
Common Green Darners reported flying today (Apr 3) in Montgomery and Lucas Counties - making these the first Dragonflies for 2023. We've had a number of nymph observations reported in iNaturalist, but until today, no adults. 2023 is the first year without March Dragonflies since 2015.
Odonata numbers begin to build in April. We have April observations every year since 2002. Before the recent survey we had many years in the single digits. Starting with the survey year (2017 forward) we're averaging close to 150 for April.
April numbers are not what we will see in May, but worth watching for. Here’s a map of Counties with observations in April. Darker where observations are in the last 5 years. Franklin and Montgomery are the clear leaders in number of April observations. Many counties (22) have only one or two observations. Notice counties that are white – no April observations. If your county isn’t dark pink, here’s your chance to make your mark.
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I saw one today at Little Met Wetlands in Rocky River Reservation (Cuyahoga County) but, I couldn't get a photo. I was still cool to watch it fly around with my binoculars.
It's interesting that two of the earliest observations of green darners this year are from two of the northernmost counties (Lucas and cuyahoga). A direct measure of (southward) migration in green darners using radio telemetry, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0327, yielded maximum daily migration of 122 km, even with wind, suggesting that those toledo/cleveland Dragonflies should have been crossing Ohio over the course of previous days or weeks. When and where did they come from?
I also heard that there were common green darners at Sandy Ridge Reservation in Lorain County yesterday.
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