Never seen such a swarm. Like you, I thought they were a different species. I tried quickly to ID some of the individuals close to the camera, and could see they were not Pantala.
I checked and did not see anything about this specific swarm. It's far enough from the local radar that they'd be hidden by the curvature of the Earth. However, you could see the general swarms of insects coming out at sunset all across southern New England. I tried to attach/paste an image to this comment but that's not enabled by Substack. Try this link, it may work. It would appear as a cloud of blue/green across the region as the Sun sets.
Wow, so that dispersed cloud across the region represents insects? Wow! Can't be anything else, right? Bird launches generally don't look like that. I didn't think we'd detect the swarm on the beach, but having you plug in here is great. Thanks so much, Aaron!
Lots of things can cause such patterns, including leaves and dirt blown by the wind. However, when it happens so sharply at dusk during warm months it typically is caused by insects. I suspect some birds are also included as where you have insects you have birds hunting them! But, as you alluded to, they aren't migrating in this particular evening.
The only way I've observed birds actually catching dragonflies is when the bird starts out on a perch and does a fly-catching maneuver out to grab the dragon. Have only seen Great-Crested Flycatchers and Kingbirds be successful at this. Dragonflies are such astonishing acrobats (aerobats?) that they easily evade birds.
Yikes, thanks for posting this link! If I'm reading it correctly, the dense line at the beginning happened earlier than 8:10 PM, yes? So maybe that represents the swarms in Rhode Island?
I would take that swarm of lovely dragons over that horrifying zombie snail ! I am still having the heebie-jeebies about that video. And now we have Chinese Mystery snails in our lake and I imagine them becoming zombies and learning to fly and..... It just gets weirder
I’m so glad you wrote about this spectacle! When I saw the various videos I knew it had to be an unusually rare occurrence, so I’m glad to hear that you and other Odonata aficionados concur. I’d sure love to understand what caused it.
As the amazing Hal White suggested in a comment, I'm looking into what we might find from radar data. Insect flights like these are often detected (like bird flights).
Wait, the mind-blowing Rhode Island swarm were BLUE DASHERS?! That's completely nuts. Thank you so much for this timely post, because I was planning to tell people at the Odonata class that I'm teaching tonight that they were probably darners and gliders! Because that's what would make sense. Amazing, thank you again for this.
However, I did see at least one Halloween Pennant at the end of the TikTok video.
Please note that there are numerous ponds along that shore, just behind the extensive beaches, especially to the east of Misquamicut Beach (I used to bird there, in another lifetime, in the 1970s). I don't know the salinity in these ponds, and whether dragonflies can complete their life cycles there. So much to speculate about! I too wish I had been there. Dragon swarms are such fun.
Thanks, Kai. Yep, saw that pennant -- and at least one female Blue Dasher in there. I'm sure there were other odes in the swarm. And I have had my eye on those bigger ponds inland, which I suspect are the source of this swarm. Even if this swarm were mostly gliders and Common Green Darners, though, that many Blue Dashers among them would be so unusual!
One thing I didn't get into would be normal post-emergence, male dispersal from natal ponds. But these seem to be all, or mostly, mature males. They'd been around a bit. And Blue Dasher, unlike a lot of other odes, don't do major synchronous emergence -- they sort of continually emerge. So you'd think we'd see young males in the mix. I'm sure they were in there (along with more females), but I didn't see 'em. So very odd.
A few years ago we were celebrating my granddaughter's late July birthday here in Monkton, VT. As they were leaving, there were dragonflies all around us for about 10 minutes. It was pretty wonderful although it didn't last long. Recently saw a number of dragonflies flying around in our yard. We have a swampy area nearby. I love it when they show up. Thanks for your writing and radio broadcasts.
We tend to get summer swarms of the large, colorful dragonflies in the genus Aeshna, sometimes called "mosaic darners." They're marked in pastel blues, greens and yellows.
As always, and I mean that, another mind-blowing slice of the magic of life. Thank you for sharing. It immediately brought to mind a motorcycle trip I made in August 1969 that took me across the great expanse of corn fields in South Dakota right at dusk. I noticed a thick black layer ahead and quickly began running into them—quite painfully so—and then, stupidly tried to dodge them. It was impossible at 60mph and even at 20mph was dangerously challenging. No idea what kind they were but were probably feeding. I survived but no doubt killed many of the amazing critters in the process.
I want to hear and read about that trip! And I suspect you might have "run into" meadowhawks -- those red dragonflies of summer (now flying). They can be abundant in the Great Plains.
The dragonflies spread smiles and glee, and then, once again you bring us all such joy in your glorious words by sharing the event with all of us. Your writing just keeps getting better!
What a remarkable, once in a lifetime experience all those lucky people had! My once in a lifetime magical experience occurred several years ago while working in a marsh in Woolwich, Maine on a picture perfect August summer day when there were (only) hundreds of dragons, damsels, and darners all around us. Memorable, magical, and spiritual.
"It’s been said that a dragonfly making the transformation from aquatic nymph to free-flying adult is a bit like a snapping turtle becoming a peregrine falcon."
I am so grateful for your knowledgable, playful, poetic mind, Bryan and for the perspective you bring to this unprecedented 'event' which many of us heard about and wondered about. Your story filled in so many blanks and made it even more wonderful to contemplate. Thank you.
I am left wondering how long a dragonfly engine can run without eating and where you think the meals that fueled that magnificent, uncountable storm of creatures might have been found. That's a lot of mouths to feed to keep those wings a-titter-and-whirring. And do you have any sense about what followed? Did they disband and go their separate ways, or did this cloud of winged energy appear in any sort of traceable path?
Thanks so very much, David. You are kind and attentive. I'm wondering many things as well. So much of this remains a mystery. The swarm lasted only 5 minutes or so on the beach. After that, well, we're sorta clueless at this point. We can sometimes detect these on radar -- and I've checked into that with Aaron Price at Weather With a Twist here on Substack. It could very well be that the swarm dispersed and the dashers went about their business of finding prey here and there. Blue Dashers are fairly cosmopolitan in their habitat preferences. They do well in the world. Anyway, I've put the word out for follow-up info. I'll be poking around iNaturalist as well for evidence, including more videos. (Until now, as a fledgling geezer, I had never watched a TikTok video!)
In Midcoast Maine this time of year there are nasty biting flies the dragonflies could suck up as they flew by. I assume RI beaches aren’t bug free. Bryan, thanks for the “darning needle” reference— my French Canadian grandmother used to call dragonflies by that name and of course said they would sew up our lips if … I don’t remember what the offense was. I still grew up enchanted by them, at any rate. She wasn’t a scary grandmother 😊
I think I recall some lore about them sewing up kids' ears as well. By the way, the darning needle moniker is responsible for the common name for the big dragonflies in the family Aeshnidae: we call them darners here in US and Canada; they call them hawkers in the UK.
It's amazing to see so many dragonflies, and interesting to see the contrast between the crowd reaction at the time and the media reports.
I've witnessed a dragonfly swarm once, in Caerlaverock Nature reserve in Scotland (which is renowned for its dragonflies as well as its birds), there were dragonflies and damselflies of several species everywhere. I think it had been a mass emergence.
Yep, although Blue Dashers are generally an exception, a given species (with other exceptions) does exhibit synchronous emergence. So they tend to fly in good numbers at peak times. These swarms also gather to hunt swarming prey as well.
Thank you for this! It makes my heart sing. Had I seen this video on the news I would not have had the same response. You make everything so poignant by bringing the experience to life with your vivid descriptions. I learn so much about our beautiful and curious world from your posts. This one is encouraging me to head straight to my favorite mountain pond.
Dragonfly nymphs from our temporary ponds here are as transparent as glass. Under the microscope, you can see all their systems (nervous, sensory, tracheal, muscular, circulatory, the whole enchilada). You can even see the blood circulating. Delightful creatures! Like magic!
Different organism tale -- I once happened to be standing next to a salt-water tank containing Skate egg cases. One struggled out of its leathery case and stuck itself to the side of the aquarium. I could see all of its organs, but most impressive was its beating heart. One of the peak experiences of my life, to have witnessed that.
Bryan, Any evidence of the swarm being picked up on weather radar? If so, where they came from and where they were headed might be tracked.
Great idea, Hal! We can check that! I've got a source here on Substack. You ever seen anything like that among Pachydiplax?
Never seen such a swarm. Like you, I thought they were a different species. I tried quickly to ID some of the individuals close to the camera, and could see they were not Pantala.
I checked and did not see anything about this specific swarm. It's far enough from the local radar that they'd be hidden by the curvature of the Earth. However, you could see the general swarms of insects coming out at sunset all across southern New England. I tried to attach/paste an image to this comment but that's not enabled by Substack. Try this link, it may work. It would appear as a cloud of blue/green across the region as the Sun sets.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k1avWr_gMcsooUoTcRip-ssjcN249C4J/view?usp=sharing
Wow, so that dispersed cloud across the region represents insects? Wow! Can't be anything else, right? Bird launches generally don't look like that. I didn't think we'd detect the swarm on the beach, but having you plug in here is great. Thanks so much, Aaron!
Lots of things can cause such patterns, including leaves and dirt blown by the wind. However, when it happens so sharply at dusk during warm months it typically is caused by insects. I suspect some birds are also included as where you have insects you have birds hunting them! But, as you alluded to, they aren't migrating in this particular evening.
The only way I've observed birds actually catching dragonflies is when the bird starts out on a perch and does a fly-catching maneuver out to grab the dragon. Have only seen Great-Crested Flycatchers and Kingbirds be successful at this. Dragonflies are such astonishing acrobats (aerobats?) that they easily evade birds.
Yikes, thanks for posting this link! If I'm reading it correctly, the dense line at the beginning happened earlier than 8:10 PM, yes? So maybe that represents the swarms in Rhode Island?
I would take that swarm of lovely dragons over that horrifying zombie snail ! I am still having the heebie-jeebies about that video. And now we have Chinese Mystery snails in our lake and I imagine them becoming zombies and learning to fly and..... It just gets weirder
I'll try to remember to send you a trigger warning before the post! 🤣
Yeah, the zombie snails freak me out too
I’m so glad you wrote about this spectacle! When I saw the various videos I knew it had to be an unusually rare occurrence, so I’m glad to hear that you and other Odonata aficionados concur. I’d sure love to understand what caused it.
As the amazing Hal White suggested in a comment, I'm looking into what we might find from radar data. Insect flights like these are often detected (like bird flights).
The word you want, I believe, is "wont", as in "as is their wont", meaning "accustomed" or "habituated".
Argh! And I know the difference. I'm so damned good at typos. Thanks, "Scrib!"
Wait, the mind-blowing Rhode Island swarm were BLUE DASHERS?! That's completely nuts. Thank you so much for this timely post, because I was planning to tell people at the Odonata class that I'm teaching tonight that they were probably darners and gliders! Because that's what would make sense. Amazing, thank you again for this.
Yep. I didn't look a ton at silhouettes in those videos, but I didn't see a single Pantala. Didn't seem to find any AJs either. Crazy.
However, I did see at least one Halloween Pennant at the end of the TikTok video.
Please note that there are numerous ponds along that shore, just behind the extensive beaches, especially to the east of Misquamicut Beach (I used to bird there, in another lifetime, in the 1970s). I don't know the salinity in these ponds, and whether dragonflies can complete their life cycles there. So much to speculate about! I too wish I had been there. Dragon swarms are such fun.
Thanks, Kai. Yep, saw that pennant -- and at least one female Blue Dasher in there. I'm sure there were other odes in the swarm. And I have had my eye on those bigger ponds inland, which I suspect are the source of this swarm. Even if this swarm were mostly gliders and Common Green Darners, though, that many Blue Dashers among them would be so unusual!
One thing I didn't get into would be normal post-emergence, male dispersal from natal ponds. But these seem to be all, or mostly, mature males. They'd been around a bit. And Blue Dasher, unlike a lot of other odes, don't do major synchronous emergence -- they sort of continually emerge. So you'd think we'd see young males in the mix. I'm sure they were in there (along with more females), but I didn't see 'em. So very odd.
Yeah, dragonfly swarms are fun!
Ha, I spotted that Pennant too
Worth reading the 55th Gene Key excerpt re: the dragon fly and the auspicious and symbolic nature of this happening!
What? Explain, I’m curious. Thank you 🙏
A few years ago we were celebrating my granddaughter's late July birthday here in Monkton, VT. As they were leaving, there were dragonflies all around us for about 10 minutes. It was pretty wonderful although it didn't last long. Recently saw a number of dragonflies flying around in our yard. We have a swampy area nearby. I love it when they show up. Thanks for your writing and radio broadcasts.
We tend to get summer swarms of the large, colorful dragonflies in the genus Aeshna, sometimes called "mosaic darners." They're marked in pastel blues, greens and yellows.
As always, and I mean that, another mind-blowing slice of the magic of life. Thank you for sharing. It immediately brought to mind a motorcycle trip I made in August 1969 that took me across the great expanse of corn fields in South Dakota right at dusk. I noticed a thick black layer ahead and quickly began running into them—quite painfully so—and then, stupidly tried to dodge them. It was impossible at 60mph and even at 20mph was dangerously challenging. No idea what kind they were but were probably feeding. I survived but no doubt killed many of the amazing critters in the process.
I want to hear and read about that trip! And I suspect you might have "run into" meadowhawks -- those red dragonflies of summer (now flying). They can be abundant in the Great Plains.
The dragonflies spread smiles and glee, and then, once again you bring us all such joy in your glorious words by sharing the event with all of us. Your writing just keeps getting better!
Love your writing and was delighted this morning to learn of this swarm!
Now I am inspired to write a dragonfly haiku.
The notion of this alone makes me very happy.
What a remarkable, once in a lifetime experience all those lucky people had! My once in a lifetime magical experience occurred several years ago while working in a marsh in Woolwich, Maine on a picture perfect August summer day when there were (only) hundreds of dragons, damsels, and darners all around us. Memorable, magical, and spiritual.
We'll see some swarms on Monhegan this autumn!
"It’s been said that a dragonfly making the transformation from aquatic nymph to free-flying adult is a bit like a snapping turtle becoming a peregrine falcon."
I am so grateful for your knowledgable, playful, poetic mind, Bryan and for the perspective you bring to this unprecedented 'event' which many of us heard about and wondered about. Your story filled in so many blanks and made it even more wonderful to contemplate. Thank you.
I am left wondering how long a dragonfly engine can run without eating and where you think the meals that fueled that magnificent, uncountable storm of creatures might have been found. That's a lot of mouths to feed to keep those wings a-titter-and-whirring. And do you have any sense about what followed? Did they disband and go their separate ways, or did this cloud of winged energy appear in any sort of traceable path?
Thanks so very much, David. You are kind and attentive. I'm wondering many things as well. So much of this remains a mystery. The swarm lasted only 5 minutes or so on the beach. After that, well, we're sorta clueless at this point. We can sometimes detect these on radar -- and I've checked into that with Aaron Price at Weather With a Twist here on Substack. It could very well be that the swarm dispersed and the dashers went about their business of finding prey here and there. Blue Dashers are fairly cosmopolitan in their habitat preferences. They do well in the world. Anyway, I've put the word out for follow-up info. I'll be poking around iNaturalist as well for evidence, including more videos. (Until now, as a fledgling geezer, I had never watched a TikTok video!)
"IUntil now, as a fledgling geezer, I had never watched a TikTok video!"
May we all find ways to 'fledge' as gracefully and informatively...
Thanks for the follow-up, my friend.
I conceal well my various aches and pains and general crankinesses!
In Midcoast Maine this time of year there are nasty biting flies the dragonflies could suck up as they flew by. I assume RI beaches aren’t bug free. Bryan, thanks for the “darning needle” reference— my French Canadian grandmother used to call dragonflies by that name and of course said they would sew up our lips if … I don’t remember what the offense was. I still grew up enchanted by them, at any rate. She wasn’t a scary grandmother 😊
I love this, Paula. Just love it.
I think I recall some lore about them sewing up kids' ears as well. By the way, the darning needle moniker is responsible for the common name for the big dragonflies in the family Aeshnidae: we call them darners here in US and Canada; they call them hawkers in the UK.
Brine Flies, which hang out in windrows of seaweed on beaches, make easy prey for dragons.
It's amazing to see so many dragonflies, and interesting to see the contrast between the crowd reaction at the time and the media reports.
I've witnessed a dragonfly swarm once, in Caerlaverock Nature reserve in Scotland (which is renowned for its dragonflies as well as its birds), there were dragonflies and damselflies of several species everywhere. I think it had been a mass emergence.
Yep, although Blue Dashers are generally an exception, a given species (with other exceptions) does exhibit synchronous emergence. So they tend to fly in good numbers at peak times. These swarms also gather to hunt swarming prey as well.
Thank you for this! It makes my heart sing. Had I seen this video on the news I would not have had the same response. You make everything so poignant by bringing the experience to life with your vivid descriptions. I learn so much about our beautiful and curious world from your posts. This one is encouraging me to head straight to my favorite mountain pond.
From my shoulder
to the Buddha’s shoulder—
the dragonfly
— Kobayashi Issa
Very kind of you, Marnie. Thanks. Let us know what you find at the pond!
Dragonfly nymphs from our temporary ponds here are as transparent as glass. Under the microscope, you can see all their systems (nervous, sensory, tracheal, muscular, circulatory, the whole enchilada). You can even see the blood circulating. Delightful creatures! Like magic!
Indeed! I've been spending time with bryophytes lately, and, as a result, tardigrades. Seeing right through them in the scope!
Different organism tale -- I once happened to be standing next to a salt-water tank containing Skate egg cases. One struggled out of its leathery case and stuck itself to the side of the aquarium. I could see all of its organs, but most impressive was its beating heart. One of the peak experiences of my life, to have witnessed that.
Hmm. I might have to see that (among many other things) before I leave this earth. :-)