Dragonflies, EVERYWHERE

Hello everybody, Im curious as to if anyone has ever heard of such a thing as a dragonfly swarm.

I'm in Redding,CA (northern CA) at the moment and last night a friend and I went outside to have a smoke. It was about 8-9pm, still light out (kind of). I didn't notice a thing until my friend muttered something along the line of what the *Bleep*. I looked up and the are dragonflies as far as the eye can see. Literally, as far as we could see (I live on top of a hill). Just a massive swarm of these things flying about and just as many just sitting (does a bug sit?) EVERYWHERE. No more then a foot or two between any of them.

So of course, as someone who spends a little bit too much time reading ATS about the coming apocalypse and whatnot, I semi-freak out and go inside. But not before trying to get a picture. The only camera I own is on my phone and nothing would show up on the damn thing. I tried to no avail

Ideas anyone? They are totally gone today, not one dragonfly to be seen. Is this a normal thing for them? I didn't see any dragonfly on dragonfly action so I don't think it was some kind of breeding deal...

I've never seen anything like it. It was like a movie almost. I don't think Ive even seen a dragonfly at my house at all before

Heres two links that may help you. They aren't very informative and suggest there is little known about dragonfly swarms.

www.benthos.org...

Why do Dragonflies sometimes appear in large swarms?

Several species of dragonfly are known to collect in large swarms. In most cases this appears to be due to very favorable feeding conditions in the area. It may also be a "courting" group with males actively searching for females. This is less likely as males are much more aggressive to each other when looking for a mate.

Some dragonflies gather in swarms before moving to a new area (like a bird migration). The reasons for this are unclear but may be due to population pressures. There are records from the US of migratory swarms.

www.eduwebs.org...

Hope that helps. What time did this incident occur?

About 8 or 9 pm my friend. It was getting dark but it was still light enough to see them all.

Like I said, I don't think it was some sort of breeding thing. I didn't see any them attached to each other like they do when the little buggers are getting it on

edit: A little more info; they were all light blue in color and it was at least 80 degrees outside. And there has been no storms whatsoever for months and there is definitely none coming.

[edit on 8/19/2007 by PlausibleDeniability]

I'm in the UK and I've noticed hundrens this year, when we only ever see one if we're really lucky. It's quite surreal, but I think their beautiful ^_^

Originally posted by FudgeStix
I'm in the UK and I've noticed hundrens this year, when we only ever see one if we're really lucky. It's quite surreal, but I think their beautiful ^_^

Hundreds of swarms? Hmm, I guess Im just being a bit over dramatic then.

I've never seen anything like it before though, only in the movies.

Don't know about dragonfly swarm... but here lately every morning when I come into the office for work the building is covered in cicadas. Before now I've actually only seen 3 or 4 cicada's in my life. You hear them all the time in summer... I don't know if this is normal for this area or not, I just moved to Tulsa, OK in the beginning of July. But it certainly does make me scratch my head.

Interesting.

I`ve noticed an absurd number of dragonflies this year as well. Last summer, on a drive inland I`d see a few - but I was literally scraping them off the front of my truck on Sunday morning. On one 10km stretch of road, I would not be stretching things to say there were hundreds of them.

Lots more cicadas around this year too, come to think of it.

growing up in Florida -we use to see that alot--why they do it Im not sure-but its a fairly common thing-you were just in the right place at the right time..congrats

Great thread!

While I haven't seen any swarms, I have definitely noticed more of them this year than I've seen in recent memory.

I wonder why that is?

[edit on 20-8-2007 by loam]

Originally posted by loam
Great thread!

While I haven't seen any swarms, I have definitely noticed more of them this year than I seen in recent memory.

I wonder why that is?

I guess I'll throw out a conspiracy/chicken little theory...


Pole shift?

ive noticed a lot of dragon flies around too?....

i dont know if its mating season or what??


weird stuff

I saw a huge swarm about 10 years ago in Wisconsin. I really didn't think anything of it. I figured it just was a migration thing or there were a lot of mosquitos around. (They like to eat mosquitos)

As far as the cicada thing - I know that in our area we have a special group of them this year that only shows up once every 17 years or something like that. I've seen quite a few of them too.

All things go in cycles it seems. Remember the year when we had a ton of those Japanese ladybugs infesting everything?

I live in Alberta, Canada and i to have noticed that there are dragon flies everywhere here this year, more then ever seen before. I thought that was strange.

Like the better known migration of birds and of monarch butterflies, long-distance migration of certain species of dragonflies occurs annually throughout much of North America.

Sometimes it takes the form of spectacular mass flights that can involve hundreds of thousands, even millions of individuals.

www.hsrl.rutgers.edu...

I am,

Sri Oracle

Originally posted by Dark_Raven
I live in Alberta, Canada and i to have noticed that there are dragon flies everywhere here this year, more then ever seen before. I thought that was strange.

from the same source:

Because migration occurs over such a broad area, and because mass flights are largely unpredictable, no one person, or even any small group, can keep up with what's happening across the continent.

Sri

This summer in Florida, there was a ridiculous amount of Lovebugs. They were everywhere, like movie-style. A friend and I decided to go to the beach, and within seconds his entire truck was covered in Lovebugs, it was gross. On the beach they were all over you, and massive dead piles of them, too. I had never seen anything like it, but I guess it's a central FL thing, and winds happened to blow them in our direction as they were breeding. Nonetheless, it was nasty - luckily they're lovely critters and don't bite.

Better to have a swarm of dragonflies than a swarm of their main food source.
If you have a large number of dragonflies they are doing you a favor as they are reducing the number of mosquitoes in your area. Last year my back yard had about twenty flying through it daily which was quite a great site to see since the mosquitoes are bad around here normally.

The reason for the greater number the past few years might be due to the warmer weather. This type of weather increases the number of insects including the dreaded mosquito. To have a swarm of dragonflies around is truly a lucky thing you can spend a little time outside with less chance of loosing your blood.

I wish my city would not spray for mosquitoes but instead just release thousands of dragonflies. This would be a better choice for nature and a natural way to keep the blood drinking pest population down.

Granted they do eat other things as well but it seems mosquitoes are a major food source for them. Their larvae and nymphs eat other creatures the nymphs will also eat mosquito larvae and nymphs.

Raist

Took me a while, but I finally found out what the one day swarm thing was about. It's called a hatching swarm. They all change from nymph to adult form at about the same time and then eat every mosquito in sight. When the supply of mosquitos are exhausted, they move off in search of more. They eventually disperse, but it is a wild sight to see squadrons of them clearing out your back yard.
It could also be a release program swarm. The big blue guys are raised for release as mosquito control. It seems that they are hungrier than the other smaller species.
users.crocker.com...

Originally posted by closettrekkie
All things go in cycles it seems. Remember the year when we had a ton of those Japanese ladybugs infesting everything?

Oh yeah! Those were kinda annoying... some bit too! I have only seen one or two bees/wasps this year... tons of flys, and not many ants this year either.

Originally posted by Direwolf
It could also be a release program swarm. The big blue guys are raised for release as mosquito control. It seems that they are hungrier than the other smaller species.
users.crocker.com...

Ah, Thank you. This actually makes sense as there are TONS of mosquitoes in Redding. And now that Im thinking about it, I really havn't seen...any mosquitoes lately.

It was a lot of dragonflies though. Im having a hard time describing the incredible mass of bugs that were there. At least 1/2-1 mile in all directions. At least