Thanks, Dennis. We did not see any yesterday -- it all happened here in
Tokeland between approximately 3:30 p.m. and dusk on the 2nd. I drove
the length of the Tokeland peninsula (approx. 2 miles) and back during
the 5:00 hour, and there was approximately one dragonfly per cubic foot
of airspace, from just above ground level to about 25 feet up, the
entire length of the peninsula, along with more concentrated groups
interspersed within those. They kept passing through in such numbers
for several hours, so I think they must have numbered in the millions.

After the marina (where there appeared to be the most concentrated
numbers -- more than higher up on the peninsula), they just kept going
across the water headed generally toward Bay Center to the southeast. I
also drove up to Washaway Beach but they were much less concentrated up
there -- although I did see an unusual number of crows eating things
along that stretch of road, which I assumed to be road-kill dragonflies.


I do not know enough about dragonflies to know whether there were other
species mixed in. They were moving along at a pretty good pace, so it
was hard to get a good look at them.

Meanwhile, for anyone thinking about birding at the Tokeland Marina
today, they're holding their big annual Fishing Derby, so it's literally
the most crowded day of the year down there.

Cheers,

Andrea Grad
Shoreline/Tokeland
agrad at helsell.com

________________________________

From: Dennis Paulson [mailto:dennispaulson at comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 2:22 PM
To: TWEETERS
Cc: Grad, Andrea E.
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Tokeland Dragonfly Migration - just started


Hello, Andrea.

Thanks for the news. I wish I could get down there myself to see that,
as I've only heard about these WA/OR coastal migrations. It's going on
in Oregon as well, although the word used there is "thousands" and not
"millions." They are passing at the rate of hundreds per minute at some
coastal Oregon sites, but it seems to be very local.

The dragonflies may all be Variegated Meadowhawks (Sympetrum corruptum),
our usual coastal migrant. If anyone sees any other species mixed in, I
would be very interested. And of course I'm interested in the magnitude
of the flight and how long it lasts. What do the dragonflies do when
they reach the end of land at Tokeland? Just keep going over the water?

These flights often happen during prolonged easterly winds, the winds
apparently concentrating them at the coast, but there is still much we
don't understand.

These dragonflies aren't going to Central and South America, merely to
California and northern Mexico, but the rest of the story is as you tell
it. This is an entirely speculative scenario, but anything we know about
them supports it as a reasonable hypothesis. The same thing happens with
Common Green Darners (Anax junius) all across the continent, although
they may not be common enough to generate such large flights in the West
(flights of millions have been seen in the East). There is no comparable
spring flight in these species. They just drift northward over a lengthy
period, but we know they are migrants, because they appear in spring in
the Northwest as fully mature adults ready to breed, with no indication
that any are emerging from the water locally.

These fall migrants are coming from all over their range to the north of
us, which extends only to southern BC. They are also widespread in the
southern parts of the Canadian prairie provinces, but those individuals
may migrate east of the Rockies. Observers in the Pasayten wilderness
saw very large flights of this species coming across mountains there
last week, so this has been a very widespread movement. I speculate that
because of global warming, these meadowhawks may be becoming more common
to the north of us.

Thanks again, and please keep us informed!

Dennis



On Sep 3, 2010, at 12:02 PM, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu
wrote:


Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 17:20:53 -0700
From: "Grad, Andrea E." <agrad at helsell.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] Tokeland Dragonfly Migration - just started
To: <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Message-ID:
<BFCC644419CFED4E9234053F31443301093D586F at helsell2.helsell.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Within the last hour or two, hordes of dragonflies have started
passing
through/over the Tokeland peninsula -- millions upon millions,
from the
looks of it. Last time we observed this phenomenon here, two or
three
years ago, Dennis Paulson enlightened Tweeters with the details
of how
these particular dragonflies are born up here, migrate to
Central or
South America, lay eggs and then die -- leaving their offspring
to
migrate miraculously back, where those then breed and die; their
offspring head back south with no guidance from previous
journeys or
parents.

Dennis, I would appreciate it if you would please tell us again
what
species they are and correct/refine my recollections above. And
do they
breed/live together up here in relatively close proximity to
each other,
or just gather from far flung places into one large stream when
it's
time to migrate?

Last time we witnessed this, it only lasted two days, with many
more the
first day than the second.

Cheers,

Andrea Grad
Shoreline/Tokeland
agrad at helsell.com


-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net