I've noticed some too lately, definitely more than previous summers. We've had a terribly dry summer (really the last two summers have been too dry) but week before last there were--unusually!--two real downpours within the single week. They weren't enough to completely soak the poor dry ground (deeper soils are still bone-dry) but the grass began to recover and the kettle hole ponds rehydrated nicely.

I've noticed several sizes of dragon flies around my bird bath in the last week. Oh, and odd mushrooms and toadstools have sprouted too. Nice to see! :--}

We live along a river and periodic swarms of dragonflies and swallows occur here, usually in the late afternoon/early evening around sunset. Sometimes the dragonflies are near ground level and sometimes they are higher than the house's 2 story roof, and sometimes both. We see them both at home and at DH's shop, 1/2 mile away, but never on the same day. The swallows are usually over the corn field, but if the dragonflies are there, they are too far away to see. Our theory is that when the swarms occur, there is some type of insect hatching out en mass, providing a dense food source for the dragonflies or swallows, both of which are fierce enough preditors to make me glad I am not an insect. Sometimes when the light angle is just right, we can actually see the dragonflies snagging little bugs. They don't show well, but all the dark flecks in this photo are dragonflies in a swarm from last summer.

Thanks, everyone! They were definitely dragonflies from your descriptions and Bab's photo. I always love seeing new creatures in my neighborhood!

We are 1 mile from the beach and had swarms of them this weekend. Our kids call it a dragonfly party. They like our house around dinner time (6-7pm) when the mosquitoes come out. I like to think that they are eating them up for us :) I rarely get bites in our yard, but anywhere else...

It's odd. We've noticed some days when we hardly see a bird and wonder if they've already gone south. Last Friday I went kayaking with a friend on a small secluded pond where she says she usually sees a ton of birds, esp red winged blackbirds. That day we only saw a few wood ducks fly over head and a couple of very unhappy herons who didn't like having us visit. As we paddled back to shore we finally saw at a distance a loon or two. All I could see was a dark head. The dragonflies are back lately but not the huge squadrons we saw in the spring. A friend in NC has posted photos on facebook showing different varieties of dragonflies. They are usually too quick for me to tell what color they are.