In review, 2023 had some interesting day numbers - which led to thinking more generally about the season and the data.

The number that started it was 721. This is the number of observations identified to species on 7/14/2023. This is the highest one day total (ever) in the data, ahead of the 696 from 6/25/2022. We also had a good day on 6/17/2023 with 693 observations. These "days" have more records than most historical "years", and any year prior to 1959 (which had 1014 observations).

We had three days in 2023 with observations in 40 different counties: 6/25; 7/14; and 7/16. High county days for earlier years were a peak of 44 counties on 7/8/2019, and three days for 42 counties: 6/21/2019; 7/14/2019; and 6/19/2022. We have to go back to 6/11/2016 to find the highest county number prior to the recent survey years (2017-2023) - this day had 17 counties and ranks as #659.

The 2023 day with the most observers was 7/16 with 75 different users. This is behind earlier year highs of 86 observers on 6/12/2021 and 80 on 7/13/2019.

One of the most remarkable numbers for 2023 was 75 species recorded on 6/4. 6/3/2023 was close with 68 species. These two days combined had 84 users recording 1012 observations covering 81 species. These species counts (75, 68, 81) represent half or more of the annual species totals.

Blue Dasher had the high one day observations on 7/14/2023 with 76. This number trails Eastern Forktail on 5/29/2022 with 112, and Eastern Pondhawk on 8/13/2022 with 103.

Widow Skimmer had the most counties in a day for 2023 with 21 on 7/14. Earlier highs are Blue Dasher in 2019 with 25 counties on 7/13 and 24 counties on 7/14.

Widow Skimmer on 7/14/2023 was also the high for number of observers for a species in a day with 27. This also lags the Blue Dasher on 7/13/2019 where 35 people recorded observations.

For individual users on individual days:
monicap273 recorded 229 observations on 6/3/2023
lisaclairemiller recorded 55 Blue Dashers on 8/8/2023
jimlem recorded 34 species on 7/27/2023

Five days had users with observations in 5 counties:
6/21/2023 - monicap273 (Hancock, Huron, Lorain, Sandusky, Seneca)
6/25/2023 - monicap273 (Columbiana, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Tuscarawas)
6/26/2023 - dmcshaffrey (Carroll, Guernsey, Noble, Stark, Washington)
9/3/2023 - jimlem (Allen, Defiance, Logan, Paulding, Van Wert)
9/20/2023 - jimlem (Auglaize, Champaign, Mercer, Shelby Van Wert)

Posted on February 13, 2024 08:09 PM by jimlem