Dragonfly and Damselfly Monitoring

Dragonfly and Damselfly Monitoring at Nachusa Grasslands

To learn more about volunteering as a dragonfly/damselfly monitor, please complete the form on the "About Community Scientists" page.

We’ve monitored dragonflies and damselflies since 2013 at Nachusa Grasslands. As of 2021, there are seven volunteer dragonfly monitors who report data to Nachusa Grasslands and the state of Illinois. Aesthetically, many dragonflies are beautiful. They make our natural areas a prettier place. But more importantly, because they spend so much of their life underwater as nymphs, dragonflies can tell us something about water quality and its changes over time. We also monitor dragonfly migration, which is still not completely understood by science. Dragonflies may also tell us about weather changes over time, as we follow their population and species numbers.

Seeing Dragonflies and Damselflies at Nachusa Grasslands
The best viewing times are from mid-May to the end of October in one of our accessible public hiking areas. Look for them on warm sunny days without a lot of wind, hovering over the prairie or perching in the grasses by a stream. A good dragonfly ID book such as "Stokes Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies" is an excellent place to start learning more about these amazing creatures.

Dragonfly Monitors

MONITOR / UNIT MONITORING

Cindy Crosby
DRAGONFLY STEWARD COORDINATOR

Cindy Crosby
Sedge Meadow, Powerline Ponds, Beaver Ponds, Clear Creek, Clear Creek In-stream
Joyce Gibbons
Thelma Carpenter & Jay Meiners Wetlands
Kay Handel & Eric Wiltshire
Big Jump Prairie
Jen Hawkins
Visitor Center South
Teresa Haggestad
Yellow House
Dee Hudson
Williams & Bison Ponds

Linda Kuhns
Tellabs East/Jan's Prairie
J.T. Morand
Juanita Williams North
Stew Pagenstecher
Harold Walk-up
Cheryl Wash
Juanita Williams Central
Holly Yee
Visitor Center North

Dragonfly and Damselfly Nymph Monitors

Dragonflies and damselflies spend most of their lives in Nachusa’s ponds and streams as nymphs. When the weather warms and days lengthen each spring, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs of many species emerge and complete their last stage of incomplete metamorphosis. They clamber onto foliage, then exchange the life of the water for the life of the air.

Collecting the nymphs is important for documenting the species that breed at Nachusa and their presence also indicates health of the habitat.

Nymph Monitors