Milwaukee Dragonflies Invading Northern Illinois?

Back in September a story was posted about Milwaukee, WI being swarmed by Dragonflies, are they now invading Northern Illinois? PATCH

Last weekend I "thought" I saw Dragonflies in my backyard, which would be unusual for a couple reasons. First off, I've never seen them in my backyard before...Secondly, it's October.

My "what the hell" was confirmed, when later in the day my wife said "hey look a Dragonfly!" So it WASN'T in my my imagination...They were flying around our backyard in October!

So what's the deal, where did they come from and why are they in our area? It turns out back in early September they were in Milwaukee, Wi. There were several sightings of large swarms throughout the Milwaukee area, including a group of them spotted near the Summerfest grounds.

Dragonflies in large numbers will be in Wisconsin throughout the summer and then make their move south in groups.

"They'll migrate to the southern US as well as parts of Mexico and the Caribbean where they spend the winter." - Patrick Liesch, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab

That sounds like a plan to me! Hang out up in this area for the summer, and head to the Caribbean for the winter. Nice work, Dragonflies!

So apparently we are just a "passing through" location for the friendly flying bug with the terrifying name.

Back in 2013 a story was written about the Green Darner Dragonfly being in the Milwaukee area. The Green Darner Dragonfly can get to the size of a Hummingbird. Yikes!