Dragonflies invade Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island

WESTERLY, RI (WFSB) - A swarm of dragonflies descended on a beach in Rhode Island over the weekend.

Misquamicut beachgoers in Westerly recorded the insects on Saturday.

In video sent to Channel 3 by viewer Nicole Taylor, people can be seen running for cover.

“One minute everything was calm. The next minute I saw the most dragonflies I’ve ever seen in my life,” Taylor told Eyewitness News. “It lasted for like 3 minutes, and then they were gone. It was a very strange experience.”

“It was weird. It was like there was a couple, and then there was more and then it was just like they were coming from the ocean and we’re just trying to process wow what is going on and you look up and there’s thousands in the air and all around you,” said Paula Bellavance of Putnam, who was celebrating her 50th birthday at the beach.

Some people told Eyewitness News they noticed more dragonflies at Connecticut’s beaches too.

The experts at Connecticut’s Agricultural Experiment Station talked about why.

“These are green donna dragonflies that are commuting possibly from Canada, and they may have been pushed on shore by the wind,” said Associate Scientist Gale Ridge.

Ridge believes a mixture of warm ocean temps and wind may have pushed the insects to shore.

She said to think of their quick stop at Misquamicut like a family stopping for McDonald’s on a road trip. Only instead of a McDouble they are grabbing a quick bite of a mosquito.

“It’s like the arrival of the cavalry as far as mosquito management is concerned,” Ridge said.

Dragonflies help to control the mosquito population, according to officials at the Meig’s Point Nature Center at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. A single dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes per day.

Because dragonflies are aquatic insects, they can’t breed in polluted waters, so a swarm this size is also sign of a healthy environment.

“In many ways, they are providing a message of good fortune,” said Ridge.

“It was just such an experience, something we’ll probably never see again in our life, but wow it was breathtaking,” said Bellavance, who has photos of dragonflies in her home.

This isn’t common. Ridge said she’s never seen this many dragonflies at once either.

If you were there this weekend, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.