This summer (2025) we got a new visitor at our pond, a Dythemis velox, or Swift Setwing. At first, there was only one, but a few weeks later, there were at least three more around the edges of the pond.

This is a new dragonfly for Bladen County in North Carolina (NC). Or is it?

Swift Setwing have been observed in several other counties in NC and a map of where it has occurred as well as supporting records can be found on the NC Parks website for Odonata. NC Parks maintains an excellent site that has records for each species of dragonfly and damselfly found in NC. On each species spage is a description, photos, maps, and records of observations. That’s how I knew that Swift Setwing had never been recorded in Bladen County before.

But I’m not sure that they haven’t been here and in other locations as well for a while. Mostly because I’m not sure how many people are actually looking for them. In counties where there is a larger population of people and therefore a higher likelihood that someone might be out there looking for Odonata, there are more records. Bladen County is largely rural and there aren’t a lot of folks stumbling around in the heat and humidity of summer searching for Odonata. And I can understand that. They are probably smarter than I am because, I get heat exhaustion several times each summer as I search for whatever species I can find. it doesn’t matter how much I prepare for summer’s pitiless onslaught–I often wind up with heat exhaustion. So I can understand why others aren’t doing a lot of observing around here.

Swift Setwing are probably fairly recent at our pond however because I have been searching the area for a couple of years now, looking for Odonata of any kind. In searching this year, I’ve managed to find a few species at our pond which have not been there in the past–or at least I haven’t seen them before–including the lovely Somatochlora filosa, fine-lined Emerald. I’ve seen emeralds in the swamp before, but I haven’t seen any at the edge of our pond so this was a wonderful, unexpected surprise.

I’m hoping these dragonflies are breeding at our pond. We seem to be getting more species as I even saw a Libellula luctuosa, Widow Skimmer, at our pond this year. I hadn’t seen one nearby in previous years. With luck, we’ll have even more species next year!