About us

The Northeast Chapter of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas first gathered in 1990 in Westchester, New York. The chapter has met more or less annually since then in a different location every year, from New Brunswick west to Lake Superior, south to the DelMarVa Peninsula, and north to Chapleau, Ontario near the edge of the Arctic watershed. Our mission is to add to knowledge of Odonata, whether by investigating new places, contributing new data to update ongoing projects, or by hosting presentations by researchers studying dragonflies or damselflies.

In 2008 NEDSA hosted the first-ever NymphFest in Athol, MA, highlighting odonates’ aquatic larval stages rather than the winged adults. This was successful enough to inspire a sequel in 2016. The third, scheduled for 2020 in Ithaca NY but postponed by COVID-19 and will be rescheduled soon.

In its early years our group was called ‘the Northeastern Odonata Collectors’ Meeting'. Netting is still encouraged during NEDSA meetings, as some odonate species can only be identified in the hand. Non-collecting watchers and photographers are also welcome, and in recent years cameras and binoculars have outnumbered nets at our gatherings.

Join our Facebook group to be informed of upcoming NEDSA activities!

Link to facebook group

NESDA 2026 New Jersey Meeting

Note: Meeting schedule is subject to change due to weather conditions. For updates, you can message or call Josh Rose at (956)249-9996 or reach out to him via Facebook Messenger. He often uses group text messages to coordinate meeting dinners and gatherings.

Thursday, July 9: Meeting attendees arrive and check in to accommodations. Primary lodging is the Hilton Garden Inn Westampton/Mount Holly, however, they appear to have limited rooms available and no group discount code. Two good lodging backups are the Courtyard by Marriott Burlington-Mount Holly/Westampton and the Holiday Inn Express Burlington-Mount Holly.

Friday, July 10: Meet at 9 AM at the Atsion Recreation Area, on the south side of Atsion Lake just west of Route 206.

Our main target at first will be Somatochlora sp. emeralds; the only confirmed state record of Coppery Emerald was photographed here, Mocha should be around, and others are possible, along with river cruisers including Allegheny. The Mullica River and other streams feeding into the lake can have Blackwater Bluet, Sparking Jewelwing, and Blue-tipped Dancer.

Depending on our group size, we might leave a few cars at Atsion and carpool to other sites from there. After Atsion we aim to visit Batsto Lake/River, then Webb’s Mill Bog (hoping for Seepage Dancer and Elfin Skimmer at the latter site). If we have additional time we might add Oswego Lake or Pakim Pond to our itinerary, especially if we haven’t seen a Scarlet Bluet yet.

Saturday, July 11: Meet at 9 AM at the Assunpink Conservation Center, in Assunpink Wildlife Management Area.

We plan to start the day with talks by Manpreet Kohli (CUNY), Jessica Ware (AMNH), Charlotte Brennan (UConn), Meena Haribal (Cornell), and one or two other speakers. When they are done, the WMA has some promising habitat to explore, and is a popular destination for local birders and butterfliers: https://legacysite.naba.org/chapters/nabanj/sites/assunpink.html. Time permitting, we might also visit other nearby sites like Mercer County Park or Clayton Park.

If the weather forecast for Saturday calls for a lot of rain in the afternoon and nicer dragonflying weather in the morning, we might switch to exploring the habitat first and having the talks later. If the Center is amenable, we might even change the day of the talks if one of our three days has a much less hospitable forecast than the other two, though for now the three days look fairly equivalent.

Sunday, July 12: An earlier meeting time, 7:30 AM at the Hilton. This is because we’ll be driving a bit further, down to Hunters Mill Road east of Port Elizabeth.

We will be targeting Somatochloras to start the day again, with Treetop Emerald our main objective. Fine-lined Emerald has also been found here, along with Mocha, and Allegheny River Cruiser if we don’t satisfy ourselves with those at Atsion. Bar-winged and Yellow-sided Skimmers live in this neighborhood too.

After that we plan to head east to Shaw’s Millpond where we can expect to see a variety of pennants including Double-ringed and Martha’s, as well as Banded and others. Slender Bluet, Lilypad Forktail, and Southern Sprite should be here as well. Depending on our time and energy level, we might follow up with stops at a couple of WMAs on the way back to Westampton, Winslow and Cedar Lake, with hopes of tracking down Comet Darner, Atlantic Bluet, Elegant Spreadwing, Sparkling Jewelwing and more.

What to bring

As usual for DSA and NEDSA outings, be prepared for heat, rain, wet feet, ticks, and flying pests. Bring water, snacks and a sack lunch because there are not many lunch spots along the way. There may be a few random roadside seafood shacks and BBQ stands.

Spotting scopes might be useful, in addition to the usual nets, cameras, binoculars, specimen containers, and such: emeralds and darners are noted for sometimes perching up high where they can be seen but not netted, and some of the damsels and dragons we are seeking tend to select offshore perches that me might not be able to wade close to. Folks who attended the recent DSA national meeting in Hot Springs might recall that our only encounters with Riverine Clubtail (Stylurus amnicola) were through a scope, watching them fly over the far side of a river.