Dragonfly swarm takes over Rhode Island beach:

WESTERLY, R.I. – A day at the beach turned into something out of a movie in Rhode Island when a swarm of dragonflies descended on beachgoers.

Videos posted to social media show some on Misquamicut Beach in Westerly covering up with towels Saturday as the insects flew overhead. 

“I’m kind of scared,” one person is heard saying in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, by user @Getlucky12341. “Is the world ending?”

“Hundreds of thousands of dragonflies”

“Invasion of the Dragonflies!” was the caption Mark Stickney chose for the video he posted to Facebook. He told WBZ-TV he got to the beach at about 11 a.m. and “started seeing dragonflies everywhere.”

The largest swam moved in from the ocean at about 1 p.m.

“It must’ve numbered in the hundreds of thousands of dragonflies,” Stickney said. “It was surreal.”

He said the dragonflies weren’t bothering anybody, and most beachgoers stayed put. Stickney said the insects reminded him of X-wing fighters from “Star Wars.”

“I thought it was amazing,” he said. “It was an astonishing sight.”

What causes a dragonfly swarm?

Evan LaCross, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Management in Rhode Island, said dragonflies are known to swarm open spaces like fields, freshwater sources and beaches.

“The swarms of dragonflies that the public observed throughout Rhode Island last weekend are most likely dragonflies dispersing in search of suitable habitat or in response to high population densities,” LaCross said. “It’s impossible to know where they are coming from, but if surface water is drying up or if dragonfly population densities are high, they are known to disperse in search of new suitable habitat.”

Rhode Island typically sees a seasonal migratory flight of dragonflies from mid-August to mid-September as they head south, he said.