What to look for in nature in Florida this November

When do manatees gather in Florida's springs and warm-water canals?

When do right whales come to Florida to give birth?

• How to spot one

  Mid-November through mid-April · Close to the beach along the northeast coast; high dunes, piers and condo balconies

  Right whales have no dorsal fin, so look for a broad black back rolling at the surface and a V-shaped blow, often within a mile or two of shore. A mother and calf may rest at the surface for long periods. Report any sighting to the Southeast right whale hotline, 877-942-5343; survey teams use the calls to find and identify new pairs.

• Give them room

  Always · Boats, kayaks, paddleboards, surfboards and drones

  Federal rules require boats, aircraft and drones, and also people on surfboards, kayaks and personal watercraft, to stay at least 500 yards from a right whale, and to leave slowly if they find themselves closer. Large vessels 65 feet and longer must hold to 10 knots or less in seasonal management areas along the East Coast. Collisions and fishing gear entanglement are the two biggest threats to the species.

• The Right Whale Festival

  Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, 2026 · Main Beach Park, 32 N. Fletcher Ave., Fernandina Beach

  Free admission, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, with exhibits on right whale conservation, live music, art and food trucks. Keep watching the ocean between exhibits.

When do Florida's bald eagles lay their eggs?

• Eagles arriving from the north

  Through late December · Lakes, rivers, coasts and landfills statewide

  Many of Florida's adult eagles stay year round, but young birds and non-breeders leave in spring and summer. The FWC says they drift north between April and August and come south again from late July through late December, so the number of eagles in the state keeps climbing this month.

• Watch from a distance

  All season · Any active nest

  An eagle that flushes from its eggs on a cool morning leaves them exposed, so use binoculars or a spotting scope, stay well back and leave if the birds call or fly. Audubon's Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland runs EagleWatch, whose volunteers monitor nests around the state and welcome reports of new ones.

Which winter birds arrive in Florida in November?

• Sandhill cranes from the Great Lakes

  Migrants arrive in November and December and leave in March and April · Paynes Prairie near Gainesville, the Kissimmee prairies, pastures across the peninsula

  Florida's own sandhill cranes, 4,000 to 5,000 birds, stay put all year. In November about 25,000 migratory greater sandhill cranes begin to join them, roughly doubling the number in the state. At Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park the visitors stay from November into March, and the La Chua Trail runs out into their wet prairie; the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail notes that whooping cranes are sometimes present there in winter as well. Listen for the rolling calls of flocks passing high overhead on clear mornings after a front.

• Ducks on the refuges

  Numbers build after each front · Merritt Island, St. Marks, Lake Apopka

  Most of Florida's wintering ducks come in with the November cold fronts. At Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge the 7-mile Black Point Wildlife Drive is at its best in fall and winter; drive it slowly and scan the impoundments. At St. Marks the lighthouse pond holds wintering ducks, canvasbacks among them, and red-throated loons turn up offshore every year. Near Orlando, the free 11-mile Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive is open from sunrise to sunset on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays, which this month include Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, and Thanksgiving; more than 250 species have been recorded along it, soras among the winter birds.

• Tree swallows over the marshes

  Late fall through winter · Coastal marshes and the wax myrtle thickets beside them

  Tree swallows spend the winter in Florida in big wheeling flocks over marshes and dunes. They are the one swallow that can live on fruit when insects are scarce, and Audubon notes that berries, mostly bayberries, can make up a fifth of the year's diet, eaten mostly in winter. In Florida that usually means wax myrtle, a bayberry, so a fruiting thicket near a marsh is the place to stand.

• Painted buntings at the feeder

  Fall through early spring · Brushy edges, gardens and feeders, especially near the coasts

  The male painted bunting, blue, green and red, is the bird Florida backyard birders hope for in winter; Audubon says lucky Floridians may get one at the feeder. The visitor center feeders at Merritt Island are a reliable place to see them. They are also in trouble: the FWC reports that Florida breeding and winter surveys show the population falling 4 to 6 percent a year. Project FeederWatch opens its 2026–27 season on November 1, and a Florida feeder list with buntings on it is useful data.

What are bears, alligators and panthers doing in November?

• Black bears, still eating

  All month · Ocala, Apalachicola, Osceola, Big Cypress and the neighborhoods beside them

  Florida's roughly 4,050 black bears keep feeding hard into late fall, and about 80 percent of what they eat is plant food: acorns, saw palmetto fruit and other nuts and berries. A big male weighs 250 to 350 pounds, a female 130 to 180. With the acorn crop on the ground, bears that find unsecured trash or bird seed near homes return to it, so lock garbage away until collection morning and take feeders in at night. Watch road shoulders at dusk, when bears cross.

• Alligators slow down

  After each cold front · Lakes, canals and marshes statewide

  Alligators run on outside heat. The FWC says they quit feeding once air temperatures fall below about 70 °F and become dormant below about 55 °F, sheltering in dens dug into banks beside the water. In November that means quiet days after a front and gators hauled out in the sun on the first warm afternoon that follows.

• Florida panthers

  All year · Mostly south of Lake Okeechobee: Big Cypress, Fakahatchee, Florida Panther refuge

  Between 120 and 230 adult panthers survive in Florida, most of them south of Lake Okeechobee, and collisions with cars and trucks are among the biggest threats they face. Slow down after dark on roads through Collier, Hendry and Lee counties, and report a sighting or a dead panther to the FWC at 888-404-3922 or through its online panther sightings form. The Florida Panther Festival is at Naples Zoo on Saturday, November 7, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Collier County residents get in free that day.

Is hurricane season over, and what will a strong El Niño mean for Florida's winter?

Which parts of Florida usually see a freeze by the end of November?

How early does it get dark in Florida in November?

What can you see in Florida's night sky in November?

• Mars beside Jupiter

  Before dawn on Sunday, November 15, and Monday, November 16 · High in the southeast, in Leo

  Jupiter, the brighter of the two, and reddish Mars pass about 1.2 degrees apart, closest on the evening of the 15th, when both are below the horizon, so the mornings either side are the time to look. Both rise around midnight this month and stand high by first light. Earlier, at dawn on November 2, the nearly half-lit Moon sits about 2 degrees from Mars with Jupiter a few degrees off.

• Venus at its most brilliant

  Every morning; brightest around November 24 to 27 · Low in the east-southeast before sunrise, climbing higher each week

  After slipping between Earth and the sun around October 24, Venus climbs quickly into Florida's dawn sky, shining at magnitude −4.9 around Thanksgiving week. At dawn on November 9, Spica, Virgo's leading star, sits roughly one degree from it. Mercury has its best morning appearance around November 20; try roughly the 18th to the 25th, low in the east-southeast and well beneath Venus.

• The Leonids

  Best before dawn on Wednesday, November 18 · Anywhere dark; the radiant in Leo rises around midnight

  Active from November 6 to 30, the Leonids crest on November 17; from a dark Florida site expect perhaps 15 an hour, and forecasters see no outburst in 2026. From Jacksonville to the Keys, the first-quarter Moon drops out of the sky around 12:30 a.m., which leaves Wednesday’s predawn sky, with Leo standing high in the southeast, as the Florida window. Big Cypress and the Kissimmee Prairie have some of Florida's darkest skies.

• Taurid fireballs

  Southern Taurids peak around November 5; Northern Taurids around November 12 · Most of the night, in the east and overhead

  The Taurids are thin, five to ten an hour at best, yet slow, and every so often one lights up as a fireball; with the November 9 new moon between their two peaks, moonlight is no problem. They are debris from Comet Encke, which itself begins to brighten again in December.

• The Beaver supermoon

  Full at 9:53 a.m. EST on Tuesday, November 24 · Rising in the east around sunset on the 23rd and 24th

  November's full moon falls about 30 hours before the Moon's closest approach of the month, enough for it to count as a modest supermoon. Toward dawn on Tuesday the 24th it passes very close to the Pleiades star cluster, covering some of its stars as seen from parts of the globe, though the cluster's faint stars mostly vanish in the glare. There are no eclipses this month.

• Saturn and Uranus in the evening

  All month; Uranus at opposition November 25 · Saturn in the south after dusk; Uranus in Taurus near the Pleiades

  After dusk, look south for Saturn, a steady yellowish point among the dim stars of Pisces and the lone bright planet of Florida's November evenings. Uranus, at opposition on November 25, stays above the horizon from dusk to dawn; binoculars and a chart show it as a small greenish disk close to the Pleiades.

What changes color, blooms and fruits in Florida in November?

• Bald cypress turns

  November in North Florida; later down the peninsula · River swamps, lake edges and cypress domes

  Florida's best fall color is in the swamps. The Florida Native Plant Society lists bald cypress for its fall color: the feathery needles turn orange-brown before they drop, and a cypress dome seen from a trail or a canoe can glow for a couple of weeks.

• Red maple and sweetgum

  Late fall · Wet woods, swamp edges, yards in North Florida

  Red maple and sweetgum are the other two native trees the society notes for fall color. The maple also puts on a second show soon after: tiny red flowers in January, then bright red winged seeds.

• Climbing aster

  Late summer well into fall; through the winter in South Florida · Pond edges, ditches and wet thickets

  Climbing aster scrambles up to 10 feet over shrubs at the water's edge and covers itself in pink to lavender daisies just as most other wildflowers quit. In South Florida it keeps flowering through the winter, so watch it for late butterflies and bees.

• Holly berries

  Ripe in fall, holding into winter · Hammocks, coastal scrub, swamp edges and yards

  Yaupon and dahoon hollies, both native evergreens, carry red berries that ripen in fall and hang on into winter, food for wintering birds once insects grow scarce. Only the female plants bear fruit.

What can families do outdoors in Florida this November?

Safety notes for November in Florida