What to look for in nature in Idaho this February

When do bald eagles and owls start nesting in Idaho?

• Bald eagles finish their nests and lay

  Nest work through the end of February; eggs from late February into early April · Big cottonwoods and conifers near water: the South Fork of the Snake, the Boise River, the Payette, the Salmon, and the lakes of the Panhandle

  Idaho Fish and Game’s eagle leaflet says resident pairs that can stay on territory through the winter keep adding sticks to old nests, or start new ones, from October until the end of February. Then the female lays, usually one or two eggs and never more than four, at some point between late February and early April. Incubation takes about 35 days, so the first eaglets appear in mid-April or early May. Known nesting territories in the state climbed from 11 in 1979 to 234 by 2007. Once an adult stops leaving the nest empty for long stretches, incubation has probably begun.

• Great horned owls on eggs

  Incubating through February in most of the state · Old hawk and magpie nests and tree hollows, along rivers, in shelterbelts and in town parks

  Great horned owls court from November into January, according to the state’s owl booklet, so by February many females have laid two to four eggs in a borrowed stick nest or a hollow and are sitting tight. The eggs take about 33 to 35 days to hatch. In a leafless cottonwood, scan old stick nests for two feathered horns showing over the edge. If the owl turns to stare at you, back away.

• Great gray owls go house hunting

  Courtship feeding in late winter; nest searching from mid-February · Mountain meadows edged with lodgepole pine or fir: Island Park, west-central Idaho, the Panhandle and the Frank Church country

  Great grays hunt more by day than most owls. Fish and Game’s booklet describes the male feeding small voles or shrews to the female in late winter to cement the pair bond, and says the pair begins looking for a nest, usually an old hawk nest, in mid-February. Its hearing is keen enough to find a vole moving under the snow, and it plunges feet first to catch it; around Island Park, pocket gophers are favored prey.

• Prairie falcons come back to the canyon

  February onward; the canyon is busiest from mid-March · The Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area south of Kuna: Dedication Point and the road to Swan Falls Dam

  The Bureau of Land Management says this stretch of canyon holds the greatest concentration of nesting birds of prey in North America, with sixteen species nesting each spring on cliffs up to 700 feet tall. Its visitor guide lists prairie falcons there from February through late July; about 200 pairs nest in the conservation area, and their success tracks the Piute ground squirrels on the plateau (see the next section). The guide says viewing tends to be best in mid-March, May and June, so a late-February trip catches the first arrivals. Golden eagles live there all year.

Which Idaho animals wake up or pair off in February?

• Southern Idaho ground squirrels come up

  Usually emerging in late January or February · Rolling sagebrush and grass hills north of the Payette River around Emmett, Payette and Weiser, north toward Midvale and Indian Valley; nowhere else on Earth

  This little gray-brown squirrel lives only in Idaho, and only in a few hill country valleys of Payette, Gem and Washington counties. A Fish and Game guide to the region’s ground squirrels says most ground squirrels spend about eight months of the year underground, so their whole active year is squeezed into a few months. Fish and Game’s Wildlife Express says this one sleeps from about July to January in a normal year, mates as soon as it emerges, with young above ground about six weeks later. Only about 4,000 were counted when that issue was written, and cheatgrass has replaced much of its native bunchgrass. Watch from the road and let it be.

• Piute ground squirrels and the raptors that need them

  Up from about January on the western Snake River Plain; later in eastern Idaho · Sagebrush and winterfat flats across the Snake River Plain, especially the plateau above the Birds of Prey canyon

  The Birds of Prey area guide says prairie falcon nesting success is closely linked to how many Piute ground squirrels there are, and the squirrels wake early on the western plain. A good squirrel year means a good falcon year. On a sunny afternoon, scan burrow mouths along the Swan Falls road for a small, pale squirrel sitting up, and for a falcon skimming the sagebrush.

• Coyotes court, and get touchy about dogs

  Breeding mostly in February and March; denning into June · Everywhere, including the Boise Foothills, city parks and river corridors

  Fish and Game’s Southwest Region says February brings the start of coyote breeding season, when the animals turn more territorial, mostly toward other canines. Conflicts with dogs can happen at any time of year, but the risk climbs from late February through June as pairs settle into dens and raise pups. The department has had repeated reports of coyotes and dogs tangling in the Boise Foothills, including at Hulls Gulch and the Military Reserve. The department urges leashing dogs on all foothills trails from March through June, even off-leash ones, and earlier where coyotes have caused trouble before.

When do the snow geese come through Idaho?

• Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area

  Usually late February through March; most birds gone by early April · Fort Boise WMA near Parma, where the Boise River meets the Snake

  Fish and Game calls the spring stopover here one of the largest wildlife migrations in southwest Idaho. Up to 60,000 snow geese, white-fronted geese and other waterfowl use the 1,630-acre area, coming up from wintering grounds as far south as Baja California and northern California and following the retreating snow line. They linger about six weeks, then head north, some all the way to Siberia. A viewing platform 15 feet off the ground looks over ponds hidden behind dikes; share the windows on busy weekends.

• The daily routine

  Every day while the flocks are in · Fort Boise and nearby farm fields; the Roswell Marsh Wildlife Habitat Area west of Parma

  The geese keep a fairly regular schedule. They leave the ponds around sunrise to feed in fields nearby, then come back in waves by mid-morning, spiraling down onto the water by the thousands in what the department describes as a mix of aerial ballet and dogfight. Much of the interior of Fort Boise and Roswell Marsh is closed February 1 through July 31 for nesting birds, so stick to open roads and viewing spots.

• Spring geese farther east

  Late winter into April · Market Lake WMA near Roberts; farm fields of the Upper Snake

  Fish and Game says that more than 1 percent of the snow geese in their whole regional population use Market Lake WMA during spring migration, which is one of the reasons the area is managed as a stopover for migrating waterfowl. At a distance, black wingtips separate a snow goose from a swan.

What fish are spawning or running in Idaho rivers in February?

• Burbot spawning in the Kootenai

  Spawning from December to March; most fish mid-February to mid-March · The Kootenai River near Bonners Ferry and its tributaries, including Deep, Smith and Boundary creeks

  Fish and Game calls the burbot North America’s only freshwater cod, and the Kootenai is the one Idaho water where it is native. Fish and Game says that once February arrives, burbot leave the deep pools of the river and Kootenay Lake in British Columbia and move into shallow water to spawn, some after a trip of nearly 75 miles from Canada. They do not dig nests. Instead, males and females twist together in a writhing “spawning ball” and release eggs and milt into the current, and the eggs, each about a millimeter across, settle to the bottom. A big female can carry more than 3 million. Sampling has found the most adults from mid-February to mid-March.

• A comeback story

  Ongoing; fishing reopened in 2019 · The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho hatchery near Bonners Ferry, and the river itself

  By 2004, researchers estimated that only about 50 burbot were left in the whole Kootenai River in Idaho, and fishing had been closed since 1992. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Fish and Game, and biologists in British Columbia and Montana built a recovery program around a tribal hatchery, which raises young burbot from eggs collected each February from a healthy population in Moyie Lake, B.C. The crews spend about two weeks there, catching adults through the ice. The fishery reopened in 2019; anglers fish after dark where creeks join the river.

• Steelhead from a record-low run

  In the rivers all winter; spawning in spring · The Clearwater, Salmon and Snake rivers

  The steelhead holding in Idaho rivers this winter came from what Fish and Game called, in September 2026, one of the poorest returns in modern history: the count of the main index groups at Bonneville Dam was the lowest since the dam was built in 1938. Bag limits were cut statewide. The silver lining: over 90 percent spent two years at sea, so they run large, and big females carry more eggs. Spring 2027 rules were not yet set when this was written, and some rivers closed last spring, so check Fish and Game’s steelhead rules first.

Why is late winter the hardest time for Idaho’s deer and elk?

• Counting the survivors

  Monthly updates through spring · Collared mule deer fawns and elk calves across southern and central Idaho

  Each December and January, Fish and Game biologists put tracking collars on a sample of mule deer fawns and elk calves, then follow them through the winter. In the long run, about 60 percent of fawns survive their first winter, though hard winters can push that much lower. In the snowy winter of 2022–23, 72 percent of collared fawns and 92 percent of collared calves were still alive at the end of February statewide, but in Unit 69 near Idaho Falls 43 percent of the fawns had already died, and in Unit 76 on the Wyoming line, 67 percent. March and April are often deadlier still, the department notes, as fat runs out and young animals’ digestion shifts to new green forage.

• Antlers on the ground

  Mule deer drop antlers from late December through March; elk from mid-March through April · Winter ranges: bedding areas, trails, brushy draws and migration routes

  Mule deer bucks drop their antlers from late December through March, and shed hunting has become a popular late-winter outing. Fish and Game asks people to hold off. Disturbing deer and elk on winter range, whether by car, dog or someone on foot looking for antlers, can push them to burn energy they cannot spare. Idaho has no set shed season, but the Fish and Game Commission can close parts of the state after a severe winter, as it did on public land in the Southeast and Upper Snake regions from January 1 through April 14, 2024, the first such closure since 2002. Nonresidents need an Idaho hunting license to gather antlers.

When do the first wildflowers bloom in Idaho?

• Sagebrush buttercup

  As early as February; some years not until March · The Boise Foothills; a large, early patch along the Big Springs Loop in the western foothills

  Ridge to Rivers, which manages the foothills trail system, says the shiny yellow sagebrush buttercup is among the first flowers to show and can appear as early as February. A local botanical guide notes that it pops up after any stretch warm enough to thaw the ground, and that some flowers carry more than the usual five petals. Most patches grow on clay that turns to gumbo in a thaw, so go on a frozen morning.

• Salt-and-pepper

  Often by late February, sometimes in January · Dry, open slopes in the Boise Front

  This little member of the carrot family, Lomatium linearifolium, sometimes blooms even before the buttercups. Its tight clusters of tiny white flowers come up before the leaves, and the dark purple anthers sprinkled over white petals give it the common name. Near old snow, the guide warns, the blooms are easily mistaken for snow flecks.

How much daylight does Idaho gain in February?

Is February still winter in Idaho, and what does El Niño mean for it?

What can you see in Idaho’s night sky in February 2027?

• Mercury in the evening twilight

  Late January to about February 10; best around February 2 · Low in the west-southwest, 30 to 45 minutes after sunset

  Mercury swings farthest from the sun late on February 2, Idaho time, its best evening showing this winter, so look low over a flat western horizon. About a day and a half after the new moon, on the evening of the 7th, the thinnest of crescents hangs near the planet in twilight.

• Jupiter at opposition

  Wednesday, February 10 · Rising in the east at sunset; high in the south around midnight

  Opposition comes at 5:21 p.m. MST (4:21 p.m. PST) on February 10. Jupiter rises at dusk, sets at dawn, and outshines everything in the evening sky but the moon. Braced binoculars show its moons as tiny points in a line.

• Mars at opposition

  Friday, February 19 · The east after dark, in Leo, near the star Regulus

  Mars is opposite the sun around 8 a.m. MST (7 a.m. PST) on February 19 and closest to us a day later, roughly 63 million miles off. Mars is swinging through the outer stretch of its orbit right now, so Idaho gets a modest view this time: a steady orange dot rather than a dazzling one. That night, February 19–20, the almost-full moon slides close by Jupiter.

• The Snow Moon, and an eclipse Idaho will miss

  Saturday, February 20 · Rising in the east around sunset

  Full moon is at 4:23 p.m. MST (3:23 p.m. PST) on February 20, before it rises in Idaho; almanacs disagree on calling it a supermoon. A faint penumbral eclipse that afternoon ends at 6:13 p.m. MST, and the Naval Observatory gives moonrise at 6:09 p.m. in Idaho Falls and 6:27 p.m. in Boise, so for practical purposes Idaho sees none of it. Watch the moon rise with Jupiter, Mars and Regulus nearby instead. Idaho also misses the February 6 annular solar eclipse entirely; only skies over South America, Antarctica and Africa get it.

• Aurora, if the sun cooperates

  Darkest evenings roughly February 2 to 11 · Looking north from the Panhandle, Island Park, Stanley and other dark valleys

  Sunspots have been fading since the 2024 solar maximum, though one strong eruption could still light up the northern horizon over Idaho. Try the moonless nights around the February 6 new moon, after a look at NOAA’s aurora forecast.

What can Idaho families do outside in February?

Safety notes for February in Idaho