What to look for in nature in Kentucky this March
March is the month the Kentucky woods start to wake up, and it rarely does so politely. On a mild, soaking evening, the ponds fill with chorus frogs, peepers and the first American toads; a few days later a frost can still blacken early blossoms. The last sandhill cranes slip north, woodcocks spiral over old fields at dusk, bald eagle chicks hatch in stick nests, and harbinger of spring and other tiny wildflowers open on woodland floors. Below, we list where and when to look for each.
Other months in Kentucky: October, November, December, January, February, April.
Start here
- A frog chorus on a mild, wet evening. Choose a damp night when it stays above about 50 degrees, and go to a flooded field edge or woodland pool. Chorus frogs are at their peak through March and well into April, and spring peepers and the first American toads join them.
- A woodcock at dusk. Pick the edge of an old brushy field at nightfall and wait for the nasal “peent” of a male calling from bare ground. Then look up for his spiraling flight, which Kentucky sources place anywhere from February to about April.
- The first woodland wildflowers. Look for harbinger of spring, which Mammoth Cave National Park says appears in the early days of March, then rue anemone and spring beauty. Walk slowly with your eyes on the ground.
In the Naturalist’s Field Journal, log the night you first hear each frog, with the date and temperature, on a map of sounds, and put a woodcock display on a dusk and dawn watch. Record eagles and other nesting birds on nest observed, and add the first wildflowers to a tree through the seasons page by sketching the bare twigs and the first buds, then come back in April.
Regions used below: Western Kentucky and the Purchase; South Central and Cave Country; Louisville and the Ohio River; The Bluegrass and Northern Kentucky; Eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian coalfields.
Are sandhill cranes still in Kentucky in March?
A few, and fewer each week. The winter flocks that fill the roosts at Barren River Lake and in Hardin County are mostly gone by the first days of March, flying north to nesting marshes in the Great Lakes country. The wildlife department’s crane count reports show how the hand-off can go. In the wet winter of 2018–19, surveyors counted just under 5,000 cranes leaving their Hardin County roosts on February 19, about 3,600 on February 25 and fewer than 800 on March 12, and the March report said numbers there were falling week by week. That winter Barren River Lake stood so high that the usual mudflats were under water and no lake count was possible, so take the figures as one example, not a calendar.
Most of the department’s crane reports stop in early or mid-February, which is why March has so little to quote. The 2025–26 season’s last posted count, on February 9, 2026, tallied 12,767 cranes at the lake, described by the surveyor as pairs staging and getting ready to leave soon. Audubon’s field guide says sandhill cranes have shown a trend toward migrating earlier in spring, which fits a March with only stragglers.
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Last flocks at the roosts
Early March, thinning through the month · Farm country and roost ponds in Hardin County; the shores of Barren River Lake
Late birds feed in harvested crop fields by day and return to shallow water at dusk. Watch from a public road with your engine off, and give the flock a wide berth so you do not push it into the air. The 2019 March report noted that the standing pools were slowly drying out, one more nudge to move on.
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Cranes passing overhead
Mild days with a southerly wind, thinning through the month · Anywhere between the wintering areas and the Great Lakes, so much of central Kentucky
The call is the clue: a rolling, rattling bugle that seems to come from nowhere. Look high, since migrating cranes soar on rising air in wide circles and then glide off in loose lines. If you hear them, a quick scan with binoculars often finds a ragged V that your eye missed.
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Snow geese and the light goose order
Through March 31, 2027 · Western Kentucky lakes, rivers and farm fields
The light goose conservation order is a special season, set for February 16 through March 31, 2027, meant to reduce the numbers of snow and Ross’s geese. The wildlife department lists no daily bag limit and allows shooting until half an hour after sunset, with recorded calls permitted. If you are watching geese in the west this month, expect hunters near the flocks and keep your distance from any field with decoys.
| Count date | Site | Cranes | Notes from the report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19, 2019 | Hardin County roosts | 4,925 | Growing numbers; Barren River Lake too high to survey |
| Feb 25, 2019 | Hardin County roosts | About 3,600 | A fair number of birds still using the roosts |
| Mar 12, 2019 | Hardin County roosts | 762 | Fewer birds each week; pools drying out |
The earlier chapters of the crane story are on Kentucky in February. If you come across an injured or dead crane, do not touch it, and tell the wildlife department.
Which frogs and toads are calling in Kentucky in March?
More kinds than in any other month of the year, and by the end of March the loudest night of all. The wildlife department’s species accounts line up like a calendar. Chorus frogs peak through March and well into April, spring peepers call from mid-February into early summer, wood frogs are finishing, and in the second half of the month pickerel frogs, northern leopard frogs and American toads join in. A warm, wet evening after a cold spell sets off the whole pond at once; a hard freeze can silence it for days.
Kentucky’s 57 amphibians include 22 frogs and toads and 35 salamanders, and the department monitors about 40 percent of them because of conservation concerns. All of Kentucky’s frogs and toads breed in water, and the early breeders pick shallow pools and ruts that dry up later, where fish cannot eat their eggs.
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Upland and other chorus frogs
Peak through March and well into April; quiet by early May · Flooded meadows, ditches and shallow pools, day and night
Full-grown males are only about an inch and a half long, and they hide in grass and leaf litter with just the nose showing, so you will hear a chorus long before you see a frog. When you walk toward the sound, the singing stops a few steps ahead of you; stand still for a minute and it resumes.
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Spring peeper
Mid-February through early summer; by April mostly in the evening · Ponds and wetlands near woods, statewide
The department calls the first peeper chorus the moment local people in eastern and central Kentucky know spring has really arrived. The call is a loud, clear, piercing “preep,” a little painful in close quarters, and a small X on the back is the field mark. The eggs, laid one at a time on submerged plant stems, are rarely found.
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Pickerel frog and northern leopard frog
Mid-March through April · Pickerel frogs across eastern, central and southern Kentucky; northern leopard frogs in the Bluegrass and the northeast
The pickerel frog has two neat rows of rectangular spots on its back and bright yellow-orange in the groin. The northern leopard frog is green or brown with rounded spots and no white dot at the center of the eardrum. The department says the southern leopard frog, which breeds mostly in March and April, is absent from the Bluegrass and much of the eastern coalfield.
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American toad
Mid-March through May, day and night · Woodland pools, and water-filled ruts left by logging equipment or all-terrain vehicles
The song is a long, musical trill that can last up to half a minute, and each male in a chorus sings at a slightly different pitch. The eggs are laid in long beaded strings. Fowler’s toads start later, in late April or early May.
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Salamander nights
Rainy nights, with falling barometric pressure · Woodland roads and trails between hillsides and fishless pools
Seven of Kentucky’s salamanders are mole salamanders, a group that includes the spotted and Jefferson salamanders and spends most of the year underground. A study at Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area in Madison County, run by Eastern Kentucky University, found that falling barometric pressure was generally the best predictor of when salamanders moved, with temperature and humidity also playing a part, and that breeding came at different times in different years. That is why the usual advice is to go out when a soaking rain is moving in on a mild evening, not on a fixed date. Drive slowly near woodland pools, and look without touching.
Write down the date and temperature the first time you hear each species. Listening to the department’s recorded calls beforehand makes the night far more rewarding for children.
Is March the best month for the woodcock sky dance in Kentucky?
It is a strong candidate, although sources disagree on exactly when the peak falls. Kentucky outdoors writers describe courtship displays beginning in February, while an Audubon article says a woodcock biologist puts the peak in southern states such as Kentucky and Virginia in early April. The safest plan is to watch on clear evenings from early March well into April.
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Where and when to listen
Dusk and the half hour after, on calm, clear evenings · Overgrown fields with shrubby edges, reclaimed strip-mine land, damp meadows and old pastures
Stand at the edge of an open patch and wait. Each male starts with a nasal “peent” on bare ground, climbs in a spiral while his wing feathers twitter, then zigzags down to land near where he began. Once the clocks jump forward on Sunday, March 14, an outing timed to sunset moves an hour later on the clock. The full Moon on March 22 gives a bright night that can keep the birds displaying well after dark.
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Early nests
Late March into April, depending on the spring · Young forest and brushy fields with a carpet of dead leaves
The nest is a shallow scrape in the leaves, and a sitting hen is almost impossible to see until she flushes at your feet. If that happens, back away the way you came and keep the dog close.
What wildflowers bloom in Kentucky in March?
The first spring ephemerals, which flower and finish quickly on rich woodland floors before the trees leaf out. Mammoth Cave National Park says its wildflower season runs from March through October and names harbinger of spring as one of the very first to appear in the early days of March, with Cedar Sink Trail as a place to look. Land Between the Lakes’ visitor guide puts the peak of the spring ephemerals, including dogwood and redbud, at April 1–15 there and notes that sites at the southern end bloom sooner than those in the north. In practice, March belongs to the earliest and smallest flowers, and the big show follows in April.
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Harbinger of spring
Early March at Mammoth Cave; later northward · Rich woods, such as the sinkhole trails at Mammoth Cave National Park
Clusters of tiny white flowers with dark red anthers on a stem only a few inches tall.
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Rue anemone, spring beauty and toothwort
Early spring, with a few days of overlap · Woods, stream banks and open woodland edges
The Kentucky Native Plant Society’s guide to the state’s spring ephemerals lists rue anemone, Virginia spring beauty and cut-leaved toothwort among those that bloom in early spring. Rue anemone has delicate white flowers above rounded, three-lobed leaves, spring beauty has pink-striped white petals, and toothwort has small four-petaled white or pink flowers in clusters.
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Bloodroot
Early spring; each flower lasts only a short time · Shaded slopes and rich woods
A single white flower rises on its own stalk, and the society’s guide notes the bright red-orange sap that gives the plant its name and a warning that the plant is poisonous. The flowers are short-lived, so a patch you saw in bud can be past its best a few days later.
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Yellow trout lily
Spring, around the end of trout season · Rich woodland floors, including Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest
The mottled brown leaves look like a trout’s back, and Bernheim ties the flower to Kentucky’s trout fishing season. Each nodding flower opens for a couple of days, and it can take up to eight years for a plant to reach flowering size, so a patch of blooming lilies is decades old.
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Dutchman’s breeches
Early to mid spring · Rich, moist woods and rocky slopes
White flowers shaped like tiny pairs of trousers hung upside down along an arching stem, with feathery gray-green leaves. The native plant society lists the plant among Kentucky’s spring ephemerals, without a bloom date, so check local reports on iNaturalist before you travel.
Stay on the trail in a preserve or park: the leaves of these plants are packed into a small patch, and one footprint can crush them. Mammoth Cave’s free Wildflower Day, with guided walks, was held on April 11 in 2026. The park had not posted a 2027 date when we checked, so look on its events page before planning.
What birds are nesting or arriving in Kentucky in March?
Bald eagles are the early nesters, and March is when many of the eggs laid in winter hatch. The wildlife department says eagles in Kentucky usually lay eggs from January to March and that young leave the nest from April to July. Songbirds follow: the birding season at Land Between the Lakes is listed as running from late March to mid-June, with the peak in late April and early May.
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Bald eagle chicks
March is a hatching month; fledging from April to July · Tall trees near big lakes and rivers, including around Land Between the Lakes, which the department calls a winter hot spot
Bernheim describes spring as the season when eagle chicks hatch and the adults work hard feeding them and flying back and forth between nest and water. A newly hatched eaglet is tiny and hard to see from the ground, so the clue is the adult’s behavior: an eagle that stays low in the nest or makes constant trips with prey. The department advises a distance of 330 feet from a nest for people on foot.
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Prothonotary warbler boxes
Put up by April 1; the birds begin arriving in early April · Flooded bottomland forest, sloughs and slow rivers
This golden warbler is the only cavity-nesting warbler in the Southeast, and the department says it starts coming back to Kentucky in early April and lays eggs in May. Landowners can install nest boxes over or near still water by April 1, and clean them out between November and February.
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Spring birding at Land Between the Lakes
Late March to mid-June, peaking in late April and early May · Fort Henry Trails, Hematite Lake Trail and the Woodlands Nature Station
The recreation area’s wildlife guide highlights the trail loops at the south end for spring ephemerals and the Woodlands Nature Station for dawn and dusk birding, and warns paddlers and hikers not to approach nesting birds.
Cornell’s NestWatch asks volunteers to follow its code of conduct and a standard protocol, and it is a good way for a family to record nesting without disturbing it. Bats are still in their hibernation sites in March; the department says they may be seen as early as April.
Can you keep trout in Kentucky in March?
Not from the designated catch-and-release streams. The state’s 2026 trout program report says no trout may be harvested from October 1 through March 31 in those waters and only artificial baits are allowed, so in March every fish is released. The department lists 14 streams, 86.8 miles in all, with these winter rules, and the same report says Kentucky has few places where trout survive year-round, so put-and-take stocking is the main strategy. Every stocked trout comes from the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery below Lake Cumberland.
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Seasonal catch-and-release streams
Through March 31 · Streams listed by the department, among them Floyd’s Fork near Louisville, Big Bone Creek and Gunpowder Creek in northern Kentucky, and Swift Camp Creek in Wolfe County
The idea is to keep stocked fish from being caught out quickly, and the department says the season is very popular. Handle a trout with wet hands, unhook it in the water if you can, and do not play it too long. Culling, which is keeping one fish and releasing another, has been banned for all trout statewide since 2015.
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The Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam
Year-round · From Wolf Creek Dam downstream to the Tennessee line, and Hatchery Creek
Anyone fishing this stretch, the tributaries to the first riffle and all of Hatchery Creek needs a trout permit. The permit is included with the resident Sportsman’s and Senior or Disabled licenses. The lower, man-made part of Hatchery Creek, about a mile long, is catch-and-release only and limited to artificial bait.
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White bass runs
Spring; the department gives no dates · The Salt, Dix and Big South Fork Cumberland rivers
The department names these three rivers as places where white bass gather in large numbers over rocky bottoms in flowing water to spawn. Anglers watch water temperature and local reports rather than the calendar, so check with a nearby bait shop or the department’s fishing forecasts before driving.
Once the harvest season opens, anglers who plan to keep trout away from the Cumberland tailwater still need a trout permit if a fishing license is required, according to the department. Check the current regulations before you go.
When is the last spring freeze in Kentucky?
Later than the first warm weekend suggests. At every one of the stations below, the median last freeze falls on March 31 or later, between March 31 at Louisville and April 18 at Covington, and in nine springs out of ten the freezing is over by dates ranging from April 16 at Louisville to May 7 at Covington. The early dates are real too: Louisville’s one-year-in-ten date is March 14, so a frost in the third week of March is nothing unusual. Anything that opens in March, from early blossoms to the first tender shoots, takes that risk.
Gardeners in the Ohio River valley and the Bluegrass can sort out their own timing on our Kentucky frost dates page, which lists many more towns.
| Station | One year in ten | Median | Nine years in ten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paducah | Mar 19 | Apr 5 | Apr 21 |
| Bowling Green | Mar 20 | Apr 5 | Apr 21 |
| Louisville | Mar 14 | Mar 31 | Apr 16 |
| Lexington | Mar 30 | Apr 13 | May 1 |
| Covington | Apr 3 | Apr 18 | May 7 |
| Somerset | Mar 21 | Apr 5 | Apr 25 |
The columns read from early to late: in one year out of ten the last freeze has already happened by the first date, and in nine years out of ten it is over by the last.
How much daylight does Kentucky gain in March?
About an hour and a quarter. Every town in the table gains between 71 and 78 minutes of daylight from March 1 to March 31, close to 2.5 minutes a day, and by the last day of March each has more than 12 hours 30 minutes between sunrise and sunset. Covington, in the north, gains the most, from 11 hours 19 minutes to 12 hours 37 minutes, while Bowling Green gains the least, 71 minutes.
The equinox falls on Saturday, March 20, at 4:25 p.m. Eastern daylight time (3:25 p.m. Central), and on that date day and night are nearly equal everywhere in the country. The table counts only the hours of light, so the clock change cannot alter it. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 14, clocks jump an hour ahead, and sunrise and sunset suddenly come an hour later by the clock even though the day itself is no longer. Kentucky’s Central and Eastern zones each change at 2 a.m. local time.
| City | Mar 1 | Mar 31 | Gained | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paducah | 11 h 22 m | 12 h 34 m | 72 min | 2.4 min |
| Bowling Green | 11 h 23 m | 12 h 34 m | 71 min | 2.4 min |
| Louisville | 11 h 21 m | 12 h 35 m | 74 min | 2.5 min |
| Lexington | 11 h 21 m | 12 h 35 m | 74 min | 2.5 min |
| Covington | 11 h 19 m | 12 h 37 m | 78 min | 2.6 min |
| Somerset | 11 h 22 m | 12 h 34 m | 72 min | 2.4 min |
| Pikeville | 11 h 22 m | 12 h 35 m | 73 min | 2.4 min |
Our daylight calculator gives daylight hours for any town in Kentucky, on any date.
What is March weather like in Kentucky, and when does severe weather season start?
Changeable, often mild, and the opening of the state’s severe-weather season. NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals, below, give March highs ranging from about 54 degrees at the Northern Kentucky airport to 60 degrees in Bowling Green, with lows from about 34 to 39. Normal precipitation is between 4.2 and 4.7 inches at each station listed, which makes March a wet month, and normal snowfall is only about 1 inch at Paducah and 2 inches at Louisville, rising to 4 inches at Jackson in the eastern hills.
Kentucky’s Severe Weather Awareness Week comes in early March each year, and the Kentucky Association of Counties calls it the traditional start of severe weather season. The National Weather Service and the state hold a statewide tornado drill during that week. In recent years the drill, with a test alert on NOAA Weather Radio and on television and radio stations, has been set for 10:07 a.m. Eastern (9:07 a.m. Central). It was planned for March 6 in 2024 and was held on March 7 in 2025 after a postponement, and it is moved if real severe weather threatens. Look for the 2027 date at weather.gov and use the drill to practice where your family would shelter.
Late-winter rain on saturated ground also brings flash flooding, and a freeze after a warm spell can burn early blossoms. The Climate Prediction Center updates its seasonal outlooks monthly; the newest are on its 90-day outlook pages. For tomorrow’s forecast, see our weather page.
| Station | Average high | Average low | Precipitation | Snowfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paducah | 59.7 °F | 38.3 °F | 4.64 in | 1.1 in |
| Bowling Green | 60.1 °F | 38.3 °F | 4.54 in | 1.4 in |
| Louisville airport | 58.1 °F | 38.6 °F | 4.60 in | 2.1 in |
| Lexington airport | 56.1 °F | 35.8 °F | 4.48 in | 2.8 in |
| Northern Kentucky airport | 53.5 °F | 33.8 °F | 4.16 in | 3.4 in |
| London-Corbin airport | 58.4 °F | 36.2 °F | 4.57 in | n/a |
| Jackson | 58.0 °F | 37.6 °F | 4.71 in | 4.0 in |
What can you see in Kentucky’s night sky in March?
A morning Mercury, a dawn Milky Way, Jupiter and Mars riding high after dark, and a full Moon at daybreak. Times are given in Eastern time, with Central time in parentheses for the western half of the state. March 8 is still on standard time; from March 14 on, times are daylight time. There are no eclipses or meteor showers worth planning around this month.
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The equinox and the clock change
Clocks move ahead Sunday, March 14, at 2 a.m.; equinox Saturday, March 20, at 4:25 p.m. EDT (3:25 p.m. CDT) · Everywhere in Kentucky
At the equinox the Sun stands over the equator, and the hours of light and dark are close to equal across the country. The evening twilight that makes a good woodcock or frog evening starts an hour later by the clock from March 14 on.
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A Worm Moon at daybreak
Full Monday, March 22, at 6:44 a.m. EDT (5:44 a.m. CDT); look on Sunday evening, March 21 · Rising in the east around sunset on the 21st
The Moon is full just before sunrise on the 22nd, so the evening of Sunday the 21st shows it rising round and nearly full around sunset. The name Worm Moon is the one commonly used for March’s full moon. It is also the night to think about the Cumberland Falls moonbow: the state parks system lists its expected viewing nights for each year, and we could not find the 2027 list, so check the park’s moonbow listing for the evenings around the March 22 full moon.
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Mercury, then Venus, in the morning
Mercury best about March 8–25, farthest from the Sun on March 17 · Low in the east-southeast, about an hour before sunrise
Mercury is farthest west of the Sun on March 17, at 27.6 degrees. It rises about an hour before the Sun in the first half of March, but spring mornings put it close to the horizon, so you need a flat, open view toward the east-southeast. Brilliant Venus shines far above it, rising about 115 minutes ahead of the Sun on March 1. Our own calculation puts a slender old Moon beside Venus in the dawn on March 4 and 5.
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Jupiter and Mars in the evening
All month, high in the evening sky; the Moon passes Jupiter around March 18 and 19 · The east and south after dark, in Leo
Jupiter is the brightest star-like point in the evening sky, and on March 1 it does not set until close to sunrise. Mars glows orange-red nearby, fading as Earth leaves it behind. By our calculation the Moon passes about a degree from Jupiter on the evening of March 18 or 19, depending on when you look, and Mars and Jupiter are about 4 degrees apart on the evening of March 30. Saturn, low in the west after sunset in early March, is lost in the Sun’s glare by the start of April.
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The Milky Way before dawn
Best nights around the March 8 new moon, about March 5–16, and again around March 31 · Low in the southeast to south in the hour before dawn, from a dark site
The bright center of our galaxy returns to the morning sky in March. At 40 degrees north, by our computation, the dark window is up to about 85 minutes, a bit longer farther south, and it requires a dark sky away from town lights.
| Phase | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| New moon | Monday, Mar 8 | 4:29 a.m. EST; 3:29 a.m. CST |
| First quarter | Monday, Mar 15 | 12:25 p.m. EDT; 11:25 a.m. CDT |
| Full moon, the Worm Moon | Monday, Mar 22 | 6:44 a.m. EDT; 5:44 a.m. CDT |
| Last quarter | Monday, Mar 29 | 8:54 p.m. EDT; 7:54 p.m. CDT |
Our moon phase calendar lists moonrise for your own town, and the cloud-cover forecast helps you choose a clear night.
What are good March nature outings for Kentucky families?
- A frog night. Pick a mild, damp evening, walk or drive to a flooded field or woodland pool and stop to listen. Compare what you hear with the department’s recorded calls; children are quick to separate the chorus frogs from the peepers.
- A woodcock dusk. Take a thermos and a flashlight to a brushy field edge just before nightfall and wait for the “peent.” Sources put the display anywhere from February to April, so try more than once.
- A wildflower walk. Try a wooded slope in a state park or at Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave’s Wildflower Day is annual, in April; check the park for its 2027 date.
- NestWatch. Cornell’s citizen science project lets families record nesting with a code of conduct that keeps the birds safe. Nest boxes for prothonotary warblers should be up by April 1.
- Project FeederWatch. This backyard bird count from the Cornell Lab runs from November to April, so your March tallies still count.
- Severe weather practice. Learn your county, find the safest room, and use the statewide tornado drill, held in early March in recent years, to rehearse. The Weather Service also offers free Skywarn spotter webinars; its Louisville office had listed no 2027 sessions when we checked.
Weather can change plans quickly in March, so call ahead before driving to a program. Our nature pages gather other states and months, and a naturalist’s journal is a good place for a child’s first-frog dates.
Safety notes for March in Kentucky
- Hunting and fishing seasons. The firearm seasons for deer, elk and bear are all closed in March. Open now are the light goose conservation order (through March 31), coyote hunting, which is allowed year-round and at night with lights through March 31, and falconry for small game and furbearers, which runs to March 30. Spring turkey seasons usually begin in April; in 2026 the youth weekend was April 4–5 and the general season April 18 through May 10. We did not find the 2027 dates, so check the department. Hunters are not required to wear hunter orange in spring turkey seasons, though the department recommends it when carrying a harvested bird. Trout streams are catch-and-release through March 31.
- Forest fire hazard season. From February 15 through April 30, it is illegal in Kentucky to burn between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. within 150 feet of woodland or brushland, and county burn bans can add more limits. Dry, windy days before the leaves open are the highest risk.
- Severe weather. Know your county and the safest room, keep a NOAA Weather Radio or phone alerts on at night, and treat any warning as real. Thunderstorms can arrive with little notice on a warm March afternoon.
- Floods. The Weather Service says 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult off their feet and 12 inches can carry away most cars, and more than half of flood drownings happen in vehicles. Turn around at any flooded road, and stay off muddy, swollen streams.
- Ticks. The University of Kentucky’s entomologists say lone star and American dog ticks are active from March through September, and adult blacklegged ticks are active from October through June. Tuck pants into socks, use repellent, walk in the middle of mowed trails and check yourself every couple of hours.
- Eagles, nests and dens. Stay 330 feet or more from an eagle nest, avoid caves where bats hibernate, and leave any young animal where you find it.
- Night outings. For a frog or salamander evening, put on something reflective, bring a light and keep to quiet roads. Look, listen, and put back any animal you move aside.
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- KDFWR: Weekly sandhill crane ground count reports, 2025–26
- KDFWR: Waterfowl and sandhill crane reports and surveys
- KDFWR: Waterfowl hunting seasons and light goose conservation order
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- KDFWR: Amphibians of Kentucky
- KDFWR: Frogs and toads of Kentucky
- KDFWR: Chorus frogs, spring peepers, cricket frogs and narrow-mouthed frogs
- KDFWR: Spring peeper
- KDFWR: True frogs
- KDFWR: True toads and spadefoots
- Eastern Kentucky University: Movements of Jefferson and spotted salamanders at a Madison County pond (thesis)
- Audubon: Go see the American woodcock’s sky dance
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- National Park Service: Wildflower Day at Mammoth Cave National Park
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- Kentucky Native Plant Society: Native spring ephemerals of Kentucky
- Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest: Catching trout, a spring ephemeral
- Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest: Bald eagles, a conservation success
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- KDFWR: Prothonotary warbler
- KDFWR: Bats of Kentucky
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology: NestWatch
- Project FeederWatch: Project overview
- KDFWR: Trout streams program in Kentucky for 2026
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- NOAA NCEI: 1991–2020 monthly normals for seven Kentucky stations
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- National Weather Service: Turn around, don’t drown
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- NOAA Climate Prediction Center: 90-day outlooks
- U.S. Naval Observatory: Moon phases, March 2027
- U.S. Naval Observatory: Earth’s seasons, 2027
- SeaSky: Astronomy calendar 2027
- Photos via Wikimedia Commons; licenses and photographers are credited under each picture
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