What to look for in nature in Kentucky this May

When is peak bird migration in Kentucky, and which birds arrive in May?

• A warbler day in the Knobs

  The first half of May is the usual high point; Bernheim’s birders called May “peak spring migration” · Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, south of Louisville, and similar wooded hills

  On Wednesday, May 3, 2017, a group of birders tallied 115 species in one day at Bernheim, including 29 kinds of wood warbler: black-throated green, Cape May, Blackburnian, bay-breasted, chestnut-sided, Magnolia and blackpoll, with a male black-throated blue singled out as the prize. The same walk found Swainson’s and gray-cheeked thrushes, a veery and a blue-headed vireo, plus nesting blue-winged and cerulean warblers and wood thrushes. That is one day in one year, not a promise, but it shows what the first week or two of May can hold when the winds are right. Land Between the Lakes gives a wider window: its wildlife guide lists late March to mid-June for spring birding, with the high point in late April and early May; more than 250 species have been documented there.

• Cerulean warbler

  Males arrive near the middle of May, according to Audubon · Tall, mature forest in river valleys and uplands

  This small sky-blue warbler lives in the tops of big trees, which is why it is heard far more often than seen. Audubon describes the species as strongly declining in recent surveys and rates it Vulnerable, with cowbird parasitism of nests in small forest patches and loss of tropical wintering habitat among the pressures. The state wildlife department publishes a habitat guide for it and cites the cerulean warbler among the songbirds it manages for. If you hear one, stand still and look straight up into the canopy.

• Kentucky warbler

  Singing through the nesting season · Shaded ravines, bottomlands and thickets with dense, humid cover

  The bird that shares the state’s name spends its time on or near the ground, flipping dead leaves to find insects. Audubon says males sing persistently in the breeding season, as often as once every 12 seconds, so a ravine with a ringing, rolling song is a good place to stand still. The Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge in western Kentucky uses a Kentucky warbler to illustrate its bottomland forest, and runs a banding study of breeding and migrating songbirds.

• Wood thrush and scarlet tanager

  On territory and nesting through May and June · Damp deciduous woods; tall oaks for the tanager

  The wood thrush sings flute-like phrases from the understory and is listed Near Threatened, with Audubon pointing to forest fragmentation and cowbird parasitism. The scarlet tanager forages among leaves high in oaks and builds its cup nest 20 to 30 feet up on a horizontal branch. Audubon notes that many of each cross the Gulf of Mexico on their way north.

• Evening voices: nightjars

  Dusk and dawn · Rural clearings and open forest edges

  Kentucky has three nightjars: the chuck-will’s-widow, the common nighthawk and the whip-poor-will. The department says their numbers may be falling but that little data exists, and it points volunteers to the Nightjar Survey Network. A porch at dusk away from town lights is the easiest way to listen.

Are bison calves born in Kentucky in May, and what should I do if I find a fawn?

• Bison calving at Land Between the Lakes

  May, per the Forest Service guide · Elk & Bison Prairie and the South Bison Range, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area

  The Land Between the Lakes wildlife viewing guide names May as the bison calving season at both of the Land Between the Lakes bison areas. The Elk & Bison Prairie is open to enclosed vehicles only; the guide suggests going an hour before dusk or an hour after dawn and avoiding the heat of midday, and says elk are best seen in the fall rut, so May is a bison month. Stay inside your vehicle and let the animals set the distance. For hours and current conditions, call 800-525-7077.

• The restored elk of eastern Kentucky

  Year-round; calves arrive in late spring · The 16-county elk restoration zone of eastern Kentucky

  Between 1997 and 2002, 1,541 elk were released in Kentucky’s restoration zone, which now takes in 16 counties and more than 4.1 million acres, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. We could not find a department page with a calving date or a current herd count, so check with the department or the Elk Management Plan before planning a trip. Whatever the season, watch elk from your vehicle or a good distance.

• White-tailed deer fawns

  Late spring and early summer · Fields, lawns and woodland edges

  A fawn alone in tall grass is almost certainly not abandoned. The department says fawns lie hidden in fields for roughly the first two weeks while the doe is away feeding, and it asks people to keep children and pets back and not to touch them. If you mow, flag the spot or wait. Contact a permitted rehabilitator only if the mother is dead nearby or the fawn is visibly hurt. Removing young wildlife from the wild is illegal under 301 KAR 2:081, and the same advice covers lone baby rabbits and feathered fledglings hopping on the ground.

When do bats have their pups in Kentucky, and what should I do if I find one?

• Pups in the roost

  Born in May and June; colonies with flightless young are present from mid-May to mid-August · Caves, loose tree bark, and buildings such as attics, shutters and gutters

  Each female bears one to four pups, per the department. Because the young cannot fly, the department says people generally cannot exclude a colony from a building until August 15. Mammoth Cave’s own bat page adds that most of its species use the cave mainly in winter and switch to trees or structures in summer, that gray bats are the only species there that use caves year-round, and that females favor high-domed maternity caves.

• White-nose syndrome

  A continuing concern · Caves statewide

  The fungal disease was first confirmed in Kentucky in 2011 and first detected at Mammoth Cave in 2012; the National Park Service says some species have seen mortality above 90 percent there. Cave tours at the park ask visitors to clean their shoes on a biosecurity mat when leaving.

• A bat on the ground

  Any time · Porches, sidewalks and yards

  The department’s steps are to keep children and pets away, never handle the bat, cover an uninjured one with a shoebox-sized container, slide cardboard underneath and set it on a tree, and report it if it is still there after 24 hours. Injured or sick bats go to a licensed rehabilitator or its online Report a Bat form.

When do fireflies appear in Kentucky?

• A firefly evening

  The hour after sunset on warm, still nights · Meadow edges, lawns and creek bottoms with tall grass

  Firefly.org names four things fireflies need: undisturbed cover, a variety of plants, little light pollution and few pesticides. Turning off porch lights helps, as Xerces also advises. Xerces cites IUCN assessments suggesting a third of assessed North American firefly species could face extinction, with habitat loss, light pollution and pesticides among the threats. You can add your sightings to iNaturalist and the firefly sightings page at Firefly.org.

What is blooming in Kentucky in May, and what has already finished?

• What to look for under the new canopy

  May, with the timing varying by elevation and year · Wooded slopes in state parks, Mammoth Cave and Land Between the Lakes

  Mayapple and jack-in-the-pulpit are on the society’s list of native ephemerals, though it gives no bloom date for either. Prairie trillium, which it describes as blooming mid to late spring, is one to look for early in the month. The society holds its 2027 Wildflower Weekend at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park on April 16 to 18, which means a May walk is the quieter sequel. Mammoth Cave’s wildflower page covers a season from early March to October and names prairie coneflowers, pink blazing stars and passionflower as the summer bloomers to wait for.

• Milkweed and monarchs

  All growing season · Sunny gardens and field edges

  The department’s Monarch Conservation Plan aims to increase the quantity and quality of monarch habitat statewide and links a Monarch Waystation planting brochure for home gardens. Native milkweed is the plant to ask for.

What can you catch or hunt in Kentucky in May?

• Bluegill and channel catfish

  Warm-water fishing builds through late spring · Ponds, reservoirs and rivers statewide

  The department calls the bluegill common and abundant in nearly every water body except polluted or high-gradient headwater streams, with most 6 to 11 inches. The channel catfish is common in medium streams to large rivers and is routinely stocked in ponds and reservoirs, typically 12 to 32 inches. For crappie, a department piece points anglers to creek mouths and backwaters on the Kentucky and Ohio rivers; check its fishing forecasts for May conditions.

• White bass runs

  Spring; the page gives no month · Salt, Dix and Big South Fork of the Cumberland rivers

  The department says spring spawning runs are common in some rivers, with fish gathering over rocky bottoms in flowing water.

When is the last spring freeze in Kentucky?

How much daylight does Kentucky gain in May?

What is May weather like in Kentucky, and when do the worst storms strike?

What can you see in Kentucky’s night sky in May?

• The Eta Aquariids at the new moon

  Best mornings May 5, 6 and 7, in the last hours before dawn · A dark site with a clear eastern horizon

  The shower has dark skies this year, because new moon comes on May 6 and only a 1 to 2 percent crescent is up. The American Meteor Society expects roughly 10 to 30 an hour in the pre-dawn darkness, a rate that applies from the equator northward; Aquarius, the shower’s radiant, comes up barely one to two hours before sunrise this far north, so expect the low end. Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust.

• The Flower Moon, a seasonal Blue Moon

  Full Thursday, May 20, at 6:59 a.m. EDT (5:59 a.m. CDT) · Anywhere with an open eastern horizon

  Full arrives around dawn on May 20, which makes the evening of Wednesday, May 19 the best one for watching it climb above the horizon; the evenings flanking it are also bright. This is the Flower Moon. The older seasonal rule makes it a Blue Moon in some almanacs, since this spring (March 20 to June 21) contains four full moons and May’s is the third. By the modern rule of two in one calendar month there is no Blue Moon this year.

• A moonbow at Cumberland Falls

  The nights around the full moon; look to the park for the schedule · Cumberland Falls State Resort Park near Corbin

  Kentucky Tourism says the moonbow can be viewed a couple of nights on either side of the full moon, on a clear night, for about two hours once the Moon clears the hillside behind the viewing spots. The best places are the overlook at the falls’ edge and the first lower deck, and the mist is thicker when more water is going over. Choose another night if haze, fog or rain is in the forecast, the park desk (606-528-4121) and parks.ky.gov can give you viewing times, and keep phone screens and flashlights off so others can see.

• Mercury in the evening

  Greatest elongation on Friday, May 28; look from about May 12 to early June · Low in the west-northwest, 45 to 90 minutes after sunset

  This is the best evening showing of Mercury this year for the northern United States. Our calculation for the middle of the country has Mercury setting roughly 97 minutes behind the Sun on May 15, then 105 minutes behind on June 1, so a flat western horizon helps. It is at its farthest from the Sun at 9:14 a.m. EDT on May 28, which makes the evenings of May 27 and 28 about the best.

• Jupiter, Mars and a quarter Moon

  Jupiter and the Moon in the evening of May 12; Mars and the Moon on May 13 · The southern and western sky after dark

  Jupiter and Mars are both still in the evening sky, in Leo, setting in the small hours of the morning by early May. Computed positions, not a published almanac entry, put the first-quarter Moon about 1.2 degrees from Jupiter on the evening of May 12 and roughly three degrees from Mars the next night. Mars has dimmed a great deal since winter.

• Venus and Saturn before dawn

  Around May 6 to 8 · The east, very low, about half an hour before sunrise

  Computed figures put the two planets less than a degree apart, 0.6 degrees on May 7, with both only a few degrees above the horizon in the half hour before sunrise. You need a clear flat horizon and binoculars, and the sight is a modest one. Venus is the brighter of the pair by far.

• The Milky Way before dawn

  May 1 to 14 and May 25 to 31, by our calculation for 40 degrees north · A dark site with a clear southeast to south horizon

  The bright core returns in the dark hours before dawn, up to nearly four hours on the best mornings, and it needs a moonless sky. Mammoth Cave National Park has been certified an International Dark Sky Park since 2021, after it reviewed and retrofitted more than 700 outdoor light fixtures, and offers a Junior Ranger Night Explorer program.

What are good May nature outings for Kentucky families?

Safety notes for May in Kentucky