What to look for in nature in Minnesota this March

Where do bald eagles gather in Minnesota in March?

• Hawk Ridge spring count

  Counted daily, March 1 through May 31; bald eagles usually peak around March 25 · West Skyline Parkway, Duluth (Enger Tower or Thompson Hill, depending on wind)

  Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory tallies every migrating bird it can identify from two pull-offs on West Skyline Parkway. Counters use Enger Tower in southerly, northerly and westerly winds and Thompson Hill when the wind blows from the northeast or east. The observatory’s spring guide lists March as the month for bald and golden eagles and rough-legged hawks, and gives bald eagles a typical peak of 400 to 500 a day around March 25, with about ten golden eagles a day at best. Rough-legged hawks peak later, April 10 to 20, at up to 75 a day. Red-tailed hawks follow soon after, and broad-winged and sharp-shinned hawks begin showing up in April. The guide says the birds are on a mission to reach nesting territories, so even rough weather can bring a flight.

• National Eagle Center field trips

  Saturday, March 6; Sunday, March 21; Saturday, March 27, 2027, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. · Meets in Wabasha; the bus visits scouted spots in the Upper Mississippi valley

  The center’s own schedule lists these three March dates for bald eagle trips, priced at $60, or $50 for members, and including admission that day. At least two tickets must be sold 24 hours before a trip, and there is a waiting list if a date sells out. The center does not recommend the trips for young children, who may struggle with a long bus ride, and it advises dressing for the weather.

• A chick on the DNR EagleCam

  Last year’s first chick hatched on March 26; the new season’s camera returns this fall · A nest near the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities area (online)

  The DNR’s update for the 2025–26 season says staff believed the first chick hatched Thursday, March 26, and confirmed three chicks on Monday, March 30. Newly hatched eaglets weigh about three ounces, roughly the size of a tennis ball, and an adult is almost always on the nest keeping them warm. The agency’s February note said chicks usually hatch after 34 to 39 days of incubation, so signs of one could appear as early as March 21. Each pair keeps its own schedule, so treat any date as a window.

Which birds come back to Minnesota first in March?

• Red-winged blackbirds

  Average mid-to-late March; males come first · Cattail marshes, ditches and wet pastures statewide

  In Sherburne County the average arrival is March 14, with records from January 27 to March 31 (36 records, 1977 to 2013). In Hubbard County, farther north, the average first sighting is March 24, and the earliest is March 6.

• Kestrels, bluebirds and wood ducks

  Averages near March 16 to 17 in Sherburne County · Utility wires, open fields with nest boxes, and wooded wetlands in the central counties

  Sherburne County’s average arrival is March 16 for American kestrels, March 17 for eastern bluebirds and March 17 for wood ducks, though early birds show up in mid-February. The DNR’s seasonal wildlife guide lists both among the March and April arrivals. Farther north the dates slide later: Hubbard County’s average first bluebird is April 1, and Marshall County’s first wood duck is April 4.

• American robins

  Average March 22 in Hubbard County, March 28 in Marshall County · Lawns, thawing field edges and shrubs with berries

  Robins are the bird everyone says is first, but Season Watch shows them in Hubbard County as early as February 13 in one year and as late as April 2 in another. The first robin you see may be a wintering bird, so the record to keep is the first one you hear singing from a treetop.

• What is heading out

  First two weeks of March · Sax-Zim Bog and the northern forest

  The Friends of Sax-Zim Bog say most winter birds head back north in the first two weeks of March, while wintering raptors, especially rough-legged hawks and northern shrikes, can linger into April. The bog’s Owl Avenue Welcome Center closes in mid-March and stays closed through spring, so plan a visit early in the month if you want it open.

Where can you watch cranes, swans and geese in March?

• Sandhill cranes

  Sherburne County average arrival March 18 (records March 4 to March 31) · Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge near Princeton, and open wetlands across the central and northern counties

  Season Watch lists 33 arrival records for Sherburne County from 1980 to 2013, with the earliest on March 4 and the latest on March 31. You will likely hear them first: a rolling, rattling call carries for a mile over still marshes. Cranes are tall, gray and crowned in red, and they feed in stubble or stand in shallow water, often in pairs.

• Geese and swans in the northwest

  Late March, as the first open water appears · Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge, Marshall County

  The refuge’s own species page says Canada geese and trumpeter swans typically lead the northward flight in late March, followed shortly by mallards, northern pintails and a variety of diving ducks. Trumpeter swans, nearly extinct in the 1930s, have been restored and now breed in Minnesota state parks, according to a DNR roundup.

• The Minnesota River valley

  Mid-March through mid-April · Bass Ponds, Old Cedar Avenue and the Rapids Lake Unit, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

  The refuge’s own account of the waterfowl migration lists Canada geese, trumpeter swans and a long roster of ducks, from wood ducks and mallards to gadwalls, canvasbacks, buffleheads and hooded mergansers. Binoculars and field guides can be borrowed at the visitor centers on days they are open, and the Minnesota River Valley Audubon chapter has offered beginner walks. The refuge also lists tundra swans, white pelicans and sandhill cranes among its spring sightings.

• State parks to try for geese and ducks

  March and April · Lac qui Parle, Rice Lake and Big Stone Lake state parks

  A DNR spring-birding roundup points to Lac qui Parle State Park for migrating Canada geese and to Rice Lake and Big Stone Lake state parks for waterfowl. Each park keeps a bird checklist by season, and free birding kits are available at state parks.

Where can you see woodcock and prairie chicken courtship in March?

• American woodcock

  Arrives mid-March; displays at first and last light · Brushy openings next to young aspen, alder and hazel

  The DNR says woodcock begin arriving in Minnesota in mid-March, often well before the winter snow is gone, and that most of the state’s breeders winter in central and southern Louisiana. A male defends a small clearing, the singing ground, and performs for 30 to 60 minutes at the start and end of the day. He gives nasal peents on the ground, then spirals up 100 to 300 feet with a twittering of wing feathers, chirps on the way down and lands near where he began. Each flight lasts about a minute and he repeats it a dozen times or more. Only one male in three or four in an area takes part, which explains the bachelors lurking at the edge. On Minneapolis clocks, sunset is at 6:16 p.m. before the clock change on March 13 and 7:18 p.m. after it on March 14, so the evening show moves an hour later on the clock overnight.

• Greater prairie-chickens

  Mornings, mid-March to mid-May; best viewing usually April into early May · Beach ridges of glacial Lake Agassiz, from the Crookston area south toward Fergus Falls

  A Minnesota Conservation Volunteer feature says males gather on leks every morning from mid-March to mid-May. Their low boom carries more than a mile, according to the DNR. The agency’s 2026 survey found 102 booming grounds and 853 males, counting areas outside its survey blocks, and said counts from year to year are a rough index shaped by weather and observer ability. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has offered a free, reservation-only viewing blind at Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge near Detroit Lakes, and it says the best time is April into early May. Reserve with the refuge; leks are private performance halls, so do not walk onto one.

What wakes up on the ground in March: frogs, salamanders, bears and the first flowers?

• Wood frogs and chorus frogs

  Late March in the earliest or southern springs; usually April in the north · Fishless woodland pools, ditches and the edges of marshes

  The DNR’s breeding calendar groups wood frogs, boreal chorus frogs, spring peepers and northern leopard frogs together as the early breeders, calling from late March into early April. Season Watch’s northern records show how that slides: wood frogs were first heard in Itasca County on March 21 in the earliest year and on an average of April 15, and boreal chorus frogs were first heard on average April 13. Wood frogs are explosive breeders that gather for only a few days, and Season Watch describes their call as a repeated “racket.”

• Salamanders on the move

  Early spring, on heavy-rain nights · Hardwood and mixed woods with woodland ponds, mainly in the north and east

  The DNR’s magazine notes that blue-spotted salamanders breed in early spring, sometimes with snow on the ground and ice on the pond, and that adults migrate to woodland pools during heavy rains.

• Black bears stir

  Some adults late March; most bears usually early April · Northern forests, and anywhere near them with an easy food source

  The DNR says bears usually leave their dens in early April, and its March 23, 2026 release noted that females with cubs were still near their dens while some full-grown bears were already out searching. Cubs are usually born in January. The agency’s main advice: bring feeders in while bears are about, because birdseed and suet are a quick, high-calorie snack, and bears can smell a meal from more than a mile away.

• Pasqueflower and hepatica

  March into May, depending on the snow and the slope · South-facing prairie slopes with dry sandy soil, and hardwood forest floors

  The DNR’s state park wildflower guide gives both a March to May bloom. Pasqueflowers, often among the first prairie flowers after snowmelt, appear at places like Glendalough, Glacial Lakes and Camden state parks; sharp-lobed hepatica, whose stem has fuzzy hairs against the cold, shows up in woods at Sakatah Lake State Park. A Sustainable Farming Association column says pasqueflowers typically bloom around Easter and are a vital early pollen source for bumble bee queens. Easter is March 28 in 2027, but bloom follows the weather, not the calendar.

When does maple sap run best, and when does the season end?

• A run is a day, not a season

  Warm mornings after freezing nights · Sugarbushes and backyard maples, southeast to the Arrowhead

  University of Minnesota Extension says sap does not flow every day: it runs when a rapid warming trend in early to mid-morning follows a night below freezing. A tap hole may give between a quart and a gallon in one flow, which can last a few hours or a day or more. Cold days stop the run, and so do long warm nights.

• Keep it cold, boil it soon

  During the run · Backyards, sugar shacks and state park programs

  Extension recommends collecting at least every two to three days, and sooner in warm spells, because warm sap makes dark, off-flavored syrup. Cold sap kept in good storage holds for a day or two with little loss. Finished syrup boils about 7 °F above the boiling point of water, or about 219 °F, and should be filtered hot and packed in food-grade containers above 185 °F. Boil outdoors or with ventilation, since the process releases large amounts of steam over several hours.

• How the season ends

  Late March to April · Everywhere maples grow

  By the DNR’s dates the run usually winds down around April 20, though it has lasted into May in some years, so March is the heart of it and April the tail. The DNR’s maple page listed no state park sugaring programs for March when we wrote this, so check with a park or nature center.

When does the ice go out on Minnesota lakes?

• A March of a kind: 2012

  March 2012 · Statewide

  The State Climatology Office called March 2012 astoundingly warm, with monthly means 10 to 17 degrees above the historical average across Minnesota; the Twin Cities averaged 48.3 °F, beating the record of 45.0 set in 1910. Lakes lost their ice weeks early: Iowa and Hall lakes in Martin County were first, on March 12, and many larger lakes set records. Warmth advanced signs of spring such as perennial plant growth and ice-out by three to four weeks. A cool-down over the north in the last week of March, with a modest snowstorm, kept nearly every lake from going out in March, and the last lakes lost ice in the second week of April.

• Lake Superior and the shipping season

  The Soo Locks reopened March 25 in 2026 · Duluth harbor and the Soo Locks, Michigan

  Shipping on Lake Superior restarts as the ice and the locks allow. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers scheduled the Poe Lock to reopen at 12:01 a.m. on March 25 in 2026, according to a local news report, and it opened on March 25 in 2022 too; the Corps says the operating season is fixed by federal regulation. The Corps announces each year’s details; look for them in March.

• Ice shelters come off

  2026 deadlines were March 2 (south) and March 16 (north) · Inland lakes, divided by a line formed by U.S. highways 10, 34, 200 and 2

  The DNR’s removal deadlines for 2026 were March 2 on inland waters south of the dividing line and March 16 north of it, with border waters on other dates through March 31. After a deadline, a shelter may stay between midnight and an hour before sunrise only when it is occupied or attended. The DNR had not posted 2027 dates when we wrote this, so check its page before you leave a shelter out.

How cold and snowy is March in Minnesota, and when is the last spring freeze?

• Big snows in March

  March · Statewide

  The DNR’s list of the 25 largest Twin Cities snowfalls back to 1884 includes seven March storms: 16.7 inches on March 3 and 4, 1985; 16.7 inches on March 11 to 14, 1940; 16.0 inches on March 8 and 9, 1999; 14.7 inches on March 31, 1985; 14.1 inches on March 22 and 23, 1952; 14.0 inches on March 10 to 12, 1899; and 13.6 inches on March 22 and 23, 1966. A recent example came on March 12 to 16, 2026. The State Climatology Office describes a first storm with gusts above 60 mph and blizzard conditions along the North Shore, then a second with 6 to 18 inches across the southern half of the state.

• Thunderstorms and tornadoes

  Rare, but they have happened · Southern and central Minnesota

  The National Weather Service says the earliest tornado in Minnesota history struck on March 6, 2017, beating the previous mark of March 18, 1968, when three EF-1 tornadoes hit Bricelyn, Clarks Grove and Zimmerman. The worst March tornado outbreak in state history came on Sunday, March 29, 1998, with 14 tornadoes, including an F4 that traveled 67 miles from Murray County to Nicollet County and an F3 that struck St. Peter. A State Climatology Office article from 2018 counted only ten tornado days in March in Minnesota history, so the lesson is not to expect storms but to know the plan: warnings can be issued for the first warm, humid afternoon.

• Snowmelt and river flooding

  Mid-March into April · Red River Valley, the Minnesota, Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, and the North Shore streams

  The National Weather Service’s spring flood outlooks weigh frost depth, soil moisture, snowpack and the rate of melt. In its 2026 outlook issued March 12, NWS Grand Forks said frost depth was running 25 to 35 inches basin-wide and that rain on a thawing snowpack is among the most important flood risk factors, and noted that another outlook might be issued March 26. NWS Duluth publishes its own outlook for northeastern Minnesota; look for the newest versions of each. For the season’s climate outlook, see NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center page, which is updated mid-month.

• Fire danger after the melt

  After the snow goes and before the grass greens · Grasslands, brush and woodlots

  The DNR says the time after the snow melts and before vegetation greens up can be a dangerous time for wildfire, and that conditions change quickly, so it asks people to check the statewide fire danger and burning restrictions before burning anything. Its campfire guidance is a ring of no more than 3 feet across and 3 feet high.

How much daylight does Minnesota gain in March?

What can you see in the Minnesota sky in March?

• The Worm Moon

  Full on Monday, March 22, at 5:44 a.m. CDT; best evening Sunday, March 21 · Rising in the east around 7 p.m.

  Of the traditional names for this full moon, Worm Moon is the best known. It becomes full before dawn on Monday, so the evenings of Sunday and Monday both show a full-looking disk. By our calculation, on Sunday, March 21, the moon rises in Minneapolis at about 6:58 p.m. CDT, about half an hour before the 7:27 p.m. sunset, so it is easiest to spot as the sky darkens. Plan to watch from an open eastern horizon.

• Mercury before dawn

  Best from about March 8 to 25; greatest elongation at 11:20 p.m. CDT, Tuesday, March 16 · Low in the east-southeast, about an hour before sunrise

  Mercury stands 27.6 degrees west of the sun, its widest swing of the morning apparition, late on Tuesday, March 16. For several weeks around that night it is up roughly an hour before dawn; look for a modest point low down, with brilliant Venus well above it. Spring mornings are a hard angle for northern observers, so use binoculars and a flat horizon.

• Jupiter and the moon

  Evenings of March 18 and 19 · High in the evening sky

  By our own calculation, Jupiter and the moon are closest, just under one degree apart, on March 19, with the moon about 88 percent lit and Jupiter one of the brightest points in the evening sky. By our own calculation, as darkness falls on Saturday, March 13, a slim crescent moon hangs near the Pleiades. By the same calculation, late on March 30 into March 31, rust-colored Mars hangs roughly four degrees from Jupiter high in the evening sky, a wide but easy pairing.

• Aurora

  Any clear, dark night · Northern Minnesota has the best odds

  Strong storms remain possible, and they tend to cluster around the equinoxes. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center posts a short-term aurora forecast updated every 30 to 90 minutes. Our moon phase page shows the dark nights around the new moon.

What can Minnesota families do outside in March?

Safety notes for March in Minnesota

• Seasons that run into March

  March 2027 · Statewide

  The DNR lists crow season for March 1 through March 31, 2027, statewide. Fox and raccoon trapping in both zones run through March 15, 2027, and beaver and otter trapping through May 15. The DNR’s fishing page shows the statewide stream trout opener on April 10, 2027, and the general opener on May 15, 2027. The DNR’s 2027 spring turkey seasons begin April 14, after this month; check its hunting seasons page for the permit details.

• Blaze orange

  When no firearms deer season is open · Public and private land

  The DNR’s rule says a person taking small game must wear at least one visible article of blaze orange or blaze pink above the waist when no firearms deer season is open. People hunting raccoons and predators such as coyote, fox and bobcat, hunting turkey or migratory birds, hunting bear or trapping furbearers are exempt. No rule covers hikers or birders, though a bright jacket still helps others see you.

• Rotten ice and cold water

  All March · Lakes, rivers, culverts and inlets

  In the DNR’s words, completely safe ice does not exist; ice over flowing water is often dangerous and outside river bends are weaker. It does not measure ice thickness on lakes, so check often. The agency’s rule of thumb is that four inches of new clear ice might carry a walker, whereas old ice that has partly thawed can fail even at a foot thick. Spring ice is the old kind. Keep pets and children off it, and stay clear of river edges as the melt raises water levels.

• Ticks and roads

  As the snow goes · Woods and brush edges

  According to state health officials, adult blacklegged ticks usually emerge right after snowmelt and peak in May, and that on a warm day with little snow a hungry adult can be found even in winter. Check yourself after a woods walk.

• Bears and wind

  Late March · The north and anywhere near the woods

  Remove bird feeders and keep trash, pet food and grills out of reach as bears wake. The March 2026 storms brought gusts of 60 mph or more to the Twin Cities and 69 to 71 mph at Rochester and Redwood Falls, so before a long drive, check forecasts and carry a winter kit.