What to look for in nature in Nevada this March

When do desert tortoises and Mojave Max come out of their burrows?

• Mojave Max, southern Nevada’s unofficial first day of spring

  Recent emergences from late April to May 10; the earliest on record is February 14, 2005 · Springs Preserve, Las Vegas

  Mojave Max lives in the tortoise habitat at the Springs Preserve, a fenced area of about 15 acres where the tortoises wear radio transmitters. Clark County officials look after him, and Las Vegas television stations treat his first appearance as the unofficial start of spring in southern Nevada. Schoolchildren guess the day and hour he will come out, and the winning class in 2026 earned a field trip to the preserve.

  The record shows how far the date moves. A 2017 KNPR report said he came out on April 6 that year and that, over 18 years of the contest, dates had ranged from February 14, 2005 to April 17, 2012. Since then he has trended later: a Las Vegas station reported April 24 as his longest wait in 2023, the record became May 8 in 2025, and in 2026 he beat it by two days on May 10. He is one animal in a managed habitat, so his date tells a story about one spring, not a forecast for wild tortoises.

• What wild tortoises do as the weather warms

  Spring through fall, often after rain · Mojave Desert of southern Nevada, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area

  The National Park Service describes desert tortoises as emerging to feed and mate during the spring and staying active through the fall, sometimes coming out again after summer storms. They were listed as threatened in 1990, and the Park Service says populations have fallen by as much as 90% in some areas since the 1980s. The same page says it is unlawful to bother a desert tortoise in any way.

  Wild tortoises do not keep Max’s calendar. A photograph posted to Wikimedia Commons shows one out on limestone at Red Rock Canyon on March 26, 2020, so a warm spell can bring them up earlier than the Springs Preserve’s star.

• If you meet one

  Any warm day from March on · Desert roads and trails in southern Nevada

  NDOW advises against handling wild desert tortoises, because a startled tortoise may empty the water it stores in its bladder, a serious loss in a dry spring. Stay back and use a zoom lens. If one is crossing a road, slow down and steer around it.

When do greater sage-grouse dance on their leks in Nevada?

• The lek season

  Late February or early March to mid-May, depending on weather and snowpack; March and April at dawn are best · Sagebrush flats across northern and central Nevada, mostly on public land

  Nevada’s shed antler course says displays typically begin in late February or early March and last through mid-May, depending on weather and snowpack. A fact sheet from University of Nevada, Reno Extension puts the start of breeding at about mid-March, when males start to congregate, and a natural history magazine says March and April, around dawn, are the best months to watch. At the height of the season a male repeats his display up to about ten times a minute, in sessions of three or four hours, with tail fanned and two yellow chest sacs gulped full of air.

• After the dance

  Nesting mostly follows in April and May · Sagebrush within a few miles of the lek

  The Extension fact sheet reports that most nesting happens within 4 miles of the lek, though some nests have been found as far as 12 miles away. Between 10% and 86% of nesting hens produce chicks, and adult females do better than yearlings. That wide range is one reason biologists watch the early-spring weather and the health of the sagebrush so closely.

• Watching without harming

  Before first light, leaving once the birds disperse · Roads that already pass near a lek

  Nevada’s shed antler course warns that sage-grouse are susceptible to people, off-road vehicles and other disturbance during the display season. A sensible rule is to stay on existing roads, watch from a parked vehicle with the engine off, arrive in the dark and leave only after the birds do. If you want to see a lek for the first time, ask NDOW, a Bureau of Land Management field office or a local Audubon chapter about a guided trip, and do not post exact lek locations online.

When do American white pelicans return to Pyramid Lake?

• Pelicans back on the island

  Usually February or March; pelicans also pass through the region from March to May · Anaho Island in Pyramid Lake (closed to the public); pelicans seen on the Truckee River and nearby lakes

  A Truckee River conservation guide says pelicans and other breeding birds normally arrive on Anaho Island in February or March and migrate through the region in March to May. The island refuge is off limits to visitors, and for the surrounding lake the Fish and Wildlife Service sends people to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, which sets the rules on camping, boating, fishing and permits. The same guide says pelicans can also be watched on the Truckee River upstream as far as Reno, at Washoe Lake and at Lake Tahoe, and below Marble Bluff Dam on the lower river. Look for a very large, white bird with black wing tips, flying low in a line or floating in a flock.

• Cutthroat trout move inshore

  March and April, with the shore bite usually peaking in mid-April · Pyramid Lake shoreline on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation

  The tribe’s fisheries program says the lake’s Lahontan cutthroat trout season runs from October 1 to June 30 and that anglers 12 and older need a tribal fishing permit. As the water warms toward the high 40s in March and April, the cutthroat gather inshore looking for running water to spawn, and the shore bite usually peaks in mid-April. At the tribe’s hatchery, weekly spawns take place in April. A Nevada Independent report says the Marble Bluff Fish Passage, built in 1975 about 3 miles above the lake, sorts fish by strain as they move toward the river.

• Cui-ui, a fish found nowhere else

  Large runs typically come in May, after this month · Pyramid Lake and the lower Truckee River

  The cui-ui is a rare sucker-type fish found today only in Pyramid Lake, and it was listed as an endangered species in 1967. The tribal fisheries program says large runs up the Truckee River typically happen in May, when higher flows bring muddy water to the lake with temperatures in the mid 50s. March is the month to learn the place, not to expect the run.

Where do migrating birds stop in the Lahontan Valley?

• Lahontan Valley wetlands, a shorebird reserve

  Waterfowl in March; the shorebird wave in late April and May · Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and Carson Lake, near Fallon

  Audubon reports that in May 1988 the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network added 220,000 acres of the Lahontan Valley wetlands, protecting more than 100,000 shorebirds a year. The valley once supported about 250,000 a year, and long-billed dowitchers have been counted at more than 100,000 in a single day. Western and least sandpipers, American avocets, Wilson’s phalaropes and long-billed curlews also use the wetlands. Stillwater refuge reports over 250 species of birds seen there, names tundra swans among them and has an auto tour loop for drivers. Survey reports describe the main shorebird migration as late April and May, so March visitors should expect ducks, swans and early arrivals.

  Water supply decides everything. In the drought spring of 2022, Audubon reported, the irrigation allocation was only 70% of normal deliveries, which cut the water reaching the wetlands, and managers said that limited habitat for shorebirds.

• The Spring Wings festival

  Annual, held in spring; 2027 dates not posted when this page was written · Fallon, Churchill County

  The Spring Wings Birding and Outdoor Festival has been hosted by Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Friends of Stillwater NWR; the Fish and Wildlife Service announced the 14th annual festival in 2011. The date moves from year to year, so check with the refuge or Fallon’s tourism office.

Which Nevada mammals wake up or have young in March?

• Black bears leave their dens

  Mid-March for the first bears; females with cubs usually mid-April to early May · Sierra foothills around Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe

  NDOW’s black bear page places the species in the mountains and foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area. In an older NDOW news release, biologist Carl Lackey said mid-March is when bears leave their dens to search for food, that males and females without cubs come out first, and that females with cubs usually follow from mid-April to early May. NDOW’s advice to people in bear country was to keep garage doors shut and car doors locked and to keep all food sources, including garbage, away from bears. Feeding big game animals is against Nevada law, and the release counted bird seed and vegetables left out for bears as feeding.

• Wild horse foals

  Foaling usually begins in March and runs through June, busiest in late April and early May · Herd areas across the Great Basin, including north of Reno

  The Bureau of Land Management’s population table estimated 37,426 wild horses and 5,146 burros in Nevada on March 1, 2026, out of 61,523 horses and 23,943 burros nationally. A wild horse advocacy group describes the foaling season as typically beginning in March and lasting through June, with the busiest weeks in late April and early May, and one of its authors saw a band with new foals north of Reno on May 1. That timing comes from a single advocacy source, so treat the peak as a rough guide. Stay far back from mares and foals, keep dogs leashed and never try to feed or touch a wild horse.

When do wildflowers and Joshua trees bloom around Las Vegas in March?

• Two springs at Red Rock Canyon, week by week

  Early March to late April in the two spring reports · Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas

  The conservation area posted weekly bloom reports in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, Joshua tree flower buds were appearing along State Route 159 in the week of March 3, Fremont phacelia was blooming well around Willow Spring and Lost Creek in the week of March 17, and the Joshua trees were spectacular with creamy white blooms in the week of March 24. Firecracker penstemon and desert marigold followed in the week of April 7. In 2020, desert paintbrush, filaree, wild rhubarb, pointleaf manzanita and silk tassel were out between March 14 and 21, freckled milkvetch and pretty shooting star near seeps were out by March 28, and globemallow came in early April. These are two individual years, not a calendar: a wet or a dry winter can shift every date. National Park Service photographs from Northshore Road at Lake Mead show the yellow sunray already in bloom on March 10, 2020.

• Elevation sets the schedule

  Low desert first, high country weeks later · Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Red Rock Canyon, the Spring Mountains and Mojave National Preserve

  The National Park Service says in the neighboring Mojave National Preserve that peak wildflower viewing advances upslope at about 1,000 feet every two weeks, and that a few well-timed soaking storms produce a memorable bloom. Lake Mead National Recreation Area has roughly 700 species of flowering plants, and the Park Service notes that favorable winter and early spring rains transform bare slopes into a mass of color. A Nevada conservation group says the Mojave Desert hosts nearly 2,000 plant species.

• Visiting Red Rock without damaging it

  Scenic Drive reservations posted for October 1 to May 31 · Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive

  The conservation area’s website says the Scenic Drive requires a timed-entry reservation from October 1 through May 31 during the daytime hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and posts longer hours from April to September. Rules change, so check before you go, and stay on hard-packed trails, as the conservation group advises, because fragile desert soils recover slowly.

How cold, windy and snowy is March in Nevada?

When is the last spring freeze in Nevada?

How much daylight does Nevada gain in March, and when do the clocks change?

What is in the night sky over Nevada in March?

• Worm Moon

  Full at 3:44 a.m. Pacific daylight time on Monday, March 22; best evening is Sunday, March 21 · Anywhere with a clear eastern horizon

  Folklore calls the March full moon the Worm Moon. The exact moment of full comes before dawn on the 22nd, which means the Moon already looks round as it rises near sunset on Sunday the 21st, and again the next evening. See the moon table below for the other phases.

• Jupiter and Mars in the evening

  All month; the Moon passes Jupiter on the evenings of March 18 and 19, and Mars and Jupiter are about four degrees apart on the evening of March 30 (our calculation) · High in the east and south after dark, in the constellation Leo

  Jupiter was opposite the Sun on February 10 and still dominates the evening sky, at magnitude about -2.5 on March 1 (our calculation). After dark on the 18th and 19th, a bright gibbous Moon (88% lit) parks itself beside Jupiter, within roughly a degree by our calculation. Mars is fainter, about magnitude -1.1 on March 1 and dimming; on the evening of March 30 the two are about four degrees apart, also by our calculation. The pair sets earlier as the month goes on.

• Venus and Mercury before sunrise

  Mercury is best from about March 8 to 25, with its greatest western elongation on March 17; Venus is brilliant all month · Low in the east-southeast in the hour before sunrise

  Venus blazes in the dawn at about magnitude -4.1. On the first of the month it comes up almost two hours before the Sun, by our calculation, and then it slips closer to the Sun week by week. A thin waning crescent Moon hangs near Venus on the 4th and 5th, again by our calculation. Mercury stands farthest west of the Sun (27.6 degrees) on March 17, and is easiest to catch low in the east-southeast with a flat horizon and binoculars. Saturn sinks into the evening twilight through March and is gone by April.

• The Milky Way returns before dawn

  Best around the March 8 new moon, roughly March 5 to 16, and again on March 31 · Dark sites such as Great Basin National Park and the open desert

  The bright center of the Milky Way climbs the southeast sky before dawn for the first time this year. At 40 degrees north the window is about an hour and a half of moonless dark at best, and longer farther south; these windows are our calculations, so treat them as approximate.

What can families do outdoors in Nevada in March?

Safety notes for March in Nevada