What to look for in nature in Ohio this February

When do Ohio’s bald eagles lay their eggs?

• Spotting an active nest

  Mid-February onward, before the trees leaf out · Big sycamores, cottonwoods and oaks within a mile or two of rivers, reservoirs and marshes

  Eagle nests are huge, often several feet across, and sit in the top third of a tall tree. A bird lying low in the bowl, with just a white head or the tip of a tail showing, is incubating. Every so often the pair swap places, which is the moment to have the binoculars up. Bare branches make February and March the easiest months to find a nest you might have walked under all summer.

• Great horned owlets

  Hatching from late February into early April · Old hawk, heron and squirrel nests in farm woodlots and wooded parks

  The great horned owls that started nesting in January are now well into their month of incubation, and ODNR says the first owlets hatch in late February. If you know where a pair has been hooting, look for the female’s ear tufts sticking up above an old stick nest, then check again in March for a fuzzy gray head beside her.

When is maple syrup season in Ohio?

• Ohio’s syrup in numbers

  The 2026 crop, published June 2026 · Statewide

  USDA’s survey counted 410,000 taps in Ohio in 2026, producing about 96,000 gallons of syrup, or a little under a quarter gallon per tap. That placed Ohio eighth among the states, behind Vermont, New York, Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

• Watching a sugarbush

  Sunny afternoons after a hard frost · Park sugarbushes, roadside farm stands and wooded lots with buckets or blue tubing

  On a good day you can hear the drip from a bucket and see steam rising from a sugarhouse roof. A walk past tapped trees on a thawing afternoon, then again on a day that stays below freezing, shows the freeze-and-thaw rule at work better than any diagram.

Which birds come back to Ohio in late February?

• Red-winged blackbirds

  Males usually from March, some in the second half of February · Cattail marshes, wet ditches, roadside fences

  Males come first and claim territories by singing their raspy conk-la-ree from the highest reed or wire, flashing red shoulder patches edged with yellow. Brown, streaky females, which look more like big sparrows, follow a few weeks later. ODNR notes that the species is among the most visible birds along Ohio’s roadsides once it settles in.

• American woodcock

  Late February through March · Damp thickets, young woods and brushy old fields next to grassy openings

  ODNR says migrating woodcock are found throughout Ohio from late February, with the most breeders in the northeast, north-central and central parts of the state. At dusk, males stand on a bare patch and give a nasal peent, then spiral high overhead on twittering wings and tumble back down. Stand quietly at the edge of a field at sunset on a calm evening to hear it.

• Ducks, geese and swans

  Beginning in late February; peaking in the second half of March · Magee Marsh, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the open water of the western Lake Erie marshes

  As soon as the marshes start to open, the first northbound waterfowl appear. The observatory expects huge numbers of ducks, geese and swans on Lake Erie and the nearby marshes by the latter half of March, so late February is the overture: a few flocks of tundra swans or pintails on newly open water, and long skeins of geese overhead.

What is the first wildflower to bloom in Ohio?

• Skunk cabbage

  Mid-February to early April · Soggy, spring-fed wooded wetlands; most frequent in the northeast, scarcest along the Ohio River

  The part you notice is a leathery hood, the spathe, streaked and spotted with maroon, curled around a stubby club covered in tiny flowers. The plant warms itself: ODNR notes that the flowering parts give off enough heat to melt the ice around them, which is why each hood can sit in its own little well in the snow. The famous smell, and the huge cabbage-like leaves, come later in spring. Cedar Bog, Christmas Rocks and Gallagher Fen are state nature preserves where it can be seen from the trail.

• Harbinger-of-spring

  Mid-February to mid-April; may start in late February in the southern counties · Moist, shady woods, especially on stream terraces

  An inch or two tall, with lacy leaves and a cluster of white petals around dark purplish anthers, which gives it the old name pepper-and-salt. ODNR notes that a plant takes six or seven years to bloom for the first time. Get down on your knees on a sunny bank to find it.

• Snow trillium

  Mostly March to early April; occasionally in February · Open woods on limestone or dolostone in central and southwest Ohio

  This small white trillium is rare in Ohio, but the state has a special tie to it: ODNR records that the first specimen ever collected came from along the Scioto River near Dublin in 1834. Late snows sometimes bury the flowers. Enjoy any you find from the path, and don’t pick or dig them.

When do salamanders and frogs wake up in Ohio?

• Spotted salamander, Ohio’s state amphibian

  Rainy nights from late winter into spring · Low, moist woods near swamps, ponds and creeks statewide

  Adopted as the state amphibian in 2010, this inky salamander, dotted down the back with two lines of yellow, is almost never seen except on breeding nights. Males reach the pools first, and females follow a few days later. ODNR describes the result: a fist-sized egg mass, swollen with jelly, attached to a stick under water.

• Wood frogs

  Late February to early March, often before the ice is fully gone · Woodland ponds and vernal pools

  ODNR says wood frogs crowd into woodland ponds in late February and early March, sometimes while ice still rims the water, and leave again within a week or so. Their call is a series of five or six hoarse clucks, more like ducks than frogs. Look for the dark mask through the eye.

• Chorus frogs and spring peepers

  Calling as the ice thaws; breeding mostly from March · Flooded fields, ditches and shallow ponds

  ODNR notes that both species leave hibernation as the ice thaws. Chorus frogs make a rising, rattling creak, like a fingernail drawn slowly over a pocket comb, and peepers a single high, climbing whistle. On a warm evening in late February a few may start early, especially in the south of the state.

Will Ohio’s groundhog see his shadow, and when is the real middle of winter?

• Real groundhogs in February

  Most still asleep; males stir in late winter · Burrows along fencerows, field edges and creek banks

  Wild woodchucks don’t keep the calendar. ODNR says hibernation ends with the first warm days of spring, and that a male goes looking for a mate as soon as he comes out, often visiting several burrows. Breeding runs from March to May. On a mild afternoon late this month, check fresh dirt at the mouth of a burrow.

• Six more weeks?

  Through the middle of March · Everywhere

  Shadow or no shadow, the climate record agrees with the groundhog who sees one: Ohio is still a winter state until mid-March. Average highs at Columbus climb from about 38 °F on February 1 to about 45 °F by the end of the month, and NOAA’s normals for the seven stations in the weather table below still put February snowfall between about 6½ and 15 inches.

How snowy is February in Ohio, and what could El Niño change?

How much daylight does Ohio gain in February?

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

• Mercury in the evening twilight

  Late January to about February 10; farthest from the sun on February 3 · Low in the west-southwest, 30 to 45 minutes after sunset

  It swings farthest from the solar glare in the early hours of Wednesday, February 3, a little over 18 degrees out. Look just above the horizon in bright twilight with binoculars, then try without them. Four evenings later, on Sunday the 7th, look for a hairline moon only a day old hanging just beside Mercury above the western skyline.

• Jupiter at opposition

  Wednesday, February 10, 7:21 p.m. · Rising in the east at sunset, high in the south around midnight

  Our planet slips between Jupiter and the sun that evening. For Ohio that means a brilliant cream-colored point lifting over the eastern horizon around sunset and staying in sight all night long; no star in the sky is brighter. Steady a pair of binoculars on a fence rail or the hood of the car and you may pick out up to four pinpricks lined up beside it: the Galilean moons, shifting position from night to night. Late on Friday, February 19, a moon one day short of full drifts right up beside Jupiter.

• Mars at opposition

  Friday, February 19, about 10 a.m.; closest to Earth on February 20 · In Leo, rising in the east around sunset

  Mars shines orange and is brighter than most stars, but 2027 brings a lean opposition: the red planet holds off at around 63 million miles, because it is passing through the far side of its oval orbit. A telescope shows only a small disk. Watch it climb in the east beside Jupiter and the bright star Regulus.

• The Snow Moon and a faint eclipse

  Saturday, February 20; full at 6:23 p.m. · Rising in the east-northeast at sunset

  The moon comes up while a penumbral lunar eclipse is under way: the moon is inside Earth’s pale outer shadow from 4:12 to 8:13 p.m., with the deepest point at 6:13 p.m. USNO gives moonrise at 6:04 p.m. in Cleveland, 6:11 p.m. in Columbus and Toledo and 6:19 p.m. in Cincinnati, so Ohio sees the moon come up right around the deepest part. At best, one edge may look slightly dusky as it clears the horizon in twilight; most people won’t notice anything. Some almanacs list this full moon as a supermoon and other sources leave it off; either way it is only a bit nearer to us than average. Jupiter, Regulus and Mars gather nearby in Leo that evening.

• Dark skies and a distant eclipse

  Moonless evenings about February 2 to 11 · State parks and dark country roads

  The new moon on February 6 brings an annular solar eclipse, its narrow ring-of-fire path crossing southern South America and the open ocean on the way to the West African coast. Ohioans will see none of it, partial phase included, and neither will anyone else in the fifty states. The dark week around it is the best of the month for the Orion Nebula and the winter Milky Way. With the sunspot cycle now past its high point yet far from quiet, it is worth a look at NOAA’s aurora forecast whenever a clear night lines up with a solar storm.

• Saturn bows out

  All month, lower each week · Low in the west-southwest after dark

  Saturn sinks into the evening twilight through February, and it will pass behind the sun in April. Catch it early in the month while it is still clear of the horizon haze.

What can Ohio families do outdoors in February 2027?

Safety notes for February in Ohio