What to look for in nature in South Carolina this March

When do Oconee bells bloom in South Carolina?

• The Oconee Bell Nature Trail

  Mid-March to early April, per Clemson Extension · Devils Fork State Park, on Lake Jocassee near Salem, Oconee County

  The state park advertises a one-mile Oconee Bell Nature Trail, and its manager tells first-time visitors in early spring to put the flowers first. Look on shaded, moist stream banks and rocky ledges, where the species thrives in rich, acidic soil. The park posts shorter hours from late fall to mid-spring, so confirm them before you drive up, and stay on the trail, because a single boot can crush a colony.

• BellFest

  Annual, in March; check with the organizer · Devils Fork State Park

  Clemson Extension says Friends of Jocassee hosts BellFest every March at Devils Fork, with interpretive walks and talks that celebrate the flower and its protection. The organizer had not yet announced 2027 details at the time of writing, so call the park at 864-944-2639 or ask Friends of Jocassee before building a trip around it.

• Bloodroot and company in Clemson

  March, per the garden · Natural Heritage Garden, South Carolina Botanical Garden, Clemson

  If a mountain hike is out of reach, the South Carolina Botanical Garden’s seasonal guide lists Oconee bells blooming in March in its Natural Heritage Garden, along with bloodroot and the halberd-leaf yellow violet, which opens from February through March.

Which frogs are calling in South Carolina in March?

• Spring peepers

  Winter into early spring; busiest on warm, rainy nights · Marshes, Carolina bays, seasonal ponds, roadside ditches and even neighborhood streams, always near forest

  The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory’s species account describes a frog that rarely exceeds an inch long, with a faint, imperfect X on its back and a repeated, high peep that rises a little at the end. South Carolina’s Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation write that the frogs come down from upland woods to breed in flooded fields, marshes, woodland depressions, semipermanent ponds and ditches, and that males call from the ground or from low plants. They are hard to see and easy to hear, so stand still at the pond’s edge for a few minutes and let your ears adjust.

• Upland chorus frogs

  February through March · Wetlands, roadside ditches and slow streams, mostly in the Piedmont and mountains

  The same laboratory says this species breeds from February through March, and that it is most common in the Piedmont and mountains, though isolated populations live on the coastal plain, where a different chorus frog usually takes its place. Its call is a quick, smooth trill that sounds like a thumbnail drawn along a pocket comb.

• A coastal chorus at Cape Romain

  Spring · Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Charleston and Georgetown counties

  The refuge’s seasonal guide says spring peepers and chorus frogs become vocally active there in spring, and that diamondback terrapins begin nesting in sandy patches of salt marsh.

What grows in the granite pools at Forty Acre Rock?

• The spring pools

  Spring, while the depressions hold water · The granite flatrock, reached by a 2.5-mile round-trip trail from the lower trailhead

  SC Trails describes how water collects in the rock’s hollows in spring and shows off lichens, mosses, sedum and the endangered pool sprite. SCDNR adds that the preserve protects two federally endangered plants, pool sprite and black-spored quillwort, which are adapted to pools that fill and dry and can live nowhere else. Elf orpine, a tiny red succulent that blankets granite outcrops in the Carolinas, belongs to the same community; photographers have recorded it in bloom on a Pickens County outcrop in early April. Bloom depends on the weather, so go after a good rain.

• Rules that protect the rock

  All year · Trails and pools

  Under the state’s heritage preserve rules, access is on foot only, and driving through the preserve or around its gates is prohibited. SCDNR’s notice warns that fires built in or near the pools are illegal, that fire destroys seeds when pools are dry, and that spray-painted graffiti is a threat. SC Trails lists the trail as open from dawn to dusk, with pets allowed and no camping.

• A new entrance, maybe

  Expected to open in 2027, per the land trust · North side of the preserve

  The Open Space Institute, which has helped add more than 200 acres to the preserve over the past decade, says a new northern entrance is expected to open in 2027. Treat that as a plan and check with SCDNR before you go.

When do hummingbirds, swallow-tailed kites and painted buntings return?

• Ruby-throated hummingbirds

  Males usually arrive in late March; females about a week later, per SCDNR · Feeders and flowering shrubs statewide

  SCDNR’s hummingbird guidance says males begin showing up in late March, followed by the females about a week later, though most of the action at feeders does not pick up until midsummer. Its feeder recipe is four parts water to one part sugar, boiled for about three minutes; skip red dye and honey, and clean the feeder with hot water and vinegar or bleach before you hang it. Journey North, which maps the northward march, reported on March 26, 2025 that one observer in Pageland had seen a bird three days sooner than the year before. Your own first sighting can be added at journeynorth.org.

• Swallow-tailed kites

  Returning to the Southeast from late February to April; nesting March through June · Cypress and pine country of the coastal plain; Beidler Forest’s staff list swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites among spring sightings

  Audubon says swallow-tailed kites return to Florida from late February through April and nest from March through June in tall pines and cypresses from Louisiana to South Carolina. Winters are spent in South America, on a round trip of about 10,000 miles. The Nature Conservancy reports that the kite is endangered in South Carolina, that its range once covered 21 states, and that the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge may hold the state’s densest concentration of nesting kites. Nests are hidden in pine crowns, so you are likelier to see a kite gliding over a river or swamp than at a nest.

• Painted buntings and warblers

  Late March through May, per an Audubon guide · Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Bear Island, Savannah refuge, Huntington Beach and the Beidler and Congaree swamps

  Audubon’s guide to birding the state’s refuges says that late March through May captures the peak of spring activity. Migrants pile up at Santee National Wildlife Refuge, prothonotary warblers sing from the swamp at Francis Beidler Forest, hooded and Kentucky warblers spend the breeding season at Congaree, and painted buntings nest at Huntington Beach, Bear Island and the Savannah and Santee refuges. At Beidler, the center’s own notes say prothonotary warblers nest in cypress knees throughout the sanctuary.

• The last ducks and the first woodpeckers in the Sandhills

  Ducks through early March; red-cockaded woodpeckers best in April and May · Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge near McBee

  The refuge says wintering waterfowl stay through early March. For its red-cockaded woodpeckers, the best viewing runs from April to May: look for pines with white-banded cavity trees, keep at least 200 feet away, and listen for a call like a squeaky toy. The Woodland Pond Trail, about a mile from the refuge office, is suggested for songbirds and possibly Bachman’s sparrow.

What happens on South Carolina’s beaches and islands from March 15?

• Sanctuaries close to landing

  March 15 to October 15 · Crab Bank, Bird Key-Stono and Deveaux Bank seabird sanctuaries

  SCDNR keeps these three islands closed to all landing for the whole season. In 2023 its first documented nest of the year was an American oystercatcher’s on Crab Bank, found by a state biologist in late March. SCDNR says coastal bird species have declined 70 percent in the last 40 years, which is why biologists rope off nesting habitat with posts and signs each spring.

• Brown pelicans on Marsh Island

  Nesting in spring; check with the refuge for access · Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Bulls Bay

  A 2024 SCDNR presentation reports that Marsh Island has hosted brown pelican nesting continuously for 55 years, averaging 1,368 nests, and notes that the database goes back only to 1969. Cape Romain’s islands also hold roughly 35 percent of the state’s nesting seabirds, according to the same talk (about 4,769 of 13,701 nests a year on average since 1990). The refuge’s seasonal guide lists painted buntings, black skimmers, Wilson’s plovers, American oystercatchers and least terns among spring arrivals.

• How to share the beach

  The whole season · Any South Carolina beach

  SCDNR’s advice is to leave dogs at home or keep them on a short leash, because to a nesting bird every dog looks like a predator, and to avoid roped-off areas, which can drive parents off their eggs. Pack out trash, which attracts predators, and walk around birds rather than through them on the wet sand.

What is blooming in South Carolina’s woods and pinelands in March?

• Carolina jessamine

  March and April, per the National Park Service · Vines on trees, fences and forest edges across the state

  The state flower’s yellow trumpets spill from vines over fences and treetops. The National Park Service lists it as blooming in March and April at Congaree National Park.

• Atamasco lily, pawpaw and butterweed

  Atamasco lily and pawpaw in March and April; butterweed from March to June · Bottomland forest at Congaree National Park, near Columbia

  Congaree’s wildflower guide calls butterweed the most abundant spring wildflower in the bottomland forest and one of the first to bloom each year. White atamasco lilies and the purplish flowers of the pawpaw join it in March and April. The park says spring is one of the best times to visit and that insects are generally not a problem then; it describes spring highs reaching the mid to upper 70s.

• Pine pollen

  Late March through April, per Clemson Extension · Everywhere pines grow, which is nearly everywhere

  The yellow film that coats cars and porches comes mostly from pines. Pine pollen grains have two air-filled bladders that carry them on the wind, and because pines depend on chance to reach a female cone, the trees make it in enormous quantities. Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center cautions against blaming pine pollen automatically for allergies and points instead to birch, oak, elm and juniper.

Can a March freeze still hurt South Carolina’s peaches and gardens?

What is March weather like in South Carolina, and why is it fire and storm season?

• Wildfire

  Late winter to early spring · Statewide

  The South Carolina Forestry Commission says the state’s wildfire season generally runs from late winter to early spring, that March has historically been the worst month, with a record 3,724 fires in March 1985, and that 98 percent of wildfires start with people. In March 2026, a local TV report said the Commission lifted a statewide burn ban on the 30th, and its fire chief warned that “Any fire you start is your responsibility, even if it rekindles and spreads days later.” State law requires you to notify the Commission before burning yard debris, and local burn bans may apply.

• Tornadoes and severe storms

  Spring, when cold fronts are active · Statewide

  The State Climatology Office reports that South Carolina averaged 14 tornadoes a year from 1950 through 2017 and 26 a year from 1990 through 2017, and that spring tornadoes arise from active cold fronts.

How much daylight does South Carolina gain in March?

What is in South Carolina’s night sky in March 2027?

• Venus and Mercury before dawn

  Venus all month; Mercury best March 8 to 25, farthest from the sun on the 17th · Low in the east and east-southeast before sunrise

  Venus is a brilliant morning star, about 40 degrees from the sun on March 1 and rising roughly two hours before sunrise, though it will sink toward the sun in coming months. Mercury reaches its widest angle from the sun on March 17 at about 12:20 a.m. EDT, 27.6 degrees west of it. In early March it climbs above the horizon roughly an hour before the sun and is far fainter than Venus, which hangs well above it, so look low toward the east-southeast.

• Jupiter, Mars and the Moon

  The Moon passes Jupiter on March 18 and 19; by our own figures Mars and Jupiter are closest on March 30 to 31 · High in the evening sky

  A Moon some 88 percent lit stands next to Jupiter on the evenings of the 18th and 19th, nearest on the 19th (about 0.9 degrees). Later, by our own calculation, Mars and Jupiter stand about 4.3 degrees apart on the evening of Tuesday the 30th, less than half a fist’s width at arm’s length, and both are high in the sky after dark. Jupiter, at magnitude about −2.5, outshines every star.

• The Worm Moon

  Full at 6:44 a.m., Monday, March 22; best evening is Sunday the 21st · Rising in the east around sunset

  The full moon arrives in the early morning, before sunrise, so the Moon looks full on the evenings of Sunday the 21st and Monday the 22nd. The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives “Worm Moon” as the March name, citing either earthworms stirring as soil warms or tree-bark larvae. By our calculation the Moon passes perigee on March 19 but is about 372,500 km away at full, too far to count as a supermoon.

What can South Carolina families do outside in March 2027?

Safety notes for March in South Carolina