What to look for in nature in South Dakota this February

Are bald eagles nesting in South Dakota in February?

• Nests in the big cottonwoods

  Nest repair through February; eggs from late in the month · River bottoms, shelterbelts and stock-pond trees statewide; many along the Missouri below Fort Randall Dam

  In the state’s 2004 survey, every active nest but one of the 30 found was in a cottonwood, and about a third were on the Missouri, mostly along the stretch below Fort Randall Dam shared with Nebraska. Pairs build in the biggest tree around with a clear flight line to water, add to the same nest year after year, and often keep a spare nest or two in the territory. South Dakota Birds and Birding now calls the bald eagle an increasingly common breeder, with active nests within a few miles of Sioux Falls and others in shelterbelts and along stock ponds far from any big lake. A nest five or six feet across is easy to spot in a leafless crown.

• From two dozen nests to hundreds

  The long view · Statewide

  When the management plan was written, its goal was an average of 25 active nests a year. That figure has been left far behind: South Dakota Magazine reported in 2014 that Game, Fish and Parks believed the state might hold as many as 300 nesting pairs. Treat that as an estimate rather than a count. If you log a nest in eBird, keep its exact spot out of public posts.

• Eggs, incubation and space

  Late February into spring · Any active nest

  A clutch is usually one to three eggs, and the plan gives 34 to 38 days for them to hatch, with both adults taking turns on the nest. On state land, Game, Fish and Parks keeps a half-mile buffer around active nests during the nesting season and may post an 820-foot no-entry zone. The plan explains why: an eagle that calls or flushes as you approach is already disturbed and may abandon the attempt.

• Great horned owlets hatching

  February and March, about four to five weeks after laying · Old hawk and crow nests, cottonwood crotches and farm buildings

  The owls that laid eggs in January are now hatching chicks. South Dakota Birds and Birding gives four to five weeks of incubation, so many South Dakota nests hold small, white, downy owlets by mid to late February, still tucked under the female through snow and wind. The young leave the nest about six weeks after hatching. If you found a sitting owl last month, keep checking from a distance; by late in the month a fuzzy head may show above the rim.

When do snow geese come back to South Dakota?

• Sand Lake and the James River valley

  First birds in late February; peak usually in March · Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, north of Aberdeen in Brown County

  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says spring snow goose numbers at Sand Lake have been documented at more than 1.2 million, on an 11,450-acre lake left by the last ice age in the heart of the prairie pothole region. A Fish and Wildlife Service officer at the refuge told Outdoor News in 2024 that the Sand Lake peak in a normal year comes around the middle of March, but the timing follows snow cover and open water: after a mild February that year, geese had already reached South Dakota by late in the month, and he warned the migration could pass quickly. The refuge posts migration reports through the spring.

• Lake Thompson and the eastern lakes

  Late February into April · Lakes around Lake Thompson in Kingsbury County; flooded fields statewide east of the Missouri

  South Dakota Birds and Birding names the lakes around Lake Thompson as another traditional stop. In migration the flocks feed in crop fields as well as resting on lakes, so scan stubble near open water. Listen for the high, yelping chorus before you see them, and look for dark blue-morph birds mixed in with the white ones.

• The spring light goose conservation order

  From mid-February, the day after the Unit 2 Canada goose season closes, to May 15 · Statewide

  Game, Fish and Parks issues a conservation order every spring to control an overabundance of light geese, with unlimited daily and possession limits and electronic calls allowed. By state rule, the order opens the day after the Unit 2 Canada goose season closes, which falls in mid-February, and runs to May 15. Game, Fish and Parks had not posted the 2027 opening date by early October; check its goose page before you go. In 2022 hunters took an estimated 169,646 light geese during the order, with the highest harvests in Brown, Yankton, Clark, Edmunds and Kingsbury counties.

What are the flocks of small birds along South Dakota’s gravel roads in winter?

• Horned larks

  All year; most visible after snowfall · Gravel roads, stubble fields and pastures statewide

  South Dakota Birds and Birding lists the horned lark as a common permanent resident across the state that becomes much easier to see in winter, gathering along roadsides after snow, often with longspurs and snow buntings. Look for a sandy-brown bird with a black mask and bib and, in good light, two tiny black feather horns. They nest from April through June, and males sing from high in the air over bare ground.

• Snow buntings

  Late fall to early spring · Open fields, prairie, roadsides and farm country

  These Arctic songbirds are regular winter visitors and migrants, and their white wing patches flash as a flock wheels against the sky. The same source notes that males leave about a month ahead of the females in spring to claim breeding territories, so in late winter look for flocks with more buff-and-brown females and fewer bright males.

• Lapland longspurs

  Winter and migration · Farm fields, pastures and grasslands statewide

  Lapland longspurs are common migrants and winter visitors statewide, sometimes in flocks numbering in the thousands. They are streaky and brown, with a rusty patch on the wing, and give a dry rattle and a short whistled call as they flush. Look for them mixed into horned lark flocks.

Can you tap maple and boxelder trees for syrup in South Dakota?

• Which trees to tap

  Late February into March · Yards, parks and shelterbelts, mostly East River

  The guide names four choices. Silver maple is the most common maple in eastern South Dakota, sugar maple grows mainly in the far east and southeast, and boxelder, a maple with leaves split into three leaflets, grows across the whole state. Amur maple and silver-red hybrids can also be tapped. A tree should be at least 10 to 12 inches across at about 4 feet off the ground, and a larger trunk can take a second tap.

• From sap to syrup

  During each run · At home

  SDSU Extension describes drilling a hole 1½ to 2 inches deep, 5/16 or 7/16 inch wide to fit the spile, and boiling down 35 to 45 gallons of sap for each gallon of syrup. Extension staff have tapped silver maples in their own yards and measured the sap at about 3 percent sugar, similar to sugar maple, and they say boxelder sap is much the same, so all three make syrup.

• Give a stressed tree a rest

  Before you drill · Any maple you plan to tap

  In 2024, after a dry summer, SDSU Extension’s forestry specialist decided not to tap live trees for the McCrory Gardens workshop, saying the trees needed a rest, though he noted that a household tapping one or two trees raises fewer concerns. If your tree struggled last summer, one tap or none is the kind choice.

What comes out on a mild February day in South Dakota?

• Snow fleas on melting drifts

  Warm, sunny days in late winter · Snow at the base of trees, along woods edges and on melting drifts

  SDSU Extension entomologists say snow fleas are one of the first small creatures you may notice in late winter. They are springtails, kin to insects, smaller than one-tenth inch and dark blue, so a patch of them looks like pepper sprinkled on the snow. A spring-like appendage under the body flings them into the air; they feed on rotting leaves, and are completely harmless.

• Prairie dogs on the mound

  Mild winter days · Prairie dog towns in Wind Cave and Badlands national parks and on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland

  Wind Cave National Park explains that black-tailed prairie dogs have an incomplete hibernation: their activity and appetite drop in winter, and they may stay underground for long stretches, but they come up to feed on mild days. Breeding follows in March and April, with pups born four to five weeks later. On a calm, sunny day, watch for sentries at the burrows and listen for an alarm bark when a hawk passes over.

• Raccoon tracks after a warm night

  Warm winter nights · Creeks, river woods and farm buildings with big trees nearby

  Game, Fish and Parks notes that raccoons are less active in winter but come out on warm winter nights, mostly along streams and other water with mature trees. After a thaw, look in soft snow or mud at the creek edge for their tracks, which look like small human handprints with five long toes, front and hind feet set side by side.

• Shed antlers

  Late winter · Game, Fish and Parks land; never in national parks

  Deer and elk grow and drop a new set of antlers every year, and Wind Cave notes that elk shed theirs in spring. Game, Fish and Parks allows shed antler hunting on land it owns, including state parks, recreation areas and Game Production Areas, but walk-in areas and other leased private land need the landowner’s permission. In national parks such as Wind Cave, antlers are protected and must be left; the park points out that rodents and even elk and bison gnaw them for calcium. Keep a long distance from wintering deer and elk, which cannot afford to burn energy running from you.

Is February South Dakota’s snowiest winter month?

What is the coldest temperature ever recorded in South Dakota?

• February 1936

  Anniversary February 17 · McIntosh and the whole state

  NOAA’s statewide records, which begin in 1895, show February 1936 averaging 5.2 degrees below zero across South Dakota, the lowest monthly average in the whole series. The same summer brought 120 °F to Gann Valley on July 5, 1936, which still shares the state’s record high. McIntosh sits on the open prairie of the Standing Rock Reservation, in the state’s northern tier.

• Valentine’s week, 2021

  February 13–16, 2021 · Southeast South Dakota and neighboring states

  The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls wrote that Valentine’s Day 2021 was the coldest since 1936 at several locations, and that 22 sites in its area set at least one temperature record during the four-day outbreak, with wind chills of 30 to 40 below or colder.

How much daylight does South Dakota gain in February?

What can you see in the South Dakota night sky in February 2027?

• Mercury after sunset

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

  Mercury reaches its greatest angle from the sun, a little over 18 degrees, just after midnight CST on February 3 (late on the 2nd in Mountain time), the best dusk view of it all winter. The day-old crescent moon makes a pretty pair with it at dusk on February 7, a Sunday. Choose a clear, flat western horizon; the open prairie is ideal.

• Jupiter at opposition

  Evening of Wednesday, February 10 · Rising in the east at sunset, highest around midnight, in Leo

  Opposition is exact at 6:21 p.m. CST (5:21 p.m. MST). Jupiter then stays up from dusk to dawn, shining at magnitude −2.5. Rest binoculars against a fence post and its four bright moons often show as tiny dots strung out beside the disk. The moon is out of the way until mid-month, making the first half of February the best time to look.

• Mars at opposition

  Friday, February 19; closest to Earth on the 20th · In Leo, east of Jupiter after dark

  Opposition comes around 9 a.m. CST on the 19th, and the gap between us shrinks to its smallest, near 63 million miles, on Saturday the 20th. With Mars out near aphelion, this is a modest showing: magnitude −1.2, bright and orange but small in a telescope. Its next closer approach is in 2029.

• The Snow Moon and a faint eclipse

  Full at 5:23 p.m. CST (4:23 p.m. MST), Saturday, February 20 · Rising in the east-northeast around sunset

  Some almanacs count the Snow Moon as a supermoon, though it is not as close as January’s. It comes with a penumbral eclipse: the moon slides through Earth’s pale outer shadow, deepest at 5:13 p.m. CST and over at 7:13 p.m. CST. East River, the moon rises in bright twilight just after the deepest point, and a sharp-eyed viewer might just catch faint gray shading along one side in the first hour. West River, the eclipse ends at 6:13 p.m. MST, and there is effectively nothing to see. Late on the 19th the moon, nearly full, glides very near Jupiter; a night later, Leo holds the full moon, both planets and the star Regulus at once. February 6 brings a ring-of-fire solar eclipse, but only for the far Southern Hemisphere and Africa; no part of the United States sees it.

• Dark skies and aurora

  Moonless evenings roughly February 2–11 · Away from town lights, especially in the north and West River

  The sun’s eleven-year peak is behind us, but sunspots remain plentiful, so an aurora over the northern horizon is still possible this winter. The darkest evenings fall around the February 6 new moon. If NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center posts a storm watch, look low in the north from a dark spot; Saturn, meanwhile, is sinking into the southwestern twilight.

What can South Dakota families do outdoors in February 2027?

Safety notes for February in South Dakota