What to look for in nature in Tennessee this March

What are Tennessee’s frogs and salamanders doing in March?

• Upland chorus frog

  Mild, wet nights from late winter on; TWRA calls it the earliest breeding frog in the state · Temporary pools, grassy swales, moist woodlands and well-vegetated ponds, statewide except the highest elevations of the eastern mountains

  The call is short, raspy and rises in pitch, as if someone were scraping a fingernail across a pocket comb. TWRA says the eggs hatch in 3 to 4 days and the tadpoles need about 60 days, so the shallow pools these frogs pick have to hold water well into spring.

• Wood frog

  Among the first to call, TWRA says, sometimes before ice has left the pond · Moist woodlands in eastern to north-central Tennessee, in open ponds and even roadside ditches

  The voice is a harsh quack, closer to a duck than a frog. A female anchors an egg mass of up to 3,000 eggs to underwater plants, and the tadpoles become frogs in about two months. TWRA places the species in the east and north-central part of the state, not the far west.

• Spotted salamander

  Warm, rainy nights; TWRA calls it an early spring breeder · Bottomland forests along rivers and upland woods wherever a breeding pond is within reach

  TWRA says warm rains often trigger mass migrations to the ponds where these black, yellow-spotted salamanders mate, and that adults return to the pond where they hatched. Look for compact egg masses in clear or milky jelly attached to sticks under the water. The skin carries a sticky white secretion that is toxic to predators, one more reason to watch rather than handle.

• American toad

  TWRA says breeding typically takes place in March or April and can run into July · Statewide and abundant, around shallow fishless water

  A female toad lays spiral strands of 4,000 to 8,000 eggs that hatch in about a week. TWRA adds that toads take in water through their skin, so look for them on damp ground after rain.

• Salamander country in the Smokies

  All year, with spring rains the best time to look · Streams and forest floor of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

  The park counts 31 salamander species, 25 of them lungless species that breathe through their skin. Its advice is plain: never touch a salamander with bare hands, since skin oils and germs can be fatal to the animal, and, as the park asks, leave rocks where they lie.

Which wildflowers and trees bloom in Tennessee in March?

• Round-lobed and sharp-lobed hepatica

  State Parks lists March · Old Stone Fort and Cummins Falls (Middle Tennessee); Big Ridge and Roan Mountain (East); sharp-lobed also at Burgess Falls, South Cumberland, Frozen Head and Warriors Path

  Three-lobed leaves, hairy stalks and small blue or white flowers mark these as some of the earliest bloomers in the state.

• Bloodroot

  State Parks gives March and April · Edgar Evins, Dunbar Cave, South Cumberland, Frozen Head, Red Clay, Sycamore Shoals and Roan Mountain

  White flowers with golden-orange centers rise beside large, round leaves. The petals close at night and on dark days and reopen with the sun, so go on a bright afternoon. The red juice in the stem and root gives the plant its name.

• Virginia bluebell

  State Parks lists March through June · Radnor Lake, Edgar Evins, Old Stone Fort, Dunbar Cave, Montgomery Bell, Cedars of Lebanon, Burgess Falls and Standing Stone (Middle); Meeman-Shelby (West); Frozen Head and Sycamore Shoals (East)

  Pink buds open into trumpet-shaped flowers in shades of blue on stems up to 24 inches tall, and State Parks says butterflies are the most frequent visitors. March finds the first buds and leaves; the full display belongs to the weeks after.

• Nashville gladecress

  State Parks lists March through May · Long Hunter and Cedars of Lebanon state parks, in Middle Tennessee’s cedar glades

  This low glade wildflower has white, purple or yellow petals around a yellow center and a sweet honey scent that draws pollinators. A Tennessee conservation article says it is found only in the Central Basin of Tennessee, one of several cedar-glade plants, including the Tennessee coneflower, that grow nowhere else on Earth. It grows on thin, rocky soil, so stay on the trail. Early buttercup and glade phlox, both listed for March through May, bloom in the same parks.

• Eastern redbud

  UT Gardens gives mid- to late March through mid-April · Woodland edges, roadsides and yards statewide, flowering before the leaves open

  The University of Tennessee Gardens says redbud blooms slightly ahead of the dogwoods, so a pink haze on a bare hillside is the late-March signal. Red buckeye, a shrub with red bell-shaped flowers, is listed by State Parks for March through May at Radnor Lake and Montgomery Bell.

Which birds return to Tennessee in March?

• Louisiana waterthrush

  TWRA says it reaches Tennessee in mid-March · Forested streams in hardwood woods, especially in Middle and East Tennessee

  Watch for a brown, streaked bird bobbing its tail on a streamside rock, and listen for loud, ringing song. TWRA says males claim stretches of stream as soon as they arrive; documented territories run from 1,230 to nearly 4,000 feet. Egg-laying peaks in mid-April, and there is one brood a year. TWRA calls Radnor Lake State Park an excellent place to see them in spring.

• Yellow-throated warbler

  TWRA says from late March, earlier than most warblers · Canopies of pines, sycamores and cypress in stream bottomlands and forested wetlands

  This gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat creeps along branches like a nuthatch. TWRA says its nests sit 15 to 60 feet up, averaging 33 feet in Tennessee, and that some pairs raise two broods. A sycamore along a creek is a good place to look.

• Blue-gray gnatcatcher

  TWRA says it arrives in late March · Deciduous woodlands and woodland edges across the state

  A tiny, long-tailed bird that flicks its tail side to side and gives a thin, nasal spee. TWRA says spring, before the trees leaf out, is the best time to see one.

• Ospreys back at the lakes

  TWRA lists the osprey as common to abundant at Hiwassee Refuge from March through September · Hiwassee Refuge, Meigs County (Eastern time), and other lakes and rivers with nesting platforms

  Nest counts rose from about 3 in 1980 to 131 by 1999 after TWRA and TVA released young birds and built platforms. Incubation lasts 32 to 43 days.

• Hummingbirds, mostly still to come

  TWRA gives mid-April to early October for the ruby-throated hummingbird · Gardens, parks and woodlands

  The summer hummingbird belongs to next month, so late March is the time to clean feeders. TWRA also notes that western hummingbirds, such as rufous and black-chinned, winter in the state, arriving after late August and usually leaving in April, so one at a feeder now is worth reporting. Journey North takes sightings for its spring migration map.

Which Tennessee birds are nesting in March?

• American woodcock on the nest

  TWRA says peak nesting in Tennessee is in the first half of March · Moist low woods, most often in the eastern two-thirds of the state

  The female usually lays 4 eggs in a shallow, leaf-lined hollow on the forest floor and sits alone for 20 to 22 days. TWRA says the chicks leave the nest within hours of hatching, fly in about two weeks and fend for themselves at about five weeks. Males display at dusk regularly from January into March and then on and off through May, so open fields at dusk may still ring with their calls. TWRA calls the woodcock an uncommon permanent resident.

• Great blue heron colonies

  TWRA says egg-laying peaks about mid-March · Heronries in tall trees near lakes, rivers and swamps

  Clutches run 3 to 4 eggs, both adults incubate for 28 days, and the young fledge at about 60 days. Colonies sometimes hold several hundred pairs, and bare treetops make the stick platforms easy to count.

• Eastern bluebird

  TWRA says first clutches are commonly laid in March · Open fields, yards and cemeteries with nest boxes

  The usual clutch is 4 to 5 pale blue eggs, incubated for 12 to 15 days. If you monitor a box, NestWatch, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s program, shows how to record it.

Are sandhill cranes, eagles and wintering waterfowl still in Tennessee in March?

• The last cranes

  Through late March, according to TWRA · Hiwassee Refuge platform near Birchwood, Meigs County (Eastern time); the skies along a corridor from Pickett and Clay counties toward Bradley and Monroe counties

  TWRA says more than ten thousand cranes have wintered on and around the Hiwassee Refuge, with peak numbers in January, and a few thousand at Hop-In Refuge in Obion County. The observation platform stays open all year, so it is the place to look for stragglers. The refuge itself was closed to entry through the end of February.

• Refuges reopening

  Hop-In Refuge opens to foot traffic in March; Cross Creeks opens March 16 · Obion County (Central time); Dover, Stewart County (Central time); Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge waters along Kentucky Lake

  TWRA says Hop-In Refuge is shut to all use from November 1 to the last day of February and otherwise open in daylight to foot traffic when its gates are closed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closes all roads and areas at Cross Creeks from November 15 to March 15, and some Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge waters over the same stretch, to give waterfowl sanctuary.

• Bald eagles on eggs

  Egg-laying peaked in late February, TWRA says; incubation takes 34 to 36 days · Big lakes and rivers, including Reelfoot, Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River reservoirs

  TWRA says most of the state’s nesting eagles stay all year and that northern visitors peak from late January to mid-February. The nests, which can reach 8 feet across, hold eggs through much of March, and the young leave the nest 10 to 12 weeks after hatching. Reelfoot Lake State Park runs eagle tours daily in January and February. Day-use areas can be closed for repairs, so call the park before you go.

What are Tennessee’s bears and elk doing in March?

• Black bears and new cubs

  Mother bears and cubs usually leave the den in late March or April, the Smokies park says · Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the mountains of East Tennessee

  According to TWRA, cubs arrive in the den in January or February, weigh only ounces at birth and can top five pounds when they come out. Two is the usual litter size, and litters come every other year. The park estimates about 1,900 bears live inside it and requires visitors to stay at least 50 yards (150 feet) away.

• Elk shedding antlers

  TWRA says bulls typically drop their antlers between February and March · North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area; elk viewing tower at Hatfield Knob, Campbell County (Eastern time)

  TWRA released 201 elk into the North Cumberland WMA over eight years, beginning in December 2000. Calves are born from late May through June, so the cows you see now are carrying them. The agency’s tower and live elk camera at Hatfield Knob let you look without entering the herd’s range.

How warm, wet and stormy is March in Tennessee?

• Tornadoes after dark

  Any month; March 2020 is the reminder · Middle Tennessee in 2020; anywhere in the state

  The National Weather Service describes an outbreak that ran from late on March 2, 2020 into the early hours of the 3rd. An EF-4 tornado crossed Putnam County on a path of about 8.4 miles, killing 19 people, and an EF-3 in the Nashville area stayed on the ground for more than 60 miles, the longest track in Middle Tennessee since official records began in 1950. Ten tornadoes struck the state and 25 people died, in the deadliest Tennessee tornado event since April 27, 2011.

• Heavy rain and late freezes

  Rain whenever a wet system stalls; freezes into April, as the next section shows · Statewide

  The lowland stations in the table average roughly 4 to 6 inches of rain in March, and saturated ground sends creeks over roads quickly. Even Memphis logs 3.5 nights at or below 32 °F, and Crossville 13.3, so early blooms can be caught.

When is the last spring freeze in Tennessee?

How much daylight does Tennessee gain in March?

What can you see in Tennessee’s night sky in March 2027?

• Clocks spring forward

  Sunday, March 14, at 2 a.m. local time · Both Tennessee time zones

  At 2 a.m. the clocks jump to 3, and every sunrise and sunset reads an hour later from then on. The evening sky stays light longer and the morning sky darker. Compare the sunset on March 13 with the one on March 14 using the daylight tool.

• Mercury low in the dawn

  Best from about March 8 to 25; farthest from the sun at 11:20 p.m. Central on Tuesday the 16th (12:20 a.m. Eastern on the 17th) · Low in the east-southeast, before sunrise

  The little planet stands 27.6 degrees from the sun, its best showing in the morning sky this time around. Early in the month it comes up roughly an hour before sunrise, give or take half an hour across the state. Find a flat, clear horizon and bring binoculars; Venus, far brighter, hangs well above it.

• Venus, the morning star

  All month, in the east before dawn · East-southeast to east, rising about two hours ahead of the sun on March 1

  Venus, at magnitude -4.1, is the brightest point in the morning sky. By our own computation a very thin waning crescent moon sits close by, about 2 degrees away, on both Thursday morning the 4th and Friday morning the 5th.

• Jupiter and Mars after dark

  All month, with Jupiter and the Moon closest on the 18th and 19th · Leo, high in the south and southwest in the evening

  Jupiter, near magnitude -2.5, and a fading Mars, at -1.1 on March 1, both sit in Leo a few weeks after their February oppositions. Watch for a bright gibbous Moon parked beside Jupiter on both the 18th and the 19th, closest on the 19th. By our own computation Mars and Jupiter draw to 4.3 degrees apart on Tuesday evening the 30th, high overhead after dark. Saturn is leaving the evening sky.

• The equinox and the Worm Moon

  Equinox Saturday, March 20 at 3:25 p.m. Central (4:25 p.m. Eastern); full moon best seen on the evening of Sunday the 21st · Anywhere with a clear eastern horizon at dusk

  The equinox arrives that afternoon, with the sun over the equator and daylight and darkness almost the same length. The full moon itself comes at 5:44 a.m. Central on Monday the 22nd, so on Sunday evening it rises near sunset already looking full. The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives March’s full moon the name Worm Moon, tied either to earthworms surfacing in warming soil or to larvae coming out of tree bark.

What can Tennessee families do outdoors in March 2027?

Safety notes for March in Tennessee