What to look for in nature in Washington this February

When do herring spawn in Puget Sound, and what comes to eat them?

• A blue-green bay

  Spawning events through February and on into spring · Shallow bays of Puget Sound and Hood Canal; Quilcene Bay in Jefferson County is one of the biggest

  The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound describes how milt from the males turns big patches of water a vivid, almost glowing blue. That is the sign to scan with binoculars. WDFW counts 21 known spawning areas in the Puget Sound region, and the Quilcene stock in Hood Canal has long been one of the largest in Puget Sound, though its spawning biomass has fallen in recent years. At a low tide after a spawn, look for tiny translucent eggs clinging to eelgrass blades and seaweed at the water's edge, and leave them where they are.

• The crowd at the table

  During and just after a spawn · Wherever a spawn is under way

  A spawn is a feast. Surf scoters, gulls and cormorants gorge on the eggs, sea slugs graze the roe, and seals, sea lions and seabirds go after the adult fish; WDFW warns that seals, sea lions and seabirds are likely to be busier wherever a spawn is under way. A raft of scoters diving over and over in one small bay, with gulls wheeling overhead, is worth a closer look.

• Cherry Point, the warning

  Later in spring than most stocks · Cherry Point, Whatcom County

  Not every stock is thriving. The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound reports that Cherry Point's genetically distinct herring have dropped about 97 percent since 1979, and the state's Puget Sound indicator says it remains well below its baseline.

• Gray whales turning north

  The return trip runs from February to June · The outer coast; the Whidbey and Camano shallows

  WDFW describes the northbound gray whale migration past Washington as running from February into June, more spread out and farther offshore than the southbound run. Most of the Puget Sound feeders known as the Sounders are present from March to May, so late February is when to start watching the mud flats around Whidbey Island near high tide. If you followed the southbound whales in our Washington January guide, this is the other half of the story.

When do frogs start calling and laying eggs in Washington?

• Northern red-legged frogs, the quiet early ones

  Breeding from late January or early February at low elevations · Ponds, wetlands and slow water in western Washington, the Puget Trough and the Cascade foothills

  WDFW says breeding in lowland Thurston County, around 50 to 100 feet above sea level, begins in late January or early February, and most eggs at a given pond are laid within two or three weeks. You will probably miss the males: their call is a weak, stuttering run of four to seven low notes, made mostly underwater, and you have to stand close to hear it. The egg masses are easier. Look for fist-sized gelatinous clumps attached to sticks or stems below the surface; they hatch in about three to five weeks, depending on the water temperature. The species is still common here, though it has declined sharply in Oregon, California and British Columbia.

• Pacific treefrogs, the loud ones

  Moving to breeding sites from February near the coast, later inland and uphill · Almost anywhere with standing water: wetlands, roadside ditches, flooded fields, even a wading pool

  WDFW calls the Pacific treefrog, also known as the Pacific chorus frog, the most widespread frog in Washington and the one people hear most often. Depending on where you live, the frogs move into breeding sites anytime from February, on the coast, through July. The two-part rib-it, or crek-ek, is the sound most of us think of as a frog. Females lay small loose packets of roughly 9 to 70 eggs, each packet one or two inches across, usually fastened to a plant stem.

• Frogs on the road

  Wet, mild nights from late winter into spring · Roads between woods and wetlands

  Frogs and salamanders cross roads on wet nights to reach their ponds; WDFW suggests that neighbors post signs at known crossings. Drive slowly near wetlands, and carry any frog across in the direction it was going.

Do hummingbirds really nest in Washington in winter?

• Males diving for an audience

  Through winter, strongest as nesting begins · Yards, parks and gardens in the Puget Sound lowlands and other western towns

  BirdWeb describes the male's courtship display: he climbs high, then plummets toward a female and pulls out at the bottom with a loud, sharp popping sound, the dive noise. If you hear an odd metallic pop from above a feeder, look up.

• A tiny nest, tended by the female

  Late winter into spring · Shrubs and low tree branches, often near feeders and gardens

  The female builds and tends the nest alone. BirdWeb gives an incubation of 14 to 19 days, and she feeds the young until they are independent at 18 to 23 days. The first Washington breeding record came from Tacoma in 1976; feeders and gardens full of winter-flowering plants helped the species spread north from California and settle in.

• Getting through a cold snap

  Freezing nights · Wherever Anna's live, including Yakima, where numbers have risen in recent years

  On cold nights these birds slow their metabolism almost to nothing, a kind of very short hibernation, as Yakima Audubon puts it. A frozen feeder can matter at dawn. The chapter's advice is to keep two feeders filled and swap them, bringing one indoors to thaw while the other is outside.

What are the first signs of spring in eastern Washington in February?

• Say's phoebe, the early flycatcher

  As early as late February · Columbia Basin canyons, ranch buildings and bridges; the Blue Mountain foothills; northeastern river valleys

  BirdWeb calls this hardy, medium-distance migrant one of the earliest breeders to come back to eastern Washington, sometimes in the last days of February. It is a soft gray-brown flycatcher with a peachy belly that pumps its tail from a fence post or rock. It nests on cliffs and outcrops, and just as happily on bridges, barn rafters and eaves.

• Western meadowlarks singing again

  Returning from late February; common by mid-April · Sagebrush and grasslands of the Columbia Basin; fields near feedlots in the Columbia and Snake valleys, where a few spend the winter

  BirdWeb says meadowlarks start coming back to the shrub-steppe in late February. A few winter near feedlots along the Columbia and Snake, so the first bright, gurgling song may come from a bird that never left. Once territories are set, the males sing from shrub tops, fence posts and power poles.

• Sandhill cranes: plan ahead

  Main arrival in March; peak in mid-March · Columbia National Wildlife Refuge and the fields around Othello and Royal City

  Othello's spring cranes spend the winter in California's Central Valley. A WDFW biologist told the Spokesman-Review they begin reaching eastern Washington in early March and peak around the middle of that month, so February visitors will mostly find empty fields. The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival has posted its 2027 dates: March 18 to 21. Southwest Washington has its own cranes: BirdWeb lists Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and nearby farm fields as regular wintering spots.

Are Washington's eagles and owls on eggs yet?

• Great horned owls incubating

  Breeding begins in late January or February · Woodlots, cottonwood bottoms, city parks and farm shelterbelts statewide

  Great horned owls don't build nests; according to BirdWeb they take over old nests made by hawks, crows, magpies or herons. The female sits on one to four eggs for 30 to 37 days while the male brings food. The giveaway is often just two feathered horns showing over the edge of an old hawk nest high in a leafless cottonwood. The young stay in the nest about six weeks, so a nest you find now may have fuzzy owlets showing by April.

• Bald eagles laying

  Last days of February and first days of March in western Washington · Large trees near shorelines, lakes and rivers, including in town

  According to BirdWeb, western Washington females lay around the turn from February to March, usually two eggs, which the pair take turns warming for 34 to 36 days. A pair that suddenly seems to vanish may simply have one bird low in the nest bowl, so watch for the swap: one eagle flies in, the other leaves.

• Red-tailed hawks courting

  Late winter, at the start of the nesting season · Open country and roadsides across the state

  The most common hawk in North America starts its breeding season with high, circling courtship flights and shrill screams, BirdWeb says. On a sunny February day, two red-tails soaring together over a field, sometimes with legs dangling, are likely a pair.

What wildflowers bloom in Washington in February?

• Indian plum in flower

  Flowering February through April · Open forest, forest edges and stream thickets west of the Cascades and along the coast

  The Washington Native Plant Society lists Indian plum, also called osoberry, as flowering from February to April, one of the earliest natives to bloom. Small greenish-white, bell-like flowers hang in drooping clusters as the first bright green leaves unfold, so a whole shrub looks lit up in a gray wood. Each shrub is either male or female, and only females go on to carry the bluish-black fruit that coyotes, foxes, deer and bears eat.

• Western skunk cabbage, hood first

  WNPS lists flowering from March; watch for the first yellow hoods late in winter · Swamps, seeps, stream banks and forested wetlands statewide

  Skunk cabbage pushes a big yellow hood, the spathe, out of the mud before its leaves, wrapped around a club-like spike packed with tiny flowers. Its rank smell, unpleasant to people, draws a species of rove beetle that feeds and mates in the flower and carries pollen as it goes, the Washington Native Plant Society explains. In mild winters, check boggy spots in late February for the first hoods.

• Red alder and salmonberry, next in line

  WNPS lists March and April for alder flowers, and March into June for salmonberry · Stream banks, clearings, forest edges and wet ground on both sides of the Cascades

  Red alder's male catkins, two to four and a half inches long and reddish-orange touched with yellow, lengthen on bare branches through February before they shed pollen. Salmonberry's magenta, five-petaled flowers follow; WNPS notes they are an early source of nectar for hummingbirds that spent the winter here, as well as bees and butterflies. Watch the buds swell now and you will be ready for the first flowers.

What is February weather like in Washington, and what does El Niño mean for the end of winter?

How much daylight does Washington gain in February?

What can you see in Washington's night sky in February 2027?

• Mercury at dusk

  Late January to about February 10; farthest from the sun on the evening of February 2 · Low in the west-southwest, 30 to 45 minutes after sunset

  Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation late on Tuesday, February 2, Pacific time, about 18 degrees from the sun. Find an open view low to the west-southwest, and on the wet side of the state be ready to grab a clear evening between storms. On Sunday the 7th, the slimmest sliver of a young moon hangs beside it in the afterglow.

• Jupiter at opposition

  Wednesday, February 10, 4:21 p.m. · Rising in the east as the sun sets; due south around midnight

  With Earth lined up between it and the sun, Jupiter climbs over the Cascades at dusk and stays in view until dawn, brighter than Sirius. Steadied binoculars pick up the Galilean moons, pinpricks in a row whose order changes nightly.

• Mars at opposition

  Friday, February 19, about 7 a.m.; closest to Earth on February 20 · In the east after dark, in Leo near the bright star Regulus

  Mars reaches the far end of its orbit in early March, so this opposition is a modest one: even at its nearest, about 63 million miles separate us. Still, it burns a steady orange-red through the night, and it will be a couple of years before it is this close again, in 2029.

• The Snow Moon

  Full at 3:23 p.m. on Saturday, February 20 · Rising in the east about 5:47 p.m. in Seattle

  The moon turns full in the afternoon and rises around dusk. Almanacs disagree about calling it a supermoon, so near-supermoon is the fair label. Leo is crowded that night, with the moon, Jupiter, Mars and Regulus all within a few hand-widths, and the previous night, Friday the 19th, the almost-full moon slides very close by Jupiter.

• Two eclipses Washington can't see

  February 6 and February 20 · Not visible from Washington

  On February 6 the moon's ring-of-fire shadow falls on Chile, Argentina and West Africa, and Washington sees none of it. The February 20 penumbral eclipse of the moon ends at 5:13 p.m. Pacific time, about half an hour before Seattle's moonrise, and even back East it amounts to no more than a faint gray tint.

What can Washington families do outside in February?

Safety notes for February in Washington